Chris Sills claims prestigious Rose Bowl for the first time
FROM a team perspective the final round of matches in the Hinckley Air Rifle League’s round-robin cup competitions were immaterial, the cup winners and runners-up all having been decided.
However, every team is made up of individuals and for three of those individuals there was the opportunity to top the league averages and win the prestigious Rose Bowl.
Going into the matches, Chris Sills lead the way ahead of Paul Huddlestone and Karl Bunting, but their averages were so close together than if any of the three could outscore the other two by just one shot then that would be enough to top the standings.
The Gordon Smith Cup match between the Sporting Lions and the travelling Ashby Road ‘B’ saw the first of the contenders, Karl shooting third in the first half and scoring 28.4 after the Lions first half had commenced with Glen Dainter’s 29.1 and Melanie Jenkins’ 26.2. Jeanette Mulkeirins then added 29.3 and Mark Davies scored 28.1 before Bill Bend achieved a faultless 30.6. Todd Astill closed the shooting for the home team with a 28.3 that took their total to an outstanding 200.0.
Ashby Road responded reasonably well, opening with Jon Storer’s 30.3, but they didn’t have the squad depth to properly compete and finished well adrift on 190.1 despite Mike Sansome’s 28.3, Rikki Hammersley’s 28.2, Martyn Woods’ 27.2, and Stephen Watson’s 26.1.
The second potential Rose Bowl winner shot in the Paynes Cup match between the Hounds and visiting Smallshaws.
The team aspect of this particular match was decidedly lacklustre particularly from the visitors who managed to amass just 169.2 with their best score being Robert Good’s 26. The Hounds managed to scrape a win, replying with a 171.4 total that include Lee Foskitt’s 26 and Paul Huddlestone’s 28.1.
This left Paul still ahead of Karl in the individual standings but relying on Chris Sills tripping up at Ashby Road Sports Club where he journeyed with his Trojans team mates to shoot the final Gordon Smith Cup match of the season.
The home side won the toss and decided to shoot first, putting together a decent first half performance thanks to Gabrielle Finney’s 27.1, Richard White’s 26.1, and Innes Droomer’s 28, but they were comprehensively outscored by their guests who counted Dave Brown’s 28.1, Kirstie Hayward’s 26.1, Phil Hood’s 29.3, and Rob Forman’s 28
. Ashby Road struggled in the second half with their only notable score being Seamus Moore’s 27.3, and they finished on a disappointing 183.8. This proved too little, the Trojans quickly passing it thanks to Leigh Hall’s 27.1, Mark Smith’s 29.2, and Nigel Jackson’s 26.2, so with the match already won, Chris Sills went on as last man needing to score 28 or better to win the trophy for the first time.
Of course, he couldn’t have known what score he needed so he may have been concerned when his first two shots both scored fours. However, he kept his nerve for the remaining shots, scoring clean bulls with each one to score the 28.4 that gave his team victory with 196.5 and, more importantly, kept him at the top of the individual standings, just 0.04 ahead of Paul with Karl a further 0.06 back.
The night’s other match was the Paynes Cup meeting between the New Plough Inn and their Hinckley Phoenix guests. The home side won the toss and decided to shoot first but were hampered by having only seven shooters, finishing on a meagre 177.9 despite Daniel Lakin’s 27.2, John Bray’s 27.3, and the 28.1s of Steve Reynolds and Nigel Hill. Hinckley Phoenix managed to beat this quite comfortably, reaching a 188.0 total that included the Karen Bown’s 28.3, Luke Bown’s 28.2, and the 26.1s of Woody Newbold, Stephen Prime, Mick Edwards, and Geoff Herbert.