Finals Night report

There was some dramatic incidents, games and history made at the 2017 Oxford Aunt Sally finals and presentation night at the Kassam Stadium that had to be abandoned before all games were played.

In the Oxford Singles final Jon Townsend from The Swan ‘A’ made history by beating Kevin Baker from The Gladiators ‘A’ 2-1 to join his two brothers, Barry & Geoff, who have both previously won the singles title once before, and the only time brothers have won the singles title. It was heartbreak for Baker again as this was the sixth final he has competed in and has lost every one of them.
Townsned set in the opening leg but could only muster up a score of two. In reply Baker also struggled and could only match it to send it to three sticks which Townsend won. Baker set and won the next leg with a score of five that Townsend couldn’t match. In the final and deciding leg Townsend won the toss and decided to set and whacked in a five which proved to be enough to give him victory and join his two brothers in celebration.

The Ted Houghton singles between Josh Breakspear from Donnington Club ‘C’ and Steve Jessup from Littlemore British Legion, who were both competing in their first singles final, produced the game of the night. Breakspear set the opening leg with a low score of two. Jessup passed that with ease with sticks to spare. Second leg Jessup set with three which Breakspear matched to send it to three sticks. Breakspear won the three stick shootout to level the game. The final leg Breakspear hit a maximum six. After the noise had subsided Jessup steadied himself for his reply and clanged off the doll with his first five sticks, but narrowly missed with his last stick to give Breakspear his first finals trophy.

The Gladiators ‘A’ won the Greene King Cup for the second successive year when they defeated The Swan ’A’ 2-0. The Glad’s set the opening leg with 23 and in reply the Swan left anchor man Keith Powell all six to win and he nearly succeeded. After clanging off the doll five times he missed with his final stick to tie the leg. Gladiators won the three stick shoot out with a set of thirteen. The Swan set the second leg, and despite a six from Terry Stuart they could only manage a score of 22 but it was no where near enough as The Gladiators passed that with a player to spare.

Donnington Club ‘C’ couldn’t make it a league and cup double when they lost 2-1 to Littlemore British Legion ‘A’ 2-1 in a close game. The Legion set and won the opener 17-15 and then set 18 in the next leg. Donnington snatched the leg by the closest of margins with 19. The final and deciding leg Legion set again this time with 20 and it proved to be enough as Donnington fell two short in reply with 18.

In The Oxford fours Littlemore Legion inflicted defeat upon Donnington again by beating them 2-0 in leg scores of 10-5, 9-8.

In the Lower Pairs final Steve Greenough and Josh Breakspear from Donnington Club ‘C’ beat Ian Sharp and Dave Edwards from The Fox & Goat 2-0. Chasing a set of seven in the first leg Breakspear hit three and Greenough whipped off five to give them an early lead. A set of eight in the next leg was enough for The Donnington pair to be crowned champions.

Liam Costar from The Masons was declared the Under 21’s winner by default after Max Dybalski from The Catherine Wheel didn’t turn up.

We then came to the Parent & Child Final where a dramatic turn of events took place. Carl & Robert Edgington from The Black Prince were up against 83year old Tony Bradford and his son Rob also from The Black Prince.
The Edgington’s set five in the first leg. In reply Rob could only hit two but Tony came to the rescue and clanged off the four needed to give them the leg. In the second leg the Bradford’s set and Rob started off with four. Tony hit two but before he could finish his throw, Tony had a heart attack. The quick thinking and aid of other players managed to keep Tony alive until the paramedics arrived. After working on him for an hour they managed to stabilise him and get him to hospital where he is recovering and stable. Rob would like to pass his sincere thanks to everyone who helped until the paramedics arrived.


The remaining games, The Oxford Pairs and Monty Greenaway Fours and the presentation of trophies were abandoned.
The league have decided to hold a mini presentation night and play the two remaining games at The Gladiators Club on Friday 3rd November 8.00pm start. Entrance will be free. Could teams please send at least one representative to collect their team trophies.

RESULTS.

Oxford Singles J.Townsend (Swan ‘A’ 2 1 K.Baker (Gladiators ‘A’)
Ted Houghton Singles J.Breakspear (Donnington Club ‘C’) 2 1 S.Jessup (Littlemore Legion)
Greene King Cup Gladiators ‘A’ 2 0 The Swan ‘A’
Jim Whitbread Cup Littlemore Legion ‘A’ 2 1 Donnington Club ‘C’
Oxford Fours Littlemore Legion ‘A’ 2 0 Donnington Club ‘C’
Lower Pairs J.Breakspear & S.Greenough (Donn C) 2 0 I.Sharp & D.Edwards(Fox& Goat)
Under 21’s L.Costar (Masons Arms) Walk over
Parent & Child Abandoned
Monty Greenaway Fours Gladiators ‘A’ v The Swan ‘A’ not played
Oxford Pairs B.Trinder & B.Ruffels (Garsington Spts) v J.Townsend & D.Walsh (Swan ‘A’) Not played

Sixes
J.Breakspear (Donnington Club ‘C’)
T.Stuart (The Swan 'A')

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