Next Saturday (28th June) sees one of the highlights of the bowling year with the staging of the annual Manfield Cup competition which has been staged every year since 1906 (when the Northampton County Ground Bowling Club were the inaugural winners) except for wartime and covid. Earls Barton have won the competition on five occasions in the past – in 1935, 1954, 1996, 2013 and in 2021 (pictured above) and in recent years we have put in good performances to finish in the upper reaches of the final table.
This year, 25 clubs from all across the county will be fielding teams in an attempt to win the prestigious trophy (technically 26, as the two Daventry clubs have a combined entry!). The format is four teams playing against opposition drawn at random at four neutral venues across the county. The team with the best overall result (ie almost certainly who win all four of their matches with the highest points difference) will be the overall winners – you really do have to win all four games to be in with a chance here.
The draw for us this year is perhaps not the easiest but here it is:-
Team “A” – playing Irchester(at Kislingbury)
David Knight, Adam Dally, Phil Purcell and Stuart Haugh
Team “B” – playing Abington (at Geddington)
Alan Jeyes, Mark Barber, Jason Dunkley and Kevin Ragbir
Team “C” – playing Kingsthorpe (at Abington)
Ian Butcher, Phil Wright, David Rust and Rob Butlin
Team “D” – playing Roade (at Corby S&L)
Mike Bottwood, Malc Sanders, John Purcell and Ivan Stock
We wish them all well and hope we can report another good performance for this year as well!
NB – If you want to see some matches in the Cup and can’t get to any of these venues we will be hosting four matches at home. All matches start at 2.00 pm.
Corby Forest vs Whyte Melville
Corby S&L vs Roade
Northampton Express vs Wellingborough
Higham Ferrers vs Northampton West End
The bar will be open and weather is set fair! Come along and enjoy a great afternoon of bowls – Starts at 2.00pm
(courtesy Rob Butlin, Bowlseye)
