Buckley has no peers at Wigan

ANDREW BUCKLEY . . . in sparkling form.

BOWLS: ANDREW Buckley had a weekend to remember with a £1,500 pay-out and individual victory for the county he captains.

With Saturday’s Oldham Evening Chronicle Bowling Handicap finals also in his sights, the Nimble Nook ace could hardly be in better form.

After beating Merseyside's John Finch 21-18 in Greater Manchester’s County Championship group match at Hopwood Unionist Club, Buckley went on to Wigan Subscription Club for their Classic finals.

And he landed the top prize of £1,500 with a 31-29 defeat of Failsworth’s Lee Lawton in the final.

Earlier, Buckley defeated Halifax star Robert Hitchen 31-29, while Lawton beat Macclesfield's Chris MacDonald 31-26.

The triumphant Buckley said: “It’s only the second time I have been in the competition, so it’s great to win such a big prize.

“I played well to qualifywhen the green was even quicker so I did go into the finals feeling quite confident.”

Buckley is the 5-2 second favourite to win the Evening Chronicle competition on Saturday and, having won the event twice before, he is clearly keen to make it a hat-trick.
“It’s a competition I always hope to do well in and I will be trying my best,” he said.

As for Greater Manchester, they may have lost to Merseyside by 10 chalks but, with a 36-point cushion from a previous group game, they had enough in hand to progress.

“We play North Midlands in the semi-finals, but they only use a few home greens so they might be running out of venues,” quipped Buckley, who will be looking for an improvement in Manchester’s home form.

Only six of their 12 players won at Hopwood where the visitors came out on top by seven chalks.

And, had it not been for an excellent away display at British Plate in St Helens, Manchester could have been facing early elimination.

Particularly impressive at St Helens was Steve Copeland who, like Buckley, is in the last eight of the Chronicle competition.

Copeland defeated Alan Moss 21-9, but the man-of-the-match award went to Nimble Nook’s Jimmy Derby for his 21-17 defeat of Kevin Kearns in a high-quality encounter.

At Hopwood (Manchester names first): Darren Griffiths 21, John Hignett Jnr 10; Andrew Buckley 21, John Finch 18; Matthew Jones 14, Danny Barwise 21; Matt Gillies 21, Dave McDermott 13; Jonathan Copeland 6, Terry Glover 21; Paul Heap 21, Chris Barton 14; John Wade 12, Mick Andrews 21; Michael Holden 21, Phil Lee 11; Nicky Brooks 21, Cliff Massey 18; Mark Dwayre 10, Jamie Fitzpatrick 21; Alan Hodson 19, Anthony Thompson 21; Peter Craig 16, Nick Burridge 21. Manchester 203, Merseyside 210.

At British Plate: Jimmy Derby 21, Kevin Kearns 17; Andy Cairns 21, Andy Hayes 18; Nigel Greenhalgh 21, Brian Furber 18; Mike Gee 14, Steve Davies 21; Lee Turner 21, John Dalziel 20; David Walker 20, Mark Furber 21; Steve Copeland 21, Alan Moss 9; Jack Hargreaves 10, Alan Rolls 21; Ryan Goodman 17, Harvey Birch 21; Chris Haynes 13, Mike Tunstall 21; Gareth Gwilliam 21, Liam McEgan 18; Gary Ellis 21, Paul Gartside 19. Manchester 221, Merseyside 224. Overall: Manchester 424, Merseyside 434.