Chronicle glory for Coverdale

SILVERWARE SUCCESS . . . Garry Coverdale (left) shows off the Oldham Evening Chronicle Handicap trophy, alongside runner-up Lee Schofield.

BOWLS: GARRY Coverdale secured the biggest prize of his bowling career and struck a blow for league bowlers when winning the Oldham Evening Chronicle Handicap at North Chadderton Social and Bowling Club.

The Chronicle competition is often won by members of the successful Greater Manchester outfit, but Coverdale’s 21-19 final defeat of fellow home-green player Lee Schofield proved that the prestigious trophy does not always go to the game’s elite.

After his dramatic success, Coverdale said: “I only bowl in league matches twice a week and don’t enter many competitions so to win something like this is great for me and shows that it’s not always the very top players who have all the success.

“I must admit I was shaking a bit at the end and I thought I had blown it with a bad lead in the corners, but it all turned out OK for me. It’s certainly my biggest success as a bowler.”

Coverdale’s victory in a tense final looked unlikely when he trailed 13-8, but a decent run in the corners enabled him to turn it round to 19-15 in his favour before a slack lead let in Schofield for a double which he replicated at the next end.

It was Schofield’s turn to feel the pressure with a poor lead at 19-across and although Coverdale did not grab his first chance to clinch the title, he did so with a yard bowl on tricky land at the next end.

The difficult nature of the North Chadderton green was in evidence all night as everyone found consistency hard to come by.

Coverdale played better than most in the quarter-finals in beating Greater Manchester home captain Andrew Buckley 21-19, but it was Steve Copeland, a 21-11 winner against county team-mate Darren Griffiths, who produced the best display in the last eight.

Church Inn’s Barrie Sowerby looked calm and collected in dispatching homester John Ashton 21-10, while Schofield progressed with a 21-17 defeat of the 2008 champion Alan Hodson.

Copeland looked a hot favourite given his form in the last eight, but Coverdale had not read the script in the semi-finals and played excellently on some knife-edge marks to win 21-14.

And Schofield was rarely troubled during a 21-9 defeat of Sowerby, who failed to rediscover his earlier form.

The presentation was made by Chronicle Editor David Whaley who, as a regular golfer, likened the slick North Chadderton surface to the treacherous greens at Augusta, such was its difficulty.

He also asked spectators to remember the efforts in keeping the competition going of former Chronicle director Harry Hirst, who died recently and was a regular figure at finals nights.

Results —

Quarter-finals: S Copeland (Springbank) 21, D Griffiths (Nimble Nook) 11; G Coverdale (North Chadderton) 21, A Buckley (Nimble Nook) 19; A Hodson (Springbank) 17, L Schofield (North Chadderton) 21; B Sowerby (Church Inn) 21, J Ashton (North Chadderton) 10.

Semi-finals: Copeland 14, Coverdale 21; Schofield 21, Sowerby 9.

Final: Coverdale 21, Schofield 19.