Hib, hib, hooray

Dene Hibbert

DENE Hibbert gave up crown green bowling to help his daughter, Laura, pursue her swimming career.

But, having rededicated himself to the sport in the last two years, the Ashton Cricket Club player lifted the Green Final Bowling Handicap trophy at a packed North Chadderton Social and Bowling Club.

The 48-year-old beat Moorside’s Geoff Woolley, 14 years his senior, 21-14 in a final closer than the score indicates. It was nip and tuck until Hibbert broke free on a mark across the middle of the green.

Hibbert, a former Greater Manchester regular, has experience of the big occasion, having the prestigious Pendleton Belmont competition on his impressive bowling CV.

clinched

And it was his varied, all-round game which clinched the issue despite Woolley’s excellence in the corners.

Hibbert certainly needed to show that quality in his quarter-final with John Ashton (Royton), who turned a four-chalks concession into an 18-15 lead only to surrender the jack and succumb in the corners.

Woolley, meanwhile, reached the semi-finals thanks to a 21-13 verdict over Steve Fieldhouse (Friezland), while John Wade (Syke) beat Darren Mountford (Moorside) 21-12, and Ben Gledhill (Royton) just saw off Neil Armstrong (St Pauls) 21-19 in a high-quality match ended with a quite superb bowl in the corners.

Gledhill, still a teenager but with a big future in the game ahead of him, tried to match Hibbert across the middle and did so for much of their semi-final.

But Hibbert’s switch to the corners proved pivotal in his 21-15 success and it was those same corners which Woolley used to great effect in his narrow 21-19 defeat of Wade.

That set up the final and a clash of styles, Hibbert’s short-mark bowling against Woolley’s preference for longer lengths.

Woolley led 12-11, but that was as good as it got for the popular Moorside man, who was unable to respond as Hibbert produced a barrage of excellent leads.

Scores —

Quarter-finals: Neil Armstrong 19, Ben Gledhill 21; John Ashton 18, Dene Hibbert 21; John Wade 21, Darren Mountford 12; Geoff Woolley 21, Steve Fieldhouse 13.

Semi-finals: Gledhill 15, Hibbert 21; Wade 19, Woolley 21.

Final: Hibbert 21, Woolley 14.