New Winter Cup title contender emerges

Winter League

The final qualifying round in the 2025-26 Winter Cup competition was played at Milnsbridge BC on Wednesday when the eleven Division 1 participants were whittled down to the two representatives who progress to the Round of the Last 28.

The entries included four bowlers from Kirkheaton Con A and three from the Champions, Thorpe Green A. Amazingly there were no inter-team clashes until the final round when two Lower Hopton bowlers met each other for the right to progress through to the Round of the Last 28. That resulted in Graham Hirst beating teammate Nick Oddy 21-19 to go through to the next stage.

He will be joined there after an extraordinary performance from Kirkheaton Con A bowler, Andy Lumb, who beat three Top 10 Division 1 bowlers to take the second qualifier place. First off he beat Dave Pollard of Cowcliffe A 21-7, whose 2025-26 playing record had taken him to the 9th place in the end-of-season Division 1 Top 10 table. Next up was 5th-placed Andy Wike (Thorpe Green A) who has only lost once all season (to the 2026 Champion, Nick Oddy). The Kirkheaton new boy, who only became age-qualified to join the League this season, prevailed with a 21-18 win.

Then came the ultimate test against the 2023-24 Division 1 Champion Bowler, Ian Briggs, who was just denied a second title when finishing 2nd in the season just completed, which was 20 places higher than his opponent in the 2026 Top Bowler listing. Ian was pushing back all the time with three great fireings that sent the jack off each time to save 'lost' positions. By this time Andy Lumb was on fire and continued his short game tactic to ease past the 2023 Winter Cup winner with a 21-12 win and if he can reproduce that form will be a strong contender for the title when the competition resumes on Sunday 29 March.

Preliminary Round Andy Wike (Thorpe Green A) 21-7 Adrian Cooper (Kirkheaton Con A)

Andy Lumb (Kirkheaton Con A) 21-7 Dave Pollard (Cowcliffe A) Ian Briggs (Thorpe Green A) 21-10 Garry Senior (Kirkheaton Con A) Byes for Jacqui Haigh, Gordon Walker, Nick Oddy, David Frost and Graham Hirst

Round 1 Gordon Walker (Kirkheaton Con A) 11-21 Nick Oddy (Lower Hopton David Frost (Thorpe Green A) 15-21 Graham Hirst (Lower Hopton) Andy Wike (Thorpe Green A) 18-21 Andy Lumb (Kirkheaton Con A) Ian Briggs (Thorpe Green A) 21-15 Jacqui Haigh (New Mill A)

Round 2 Nick Oddy (Lower Hopton) 19-21 Graham Hirst (Lower Hopton) Andy Lumb (Kirkheaton Con A) 21-12 Ian Briggs (Thorpe Green A)

Qualifiers

Graham Hirst (Lower Hopton) & Andy Lumb (Kirkheaton Con A)

All the qualifiers that progress through to the Round of the Last 28 Division 1: Graham Hirst (Lower Hopton) & Andy Lumb (Kirkheaton Con A)

Division 2: Andrew Turner (Lowerhouses A) & Barry Gibson (Meltham A)

Division 3: Stuart Simmons (Denby Dale) & Stuart England (Denby Dale)  

Division 4: Rob Hurst (Netherton Con A), Paul Winterburn (Netherton Con A), Trevor Atkinson (Hudd Rec Club A) and Nick Lowe (Elland WMC)

Division 5: Derek Hey (Jackson Bridge) & Michael Wood (Mirfield A)

Division 6: Dave Ashworth (Cowcliffe B), Richard Johnstone (Brockholes B), Michael Carr (Brockholes B) and Ray Clayton (Netherton Con B)

Division 7: Joanna Birch (RUFC), Mark Berry (Kirkheaton Con B), Paul Booth (Marsh Lib A)

& Nigel Roebuck (RUFC)   

Division 8: Russell Auty (Broad Oak B) & John Sanderson (Meltham B)

Division 9: Steve Hall (Kirkheaton Con C) & Geoff Pearson (Kirkheaton C&BC C

Division 10: Jamal Kelly (Skel Windmill B), David Cooper (Thongsbridge), Sam Seargeant (Skel Windmill A) and Kevin Booth (Skel Windmill A)

How did we end up with the odd number of 28 qualifiers? How come that some division qualifiers produced only 2 qualifiers whilst others produced four? Well it is all down to the number of entries and the weather.

Four qualifying rounds attracted bumper entry numbers of 16-24. It was quickly recognised that this could result in some bowlers waiting for 2 hours to get their first foot on the green. In addition it was calculated that getting down to two qualifiers, which had been the original target, would take the running time to over 4 hours. This is in the middle of a Yorkshire Winter.

It was unacceptable that we ask 24 pensioners to stand outside for four hours in the middle of Winter. Steps were taken to reduce the timescales to a more acceptable length for qualifying rounds where the entries were 16 or above. These steps being:

• 5 jacks on the green at all times

• All matches to be of 15-Up

• Four qualifiers from each of these qualifying competitions

This worked well and achieved the objective and the playing times were reduced and that is how we ended up with a Round of the Last 28. This will be played at the Huddersfield RUFC from 11.00am on Sunday 29 March. The draw for this stage of the competition will be made at the League's Management Committee meeting on Thursday 5 March.

With the high number of bowlers once again involved at this stage, the new format will be used again to minimise the time that 28 bowlers are asked to stand around outside in the unpredictable late March weather. They will play down to provide the final 8 winners who will contest the Quarter-Finals onwards on Finals Day on Sunday 12 April.