Round-up of this weeks’s Thame sports news

SWIMMING – Jo Hewett, who swims for Thame Swimming Club, recently competed at the Mencap hosted, British Learning Disability Swimming Championship over the weekend of August 23/24, held at the Wales National Pool in Swansea. Jo swam brilliantly and came home with four medals – 2 x Golds (200 Back and 50 Fly); 1 x Silver (50 Breast) and 1 x Bronze (100 Back) – and three Personal Bests.

Jo Hewett

Paralympic swimming star Jessica-Jane Applegate and Commonwealth medallist Jack Thomas were at the Championships and swam in challenge races with some lucky competitors, giving the event a really great fun atmosphere. Club spokesperson, Helen Williams, said: “A massive well done to Jo for such amazing achievements – we are all very proud of you.”

CRICKET – Wolverton 1sts vs Thame 1sts – Newly-crowned champions of the Cherwell League, Thame won easily at Wolverton last Saturday, leaving themselves with one game left to complete an unbeaten season. Wolverton, the bottom-of-the-table side, won the toss and elected to bowl. On a wicket that helped the bowlers, Thame batted sensibily and scored quickly at the end of the innings. Contributions from Mike Beard (40) Honey Garg (41) and James Adams (36) helped Thame reach a good score of 238 for 9. In reply, Wolverton were never in the game, as Thame’s captain Mike Higgs took 5-35 and the hosts were bowled out for 103 in 29 overs. The final league game for Thame, against Long Marston, will take place this Saturday, September 5, at Church Meadow.

Chris Jeffcock

Thame 2nds vs Long Marston 2nds – Aiming to secure their place in the top half of Division 5, Thame IIs took on Long Marston, who chose to bat first. Led by openers Miscampbell (79) and Cockbain (38), the visitors posted a par score of 217 for 7 in 53 overs. The best of the Thame bowlers were James McStay (2 for 26), Chris Jeffcock (2 for 68) and Dan Patey (1 for 17 and unlucky not to take more wickets). In reply, Thame’s innings was dominated from the first to the penultimate over by Chris Jeffcock’s outstanding 107. As in most winning run-chases, good partnerships are critical and Jeffcock put together 68 with Jinman, 60 with Patey and 35 with Oli Sutcliffe, who rounded off the win in style, with 4 wickets standing and 10 balls of the 47 overs to spare.

Twyford 3rds vs Thame 3rds – Twyford IIIs forfeited their game, in the Division 9’s end-of-season cup, so Thame IIIs go through to the semi-final on September 5. (SOURCE: Contributed)

BOWLS – Nearing the end of the Bowling season and a quieter week at Thame Bowls Club. Bad weather curtailed two games. However, in better weather, a rather unique fixture took place this week when Thame bowlers hosted a game against Wycombe Chestnuts, a group of blind and visually impaired bowlers.

Two of these bowlers, Bob Gerhardt (who recently was winner of the National Blind Bowling Pairs Championship) and Mary Pitman, who both live in Thame, are members of Thame Bowls Club and together with their helpers and ‘guides’ they brought some of their friends to take on two Triples of Thame Bowlers. The outcome was a thoroughly enjoyable afternoon’s bowling played in competitive but friendly spirit, and it was only in the latter stages of the game that Thame pulled ahead to record a victory. A double fixture (home and away) is already being planned for next season.

The week at Thame finished with Finals Weekend at which 12 of the Club’s Knock-out Competitions were completed. The 2015 finals of the Men’s, Ladies and Mixed competitions were held over the weekend of 29th and 30th August – the first time that the finals had been held over 2 days rather than one. This made it a less crowded programme and certainly helped those bowlers who had managed to reach multiple finals. Six finals were played on Saturday 29th and six more on Sunday 30th. Unfortunately rain intervened on the Sunday afternoon but this did not deter the bowlers and the spectators that attended were able to watch some entertaining and competitive games.

Saturday’s programme kicked off with the final of the Men’s Taylor Cup – a competition for men who have never previously won a club singles competition. This was won by Matthew Canfield who had a convincing win over Trevor Copley. This was followed by The Ladies Ford Cup final, a drawn pairs competition, and Ann Ashfield and Maire Duncan beat Marion Keal and Marthie du Preez. The Men’s drawn pairs competition, the Victory Pairs final was played next and John Ashfield and Les Canfield were victorious against Mike Ralls and John Coward. (It’s been pointed out that by coincidence the winners are both Presidents ! – Les of course is our own President and John Ashfield is President of Chinnor Rugby Club). Next was the final of the Michael Jones competition which is the only singles event in the club open to both Men and Ladies. Casper du Preez and Caroline Walker played out a very closely fought game with Casper just coming out on top. Next up was the Men’s Jubilee Handicap singles competition which was won by Vic Brooks against John Coward playing in his second final of the day and the last final on Saturday was the Ladies 2 Wood singles which was won by Maxine Plested who beat Marthie du Preez, also playing in her second final of the day.

Sunday’s finals started with the Married Pairs Final for the Josey Cup and this was a very close game which could have gone either way but was narrowly won by Marthie and Casper du Preez beating Sharon and Paul Heafey. The Mixed Pairs final was next and this produced another thrilling game that was eventually won by a single shot with John Ashfield and Shirley Foster beating Doreen Penn and her grandson Thomas Tisbury. This was very hard luck for Doreen and Thomas as it was the second successive year that they had reached this final and both times they lost by just a single shot! The Ladies Honour Cup was next and this was another very tight game played between Ann Ashfield and Marion Keal. This competition is played over 15 ends but the scores were tied at that point with Ann just managing to draw level. So the game went to an extra end and Ann was just able to secure the win following a measure. The men’s Walker Cup was next, a 3 wood competition, and this saw John Coward playing in his third final of the weekend and he was finally able to mark up a victory with a convincing win over John Timms. This just left the two club championship singles finals to be played – the Pomeroy Cup for the Ladies and the Coronation Cup for the Men. The Ladies final saw Jill Brooks take an early lead but Marthie du Preez, playing in her fourth final of the weekend, clawed her way back into the game to lead by 14-10 after 14 ends. Jill replied decisively scoring 8 shots in the next 4 ends without reply and maintained her lead to eventually win by 21 shots to 17. The Men’s final was played between Les Canfield and Vic Brooks and was unfortunately marred by an injury to Les who slipped in the wet conditions and injured his hip. Les was unable to carry on and both players agreed to resume the match at a later date when Les has recovered. The match stands with Vic leading by 6 shots to 3 and will be continued from that point. (SOURCE: Contributed)

A summary of the finals played and results follows:

Mens Taylor Cup – Matthew Canfield beat Trevor Copley 22-7
Ladies Ford Cup – Ann Ashfield & Maire Duncan beat Marion Kean & Marthie du Preez 28-18
Mens Victory Pairs – John Ashfield & Les Canfield beat Mike Ralls & John Coward 25-8
Michael Jones (Mixed) – Casper du Preez beat Caroline Walker 7-5, 5-8, 7-3
Mens Jubilee Handicap – Vic Brooks beat John Coward 27-17
Ladies 2-Wood Singles – Maxine Plested beat Marthie du Preez 15-8
Married Pairs – Marthie & Casper du Preez beat Sharon & Paul Heafey 20-16
Mixed Pairs – John Ashfield & Shirley Foster beat Thomas Tisbury & Doreen Penn 18-17
Ladies Honour Cup – Ann Ashfield beat Marion Keal 15-13
Mens Walker Cup – John Coward beat John Timms 23-10
Ladies Pomeroy Cup – Jill Brooks beat Marthie du Preez 21-17
Mens Coronation Cup – Vic Brooks leads Les Canfield 6-3 (game to be resumed to completion)