Curdridge Cricket Club
East Horton Golf Club was the venue chosen to host the inaugural Hamble River Challenge match, between Curdridge C.C. and Hamble ASSC. A brand new trophy was on offer to the winners. (The clubs are at opposite ends of the River Hamble, hence the trophy’s name).
The format was loosely based on the Ryder Cup with ten players a side competing at matchplay golf.
The morning fourballs saw Curdridge race into a 3-0 lead with Father and Son, Mark & Rory Williams stealing the show, with a 7 & 6 win over Hamble skipper, Stu Rankin and his partner Gareth Edwards (not the rugby player).
There were also good wins for Matt Cozens and Simon Fleming (5 & 3), with Mal Pone and Vinny registering a 2 & 1 victory. A late surge by Hamble brought the score back to 3-2, With Simon Tooley & Mark Hannah scoring a 4 & 2 success over Russ Collins and Andy Anthony.
The final fourball brought a 3 & 1 victory for Graham Mortimore and Lenny Dellimore.
Lunch was taken with a few light hearted grumbles about handicaps.
The afternoon singles saw a change in course with the flatter, slightly easier of the two 18’s being used.
The draw produced some interesting pairings with Curdridge’s Vinny opposing Mark Hannah from Hamble the pick of the bunch. In a closely fought contest they were all square going down the last hole, only for the Hamble man to find the heavy rough from the tee - a shot which ultimately cost him the point.
Curdridge tightened their grip on the trophy by surging ahead with wins by Simon Fleming over Jim Phillips, Andy Anthony over Dave Tyrell and further big wins by the Williams family - Mark seeing off Steve Taylor and Rory accounting for Lenny.
Hamble pegged back with Graham Mortimore beating Mel Pone, and Simon Tooley a victor over Mick Gibson. But further wins by Russ Collins over Gareth Edwards and Matt Cozens over John Hicks sealed Hamble’s fate.
It was left to the skippers to round the match off with Mark Emm recovering from 5 down against Stu Rankin to halve the match on the last hole.
The final score being Curdrige 10 ½ Hamble 4 ½
A short presentation, and a well earned beer followed in the greenside bar, with all the golfers weary, but satisfied with a day played, in excellent spirit.
Hampshire Cricket Board Hampshire Cricket League S.E. Hants Indoor Cricket League
The club would like to thank John Anthony and Jon Edwards, for their tireless efforts, towards achieving this award.