Last year Bampton did not field a side as the event took place on the same night as the Bampton Indoor finals night.

This was a great shame as in 2022 we came away as winners having beaten Oxford 2-0 in the final, this year however the fixture was held on a Friday and we were back in action.

Due to some of the 2022 winning team being away for the Easter break, (Dave Lee & Tony Grant) some new and old faces appeared in this years line up.

Graham Collet, who last appeared all the way back in 2011 when we lost to Oxford in the final, filled the anchor man spot having played superbly all the way through the winter in the indoor league. He can be a truly formidabe anchor man at times and loves to chase a score.

We had two debutants, Danny Smith ( Athletico Talbot) who again had shown excellent form in both summer and winter leagues over the last couple of seasons, and also Will Smith, ( Bampton Ducks) who not too many years ago was playing in the lower sections has proved himself to be a very consistent player having stepped up to play for an A section team.

The other players in the squad were drawn from the wiinning team of 2022.

The squad was as follows:-

Ady Pitts & Danny Smith (Athletico Talbot)
Max Everet and Paul Gill (Bell B)
Martyn Seacole (Morris Marauders)
Will Smith ( Bampton Ducks)
Golly Collet (Morris Clowns)
Jeff Glenister (Odds & Sods) Bampton indoor League

The Leagues present this year were Abingdon, Bicester, Banbury, Chipping Norton, Eynsham (indoor), Oxford and Wychwood.

In the first game we were drawn against 2023 winners Bicester.

Bampton won the toss and decided to set and put 20 on the board, Bicester replied with the Anchor man getting the odd doll to put them on 21 and take the first leg. In the second leg Bicester hit 25 which proved far too strong for Bampton who where left needing 14 dolls of the last 3 players to draw.

A victory for Bicester and Bampton now found themselves in the plate competition.

The draw for the plate was made and we were up against our old friends from Chipping Norton, they really are a nice bunch !, a side that featured no fewer than 3 world singles Champions, Steve Mcateer, Trevor Dyer and the current holder Rob Bradford.

Bampton set the first leg, and what a great set it was, scores of 3,4,4,5,4,4,4,1 gave us a whopping 29 which Chippy could not touch.

In the second leg Chippy set and they put a very healthy 26 on the board.

Bamptons response was 2,3,5,6,1,5,4,1 with Golly at Anchor hitting the winning doll and with an early stick and walking with the rest.

A special mention should go to Jeff Glenister 5,6 and also what amazing debuts from both Danny Smith and Will Smith who both hit, 4,5 a piece in the two legs and also Max Everret with 4,4

Everyone had stepped up in the 2nd game and we now proceeded to the plate final against our close rivals, Eynsham Indoor , who having lost their opening game against Abingdon had just beaten Wychwood .

Bampton set in the first and seemed to have dipped in form hitting only 18 , Eynsham however struggled and their anchor man fell one short to leave them with 17.

In the second leg Eynsham opted to set and scored 21, Bampton this time fell 1 short and ended on 20, so it all was down to the third and deciding leg.

Bampton won the toss and put Eynsham in and they scored 22.

Martyn Seacole opened for Bampton with a 4, Paul Gill hit another 4, followed by Danny Smith with a 3, Jeff Glenister 3, Ady Pitts then pulled a wonderful 6 out of the bag and new boy Will Smith hit a 3 to finsih things with only 6 players needed to hit the 23 required and take the Plate trophy for Bampton for the second time.

It was a great night of Aunt Sally and our thanks go out to the Banbury league and Matt Dixon for organising it, James Bargus for running it and Greg Gilbert of Charlbury Travel for his excellent and proffessional sevice in getting us to and from the event.