Maltby Bowling Club added the Hospital Cup to this season's Brooke Farm Handicap, and at the same time avenged their defeat in last season's final when defeating holders Woodlands Park.

With arguably the current two best teams in the Doncaster leagues on show, including several former and current county bowlers, a close contest was expected, but Maltby's Ross Meese had obviously not read the script. After losing the first two ends against opponent Barry Connolly, he found a tricky mark across the middle of the green and went 8-3 up. Connolly got in and attempted to change the mark, but threw the block off the green, allowing Meese to take him back where he had just come from, scoring another three ends to lead 12-4. Connolly scored another single, but Meese rattled off 4 pairs in a row to stand at 20-5. Connolly managed two more points before Meese finished a 21-7 winner - first blood to Maltby.

Woodlands Park's Brian Barrass has an unenviable record of never winning in a Doncaster cup final, belying his undoubted ability. He went 3-2 up against Jonathan Sneddon, but then found himself 8-3 down. In a game where more than the normal number of twos were scored, Barrass closed to 9-10 and 11-12, and four ends later was 16-13 up and must of thought he was breaking his duck at last. Sneddon levelled at 16-all, before another two saw Barrass 18-16 ahead. But now Sneddon scored two pairs, and although the oodlands player won the next end, Sneddon won the one after for a 21-19 win.

Simon Dinnie of Woodlands won the first four ends for a 6-0 lead, before Rob Swift won the next four to close to 5-6. The jack exchanged hands several times over the next nine ends, with neither player managing to score more than one at any of them, to leave the score 10-all. Swift then made a break to lead 14-10, then 17-12 and 19-14. Dinnie had been striking well all night, and scored three singles, but Swift closed the game out 21-17 for Maltby's third winner, giving them a lead of 20 points.

Woodlands needed a winner, and Malcolm Fox gave them one. After the first eight ends were shared with Maltby's Tommy Fletcher, Fox won eight in a row to lead 13-4. Fletcher ground his way back into the game, winning six of the next eight ends to stand 11-15, but he could only manage one more point as Fox finished a 21-12 winner in a game that lasted 31 ends with both players only managing one pair apiece. With four games completed, Maltby led 75-64.

In game five Andrew Jones led 7-5 for Woodlands against Lee Davies, before the Maltby player won four ends in a row to go 9-7 up. Jones came back with a run of his own, winning five ends to lead 13-9 and shortly afterwards stood 17-11 up. Davies narrowed the gap to 15-17, and battled hard but just lost out as Jones won 21-19 after another epic game of 33 ends.

Good friends Graham Fox and Darren Stevenson contested game six, and Fox led 5-0 for Woodlands before Stevenson got in and won four ends to lie 4-5 down. Again the jack changed hands several times as Fox led 12-9, before Stevenson scored 7 points without reply, and then moved 18-14 up. But Fox is a veteran of many finals with Bentley Colliery, and used his experience to draw level, and then pass his opponent for a 21-19 win which narrowed the match aggregate to just seven points.

Dave Patrickson junior played like a man on a mission for Woodlands, winning the first five ends and leading 11-3 after eleven. Opponent Keith Hampson stopped the rot with a couple of singles, and closed to 8-13 down, before Patrickson went away again to 18-8. Woodlands sensed they were back in contention, and although Hampson scored five more points, the holders cheered their man on to a 21-13 win which saw them in the lead for the first time on the night, by a single point.

The last game saw Woodlands captain Tom Boyd trail opponent Chris Bytheway 6-4 before going 10-7 up. His opponent then won three ends to lead 11-10, before Boyd scored a pair to lead 12-11. But Bytheway kept his nerve on a green he had never seen before, restricting Boyd to just one more point as he won 21-13 to give Maltby the trophy for the first time with a win by seven points.

Played at UNISON Bowling Club (Haslam Park) on Tuesday 2^nd August 2011.

Armthorpe Welfare won the Bufton Cup for the 11^th time with a comfortable win over opponents Carcroft, who were making their first appearance in the final. Carcroft started as underdogs, and their task became virtually impossible after John Richardson and Danny Sillito won 21-2 for Armthorpe with less than half an hour of the match gone. When Malcolm and Cynthia Tonge won 21-14 against arguably Carcroft's strongest pairing, the match was almost over as a contest, and Carcroft were playing for pride only. Although they couldn’t manage a win in either of the remaining two games, they at least avoided the embarrassment of recording the lowest score in a final, and in fact Lol Atkinson and John Burton were lying game at one point in their game before finally succumbing 21-18 to opponents Jim Garbutt and Mick Meehan.

Bufton Cup Winners - Armthorpe Welfare

Played at Mexborough Athletic Bowling Club on Thursday 11^th August.

A new name was added to to the Brooke Farm Handicap trophy as Maltby Bowling Club won the competition for the first time, in just their second season as members of the Doncaster Bowling Association.

Maltby began the match conceding 27 points on the handicaps to opponents Thorpe Marsh Bentley, and needed a good start to close the deficit. They got it from captain Darren Stevenson, who quickly went 6-1 up against Jack Richardson, before the Thorpe Marsh player pulled back to 5-9 and then 7-11. But this was as good as it got for Richardson as Stevenson won the next six ends, including four twos, for a 21-7 win which halved the points difference at a stroke.

Rob Swift of Maltby shared the opening ends of his game with Eric Wright, standing at 5-5 after seven ends, before winning seven of the next eight ends to lead 14-6, and then 18-7. Wright rallied briefly, scoring singles at four of the next five ends to close to 11-19, before Swift finished him off to win 21-11.

In the third game Maltby's Ross Meese was conceding nearly 70 years in age to opponent Ron Mortlock, but he didn't let that deter him as he led 7-3. Then Mortlock scored five points without reply to lead 8-7, only for Meese to do the same to go 12-8 up. The Thorpe Marsh veteran won three of the next four ends to lie just 13-14 down, but Meese kept his nerve and soon won 21-16 to leave Maltby two in front.

Thorpe Marsh's Pete Strutt found himself 7-2 behind against Lee Davies, before clawing his way back to 7-8. Davies then got the better of the exchanges to lead 15-11, before Strutt scored three pairs in four ends to go in front for the first time at 17-16. Thorpe Marsh's hopes of a first winner of the night were dashed, though, as Davies scored five without reply to win 21-17, putting Maltby ahead 94-88 at the halfway stage.

Barry Tomlinson won the first two ends in game five for Thorpe Marsh, but any lingering hopes the Bentley side had were cruelly dashed as opponent Dean Myers, unbeaten in Doncaster this year, restricted Tomlinson to just one more point as he won 21-3 to put Maltby 24 in front.

Phil Henson got off to a flyer in game six, with the Maltby man leading 9-0 against opponent Paul Bassindale, a member of the International Harvesters side who provided the biggest upset in the history of the Brooke Farm competition when beating top side Armthorpe Welfare in the 1982 final. Bassindale showed he could still perform on the big stage as he got in and closed to 6-9, and shared the next few ends before nearing to just 13-15 down. Henson then stopped the rot to go 18-13 up, and although Bassindale won two more ends, Henson finished a 21-15 winner.

Derbyshire's Chris Bytheway led 4-0 for Maltby against Roger Elston, before going 5-4 behind. Bytheway then won ten out the next eleven ends to lead comfortably 15-6. Elston got the better of the latter part of the game, getting back to 13-19, but lost the last two ends for a 21-13 defeat.

Thorpe Marsh's best hope of avoiding a whitewash looked to come from last man Neil Gregory, who led Derbyshire county bowler Keith Hampson 5-0 and 7-4, before the Maltby player levelled at 7-all. Gregory went 9-7 up, slipped 10-9 down, and then led 12-10. Hampson, using his trademark bright orange bowls, moved up a gear however, and lost only one of the remaining eight ends to win 21-14 and give his side a win by 45 points.

Played at Harvesters Bowling Club, Elmfield Park on Wednesday 10^th August.

After three defeats in the final since 1999, Yorkshire Main finally shook off their bridesmaids tag with a win in their fourth Eric Warren Trophy final appearance, defeating last year's runners-up Pilkingtons Recreation 'C'.

With Yorkshire Main having a two point advantage on the player handicaps, and Pilkingtons carrying a four point penalty due to their runners-up status from last year, the Edlington team started six points in front, and when George Boothman won 21-2 in just 17 ends, running out from 10-2 up, things were looking good.

Pilkingtons had other ideas, however, and although Bob Jackson led 4-0 for Yorkshire Main, John Armstrong rattled off three pairs to lead 6-4, and soon led 14-6. Jackson won four of the next five ends to close to 11-16, but could only manage one more as Armstrong won 21-12 to close the gap to 16.

Game 3 saw Pilkingtons Tony Blanchard use his considerable experience against Michelle Bowley, who has only been playing for just over a year, going from 5-3 up to 10-3, and then 14-4. Bowley settled her nerves a little bit, and matched Blanchard point for point in the second half of the game, but she was unable to close any further, leaving Blanchard a 21-11 winner and Pilkingtons back to only 16 behind.

In game 4 Shirley Thornton led 5-0 for Pilkingtons, before Henry Hall got off the mark and began to claw his way back into the game, trailing just 11-12 after 17 ends, and after 22 ends he led 16-15. Thornton then came back, however, and won four of the last five ends to win 21-17. The score at halfway was 114-112 to Yorkshire Main.

Pilkingtons now had the momentum, and in the battle of the junior bowlers Thomas Shillito of Pilkingtons scored doubles at the first two ends against Natasha Jackson before his opponent scored three singles to trail 4-3. Shillito then won eight ends in a row to lead 16-3, and soon it was 20-4. Jackson managed to double her score in the next three ends, but another single from Shillito saw him win 21-8 and Pilkingtons were in front for the first time in the match, leading by 11.

Veteran Joe Dixon won the first three ends for Yorkshire Main, before Wayne Barker scored five ones in a row to go 5-3 up. Dixon then scored four singles himself, before recording the first double of the game at the 13^th end to lead 9-5. Barker levelled at 9-all, Dixon went 13-9 up, then back came Barker at 13-all, and then 15-all. Dixon kept his cool though, winning four of the last five ends for a 21-17 end to give Yorkshire Main hope.

John Richards' game against Ross Taylor was another tight affair, with Richards leading 6-5 after nine ends, then trailing 9-7 after 13 ends. Richards finally recorded his first pair in the middle of a run of seven ends without reply to go 16-9 up, and although Taylor scored five points in three ends, Richards held on to win 21-15. Pilkingtons now led by a single point with one game left on the green.

This game saw Yorkshire Main's other junior player, Adam Dawson, lead 6-3 against Marie Reilly, before Reilly went 9-6 up. The jack changed hands several times as Dawson levelled at 12-all and then went ahead at 15-14, then Reilly won two ends to lead 16-15. The match was still in the balance. Dawson scored two more singles, then one to Reilly to make it 17-all, before Dawson won the last three ends for a 21-17 win which gave his side victory by three points. Pilkingtons could take consolation in the fact that they were only beaten courtesy of their team penalty, but it was Yorkshire Main who were celebrating after winning 185-182.