Another warm afternoon greeting Whitnash and Avenue Leamington to Nuneaton BC to contest the 2026 Wardrop Cup Final. Whitnash were the defending champions, looking for back to back victories, an afternoon of excellent bowling saw the title decided by the final two ends of the last discipline to finish.

Whitnash picked up the first point with an impressive 18-4 win by Lewis Gardner over Avenue’s Karl Finch in the Two Wood Singles. The game looked like it would very close, the Whitnash player one up after five and three up after eight ends but three doubles took him nine ahead. A single, double and single saw the lead increase to thirteen with a possible fourteen shots left, a single on the next end secured an unbeatable 18-4 win for Whitnash.

By the time the Two Woods had finished the Pairs, Triples and Fours had all reached three ends. The Avenue Pairs were a shot down but hit a five to move ahead before swapping singles and taking a four to move eight up after seven ends. With ten ends gone Avenue still led by eight. In the Triples after three ends Whitnash were also a shot ahead and again Avenue moved ahead with a good spell to lead by five with six ends gone, this time it was Whitnash that regained the lead with a trio of pairs and a trio of singles to lead by four with twelve ends played. The Fours also saw Whitnash a shot up after three ends but they pushed on to reach the eleventh end five ahead.

While that was going on Avenue’s Derek Maries was taking on Andy Sparkes (Whitnash) in the four wood singles, despite winning the first end it was Avenue that did the early running quickly reaching an 11-3 advantage. Whitnash took the next end with a single but Maries closed out the game with a four and three doubles to win 21-4 and level the tie 1-1. Back in the Pairs a couple of trebles took Avenue’s lead to fourteen with twelve ends gone, the sides exchanged singles before Whitnash conceded, Avenue winning 23-9 and moving ahead 2-1. In the Fours Avenue cut the deficit to two shots with thirteen ends played but a four followed by a two took Whitnash eight up with three ends left. An Avenue treble was answered by a Whitnash double, Avenue needing seven in the final end to force an extra end, they could only take a single, Whitnash winning 19-13 and levelling the tie 2-2.

The deciding factor would be the Triples, with twelve ends gone Whitnash led by four, two ends later the scores were level. A single and treble gave Avenue a four shot advantage with two ends to go. The penultimate end saw one of those strange freak occurrences in bowls, a heavy wood striking the jack into another wood and sending the jack back up the green but close to being out. The Whitnash skip had no other choice than to try and knock the jack out of the rink as most of the shorter wood belonged to Avenue, his first attempt was tight, his second a fraction too wide and when his last wood also went wide Avenue were left with six shots, enough to give them the win 21-11 with an end to spare and more importantly secure the Wardrop Cup with a 3-2 victory.