Gary Siswick of Crosland Moor wins Huddersfield Autumn Handicap bowling title to earn place in Champion of Champions

Girlfriend Nicole now banned from watching

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11:00, 30 SEP 2014

Gary Siswick is looking forward to the Champion of Champions final after landing the Autumn Handicap title.

The 25-year-old from Crosland Moor beat his good friend Dan Beeby 21-7 in Sunday’s showpiece at Almondbury Liberal Club, which was sponsored by Titanic Spa of Linthwaite.

It’s a first major Huddersfield Association title for the former Colne Valley Merit winner, and helped make up for some of the disappointment he felt when his Crosland Moor team lost to Meltham in the final of the Henry Taylor Cup the previous week.

And his success means girlfriend Nicole is now banned from supporting him at finals!

He smiled: “I’ve done well in the Huddersfield competitions this year but absolutely nothing in the finals when Nicole has been watching.

“She didn’t come to the Autumn Handicap and I won, so now she’s got to stay away!”

Siswick, who works at Huddersfield Bearings and has been bowling since he was 10, was pleased to play well throughout the final, when he put together four very solid wins.

Linthwaite CBC’s Andrew Rose was beaten 21-12 in the first round before Longwood’s Adam Graham was overcome 21-11.

In the semi-finals, Siswick beat Richard Brook 21-11 and then it was Beeby up next.

“It’s never nice playing your mates in finals, it’s harder than against someone you don’t know, but you’ve just got to concentrate,” said Siswick, who bowls at the Griffin in winter and plays snooker at Crosland Moor Con.

“We both had some early success in the final but then I got a big break going and was able to see it through from there.

“I was really happy with how I played and I was pretty chuffed to win one of the Huddersfield finals at last.

“Now I want to do better in the Champion of Champions. I’ve been in it once before but got knocked out in the first round, so I want to improve on that.”

So what was the secret to his success at Almondbury Lib?

“I started off a bit sluggish to be fair and, when I came off the green after beating Andrew Rose, someone said ‘you won’t win if you play like that’.

“I just thought to myself that I was still in the competition, so I still had a chance, and it all went pretty comfortably after that.

“The green was quick, so I got on a short mark across the middle, and that seemed to catch everyone out a bit.”

Draw: Robert Mudd (Waterloo, 3) 14 Ronald Manning (Lockwood Con, 4) 21, Richard Brook (Lower Hopton, 2) 21 Paul Ingleby (Lower Hopton, 2) 14, Graham Hirst (Lower Hopton, 3) 20 Adam Graham (Longwood, 4) 21, Gary Siswick (Crosland Moor, 3) 21 Andrew Rose (Linthwaite CBC, 4) 12, Anthony Crawley (Cowcliffe, 4) 21 Adrian Cooper (Moldgreen, 3) 19, Craig Newton (Lower Hopton, 2) 14 Peter Kain (Lockwood Con, 3) 21, Michael Armitage (Linthwaite CBC, 3) 21 John Metcalfe (Moldgreen, 2) 20, Andrew Wadsworth (Canalside, 3) 4 Dan Beeby (Canalside, 3) 21.