By Lucas Ball
Congratulations to Holcombe players Sean Parker, Vince Lewis and Jon Gurney who are all Masters’ World Cup champions following triumphs in New Zealand overnight!
Parker and Gurney both played for England’s over-55s as they beat Australia 4-2 in the final, while Lewis played for England over-55s IMC, who also beat Australia – by a 4-1 scoreline.
The former two were involved in every game of a perfect campaign for their side as they won all four pool matches to set up a semi-final tie with hosts New Zealand.
England beat Belgium 4-0, Singapore 16-1, Ireland 4-0 and South Africa 1-0 in Pool A before dispatching of the hosts, winning 2-0 in their last-four encounter.
That win meant they would face Australia for gold after they had beaten South Africa 3-2 in the semis.
Australia took a two-goal lead in the final through Neville Newell and Dean Wightman but two goals in as many minutes towards the end of Q3 from Mike Crowson and Nick Morris teed up an exciting final period of action.
England made use of that change in momentum to score twice in the first five minutes through Martin Oates and Richard Jones to put them in pole position and they were able to hold on to become world champions.
New Zealand also beat South Africa 3-1 to finish on the podium.
Lewis’ IMC side also won all of their matches on route to the final – scoring 10 in the pool stage without conceding as they beat Australia 1-0, Alliance 5-0 and Southern Cross 4-0.
Holcombe’s Lewis scored the winner against Australia and the fourth against Alliance.
Then came a friendly against Singapore which England won 7-0, with Lewis again on the scoresheet.
England again met Alliance in the last-four, winning 4-0 to set up a final against Australia, where Lewis gave England the lead.
Alan Dalley, Dom D’Melo and Terry Pollard added more goals as England moved into a 4-0 lead before Andrew Bewick scored a consolation for Australia in the dying embers of the match.
Congratulations to everyone involved on the wins and we look forward to hearing all about the experiences at Holcombe Park!