Cliff Starkey (
Paul Kaye) is a rebellious young
bowls player brought up on "the Lynx Estate" with his friend Trevor (
Johnny Vegas) and grandfather Mutley (
Bernard Cribbins), a painter and
decorator. He dreams of playing for his country but always preferring to play by his own rules, was always disapproved by the local
Torquay bowls club. He learns of
Australian brothers Carl and Mark Doohan's forthcoming tour of England, and plans to get selected for the national team. Starkey would play through the tournament undefeated, defeating veteran player (and thirteen times champion) Ray Speight (
James Cromwell). After winning the competition, and becoming eligible to play for England, Speight, the head of the local
lawn bowls association, bans Starkey for fifteen years for writing an expletive on an opponent's scorecard. Angry about the ban, Starkey
gatecrashes the celebration party for Speight, who was declared champion; launching a
wood across the dinner table at Speight. being presented by
Rick Schwartz as the "bad boy of
bowls". Starkey is then picked up by
sports agent Rick Schwartz (
Vince Vaughn), where Starkey is re branded as the "bad boy of bowls", turning the normally sedate sport into a glitzy, in your face competition. Having defeated many lower key players in unofficial matches, using his variety of
trick shots Starkey develops a romance with Kerry Speight (
Alice Evans), Ray's daughter. Schwartz proposes a way to get the ban on Starkey lifted, by using this relationship, where the two are spotted by national press, setting Ray Speight to swear at a
public address, causing the ban to be removed. With the sport's popularity at an all-time high, both Speight and Starkey become media celebrities. Schwartz arranges for both Starkey and Speight to take on Australia's unbeaten Doohan brothers in "The Ashes", a one-off tournament in a custom made bowls arena in
Torquay. Schwartz; afraid that the relationship with Kerry is affecting Starkey's game; ends his relationship without his consent causing Starkey to fire Schwartz. Both players have a wide disdain for each other, and are made to use custom bowls for the game. After failing with his woods, and the pressure of the game getting to him, Starkey throws his own woods in a
carrier bag into a canal. With both players failing at half time, Trevor and Kerry talk to the pair, and get them to work as a team to make a comeback. Starkey dives into the canal, followed by Ray Speight, who thought Starkey was trying to drown himself, but was in fact rescuing his own bowls. The two return to the arena wet and make a comeback thanks to Speight's experience and Starkey's extravagance, to force the game into extra time (humorously titled the "golden bowl"), much to the disbelief of Carl and Mark Doohan. The final end, a one bowl play-off, sees a perfect front
toucher from Mark Doohan. Speight gives the bowl to Starkey, but stops him from playing his intended
fire shot, and instead instructs him to play his own signature large
inswinging bowl. The shot works, and the two celebrate having defeated the Australian team, and make amends with Trevor and Mutley. ==Cast==