HEREFORDSHIRE Short Mat Bowls Association (HSMBA) celebrated their 25th anniversary in style with the launch of a new team of five tournament, to be dubbed the “25th Anniversary Cup”.
The new competition saw Ross Bowling Club dominant, leading to an all-Ross final as their team captained by Peter Wright beat their clubmates captained by Dave Watkins in a tense final that went down to the wire.
The tournament saw teams of five to seven players enter, competing in matches comprising of a pairs and triples game with overall shots across the two mats deciding the outcome.
Teams could utilise the “squad” format, enabling them to swap players in and out of their teams between games.
An entry of 14 teams representing 10 of the county’s 13 clubs gathered with over 80 HSMBA members taking part, totalling just over a third of the county’s overall membership.
The 14 teams were drawn into two groups of seven who competed in a round robin as the county made use of all 12 mats to accommodate the entry number.
With the top two teams in each group going through to the semi finals, it all came down to the final round of games in both groups.
Group one saw Gorsley Chapel 1, captained by Joe Loveys, finish top of the table on the maximum 12 points.
They were joined by Weston who just snuck in to take second place on nine points ahead of St Martin’s in third.
Meanwhile Group 2 came down to the wire as three teams finished on 10 points leaving the top two places to be decided by shots difference.
Qualifying top were Ross 1, captained by Peter Wright on +62 shots. They were joined by Dave Watkins’ Ross 2 on +50 who just edged out The Lea who fell 10 shots short on +40.
Semi-final one saw Watkins’ Ross team comprising of Sue Dix & Ian Roe in the pairs and Linda Lewis, Les Williams & Dave Watkins in the triples beat the Gorsley team of Sophie Heather-Warner & Joe Loveys in the pairs and Anthony Chesterton, Clive Matthews and Dean Rudman in the triples19-15.
The second semi-final saw the Ross team of Peter Wright, Claire Herbert, Dave Andrews, David Millington Jones and Gary Peachey beat Weston under Penyard captained by Tim Rigden who from his six players available was joined by Graham Weare in the pairs whilst Kate Williams skipped Gill Rigden and Jim Wilkinson in the triples, as Ross ran out 22-17 victors.
An all-Ross final resulted in two nip and tuck matches which saw Wright’s teams in the lead at the halfway stage, 4-3 up in the pairs and 5-1 up in the triples.
However, team Watkins fought back hard, dominating the final few ends on both mats to produce an incredible result with both disciplines finishing in a draw- 7-7 in the pairs and 5-5 in the triples-taking the inaugural 25th Anniversary Cup to an extra end.
With the tension high, it was Wright’s triple who struck the crucial blow, taking a fantastic three as Ross 1 came out victorious against their clubmates.
