This home fixture was the second leg of the 2016 competition for the “Two Shires Trophy”. Gloucestershire won by 24 points to 16, thus retaining the trophy for the second year. Gloucestershire scored 206 points to Worcestershire’s 166.
Session 1.
Both Singles bowlers lost their matches, although Richard Rose came storming back in the last end of his match, scoring 4 shots, only to be one shot short of his opponent’s final score.. There was a narrow defeat for Dave Grove and Richard Payne in their Pairs match, but Pete Forster and Johnathon Smith had a comfortable win 16-9, having won three of the last fours ends of the match.
Session 2.
Anthony Ruddy’s Triples team had a very slow start to their match and were soon down by 11 shots down after four ends. The team then scored 11 shots over the next nine ends, but with their opponents scoring four, they narrowly lost. In a hard fought and close match, with scores level at the beginning of the last end, Maureen Tingle’s triples team went on to win 13-11. Richard Danks’ Fours team had a very comfortable win 13-4.
Session 3.
Both Singles bowlers lost their afternoon matches together with one of the Pairs teams. Dave Grove and Richard Payne, however, started their Pairs match in fine form winning the first eight ends, going into the ninth end 11-0 in the lead. Their opponents fought back strongly but could not turn the match around after such a strong start by the Worcestershire Pairs team., with Dave and Richard eventually winning 13 shots to 9.
Session 4.
There were convincing wins for both Fours teams. Richard Danks’ team, having won the first five ends ( 10-0 ) went on to become 17-6 winners. Jim Tingle’s team were also comfortable winners, having won seven of the eleven ends, Their final score was 14-6. Both triples teams lost.
A summary of the results is shown below :
