The National Top Club Championship Finals were held in Torquay over the weekend of 16th/ 17th April. Sixteen clubs from across England competed in this event, having previously qualified in tournaments held in July last year and January this year. One club from the county participated having qualified last July.
County players representing the Churchill and Blakedown Short Mat Bowls Club, who competed in this event playing under the banner of “Richard’s Rebels”, were – Richard Rose, Terry Clifford, Trish Clifford, Ian Davis, Alan Walters, Sandra Felton, Dave Grove, and Malcolm Saunders.
The tournament started with 4 groups of 4 teams playing singles/fours/pairs and triples, with the top two teams from each group proceeding to a knockout stage for the main trophy..The third and fourth teams in each group competed in a knockout stage for the “Plate” trophy.
In the Group stage Richard’s Rebels competed against – Hazelbury Bryan 1 ( Dorset ), Truro ( Cornwall ) and Smallthorne ( Staffordshire ). The results of the group stage are shown below :
Richard’s Rebels v Hazelbury Bryan 1
Singles won 10-6 Fours lost 3-11 Triples won 7-6 Pairs drawn 10-10
Richard’s Rebels v Truro
Singles won 15-8 Fours Drawn 5-5 Triples won 17-2 Pairs drawn 8-8
Richard’s Rebels v Smallthorne
Singles lost 6-10 Fours Lost 3-15 Triples lost 5-12 Pairs lost 0-24
Richard’s Rebels competed in the “Plate” knockout, playing against Hazelbury Bryan 2 in the quarter final with the following results:
Singles won 7-6 Fours won 14-3 Triples won 9-8 Pairs won 8-7
After a convincing quarter final win Richard’s Rebels faced Hollmans ( Cornwall ) in the semi final. – the results of that match are shown below:
Singles lost 7-9 Fours lost 5-11 Triples lost 3-11 Pairs lost 3-11
