Worcestershire Short Mat Bowls Association

The County was narrowly beaten by the England Under 21’s squad, with the County scoring 29  points to 35 points by the England young enthusiasts. The County shot total was 262 against 278 for the England squad.

This fixture had a different format from the usual ESMBA inter county matches. Each squad consisted of 24 bowlers and the competition included a mixture of Fours/Triples and Pairs with a total of 32 matches being played over five sessions during the day. The County squad was  – R. Payne, R. Rose, K. Mills, T. Clifford, D. Grove, J. Smith, B. Mol, M. Saunders, A. Rose, J. Ellesmore, T. Crowley, J. Gibbs, A. Hough, A. Walters, J. Smith, C. Arnold, S. Tyler, J. Tingle, Trish Clifford, R. Hulbert, R. Danks, A. Kilgour, S. Felton, M. Bourne, and last but not least  Phil and Leah Thompson who are in the County squad and  also part of the England Under 21 ‘s squad.

From the 32 matches played the County won 14 and drew 1, with the England squad winning 17 and also drawing 1

Session 1.

This session saw 6 County Fours teams competing over 8 ends with the County winning 2 of them. Malcolm Saunders’ team ( including Dave Grove, Joel Smith and Ben Mol ) had a 9-6 victory with Keith Mills’ team ( including Trish Clifford, Richard Hulbert and Richard Danks ) winning by 9 shots to 5. Both Terry Clifford’s team and Richard Payne’s team lost by only 1 shot.

Session 2.

Eight Triples teams competed in this session over nine ends. There were three County wins with one drawn match.Malcolm Saunders’ team ( including Steve Tyler and Sandra Felton ) had a convincing win by 10 shots to 5 as did Richard Hulbert’s team ( including Carole and Julien Ellsmore ), winning by 10 shots to 6. Ben Mol’s team ( including Joel Smith and Tony Crowley had an impressive win by 11 shots to 4. Richard Rose’s team ( including Johnathon Smith and Trish Clifford)  drew 8-8.

Session 3.

First of two Pairs sessions with six teams competing over 9 ends. There were wins by Trish and Terry Clifford  –  7 shots to 3, and by Richard Payne and Richard Hulbert  –  8 shots to 7.

Pairs in action

Pairs in action

Session 4.

The county won four of the six matches in the second of the two pairs competitions. Malcolm Saunders and Sandra Felton won their match by 10 shots to 6 . Jim Tingle and Dave Grove had a very impressive 12 shots to 1 win with Richard Danks and Carole Arnold having another impressive win by 15 shots to 3. Yet another impressive win was achieved by Tony Crowley and Johnathon Smith by 13 shots to 3.

Session 5.

This session was a repeat of the first session with 6 Fours teams competing , this time over 11 ends. The County won three of these matches with Richard Rose’s team winning by 14 shots to 10. Jim Tingle’s team won by 12 shots to 7 and Richard Payne’s team won by 17 shots to 16. Two of the County’s losing teams lost by only 1 shot with the other losing team by 2 shots.

At the end of a long day with some excellent bowling performances the two squads had a traditional line up.

County and England Under 21’s line up 29th November 2015

The County was narrowly defeated – 17 points to 23 –  in a hard fought contest. This was a disappointing result after a generally  strong performance by the squad. The county scored a total of 176 shots against 194 points by West Midlands.

During the morning session both Singles players lost their matches, but there were wins for both Pairs, with Johnathon Smith and Anthony Ruddy having a comfortable result winning by 15 shots to 12. Trish Clifford and Richard Rose won their Pairs match easily by 17 shots to 7.  Both Triples teams lost their matches but in the Fours, Steve Tyler’s team had a handsome win by 13 shots to 3. Terry Clifford’s Fours team also had a comfortable win by 11 shots to 7. At the halfway stage the County and West Midlands were equal on points with the County having scored 89  shots to 90 shots by West Midlands.

During the afternoon, Jim Tringle won his Singles match very comfortably by 17 shots to 9 with Richard Tulbert unfortunately losing. In the Pairs Johnathon Smith and Anthony Ruddy lost their match but Trish Clifford and Richard Rose won their  match by 13 shots to 11 after a hard fought finish. In the Triples, Mark Bourne’s team lost by 1 shot in the last end to lose  by 11 shots to 12. Malcolm Saunders’ Triples team won convincingly by 20 shots to 11  after being 2 shots to 9 down early in the match. Both Fours teams lost their matches.

Results for each of the teams is shown below  :

After a strong start by the County in the morning session, leading by 9 points to 7 at the break, the afternoon session was disappointing with the County eventually losing by 13 points to 27. In the morning session Jim Tingle got off to a good start winning his Singles match by 19 shots to 6 and Richard Hulbert had a draw  13 – 13.Trish Clifford and Richard  Rose won their Pairs match in fine form by 18 shots to 9, but unfortunately Tim and Keith Mills lost their Pairs match 9 shots to 22. Both Triples teams lost in the last end of their respective matches by one shot.. In the Fours, Steve Tyler’s team won by 11 shots to 6 and Terry Clifford’s team won by 11 shots to 7.. Overall a satisfactory morning’s session.

Fortunes changed in the afternoon. The County’s only success was a fine performance from Mark Bourne’s Triples team who won their match by 17 shots to 9. After such a fine start in the morning there was considerable disappointment about the end result.

A summary of the results for each of the disciplines is shown below :