Worcestershire Short Mat Bowls Association

The county narrowly lost to Herefordshire by 19 points to 21 . The county, however, scored more shots  ( 188 )  against the visitors 180.

During the first session Ian Davis was playing in excellent form with a big win of 17 shots to 9. The other singles match and the two pairs matches lost. Both the pairs teams of Tim and Keith Mills and Trish Clifford and Richard Rose were leading up to  the ninth end but then faded. The two triples teams won their matches and Jim Tingle’s Fours team had an easy win. Unfortunately Richard Hulbert’s fours team eventually lost by 8 shots to 11.

The County started the afternoon session with confidence. Ian Davis continued with his excellent form and won his singles match convincingly by 20 shots to 7. Richard Payne unfortunately lost his singles match by 10 shots to 19. Tim and Keith Mills narrowly lost their pairs match by 10 shots to 12, but the other triples team of Trish Clifford and Richard Rose  won their match by a similar  margin. Dave Powell’s Triples team powered to a win with Terry Clifford,s Triples team being caught on the last end for a 10-10 draw. Both the fours teams lost their matches.

The results of the County’s teams are set out below :

The County  drew with Wiltshire each County scoring 20 points.  Worcestershire scored 191 shots to Wiltshire’s 167.

In the morning session the Singles and Pairs matches were good for the County. Ian Davis was back playing in imperious form with a big 22 shots to 8 win,

The Pairs team of Tim and Keith Mills  had an equally  convincing win by 23 Shots to 5. Trish Clifford and Richard Rose battled back from a slow start to also

win, this time by 16 shots to 12. Richard Payne in his Singles match only lost by one shot with a score of 11 shots to 12.. The Triples and Fours teams went on

with high hopes, although they all found the  Wiltshire’s Triples and Fours a tougher nut to crack, with only  Richard Hulbert’s Fours team winning a hard fought

match by 7 shots to 6.

At the half way stage it was all even.

The County started the afternoon session with confidence. Both Singles teams won convincingly, Ian Davis by 22 shots to 8 and Richard Payne by 14 shots to 11 –

Both pairs teams lost. The Triples and Fours teams fared better than in the morning, with Richard Dank’s Triples team winning all the way to finally win by 13

shots to 7.  Terry Clifford’s Triples team after a disastrous start only went off by two shots losing in the end by 11 shots to 13. Jim Tingle’s Fours team was in front

for all of their match to eventually win by 9 shots to 6.

This was the County’s best result so far this season.

The county lost its away fixture against Herefordshire scoring 6 points ( 148 shots ) to Herefordshire’s 30 points ( 219 shots).

Worcestershire suffered another defeat,this time away  to Herefordshire. Once again there were several hard fought matches in all groups  –  Singles/Pairs/Triples and fours. Herefordshire managed, however, to have the edge over the County.

There were some successes for Worcestershire – During the morning session Keith Mills’  Fours team won by 8 shots to 6 and in the afternoon session Ian Davis and Trish Clifford had a very convincing win in their Pairs match by 22 shots to 7. Richard Payne returned to winning ways with a 17 shots to 15 win in his singles match.

The results of each of the county teams is shown below :

The County lost its away fixture against Gloucestershire scoring 10 points ( 140 shots ) to Gloucestershire’s 30 points ( 244 shots ).
During the morning session the Singles and Pairs teams narrowly lost to a strong Gloucestershire performance. All matches were fiercely contested and could have gone Worcestershire’s way. Ian Davis in his singles match was drawing until the last two ends. Richard Payne and Trish Clifford in the Pairs lost on the last end Later in the morning, Richard Hulbert’s Fours team were 9-1 down after four ends but made a strong comeback to go only 1 shot down in the 9th end, eventually losing by 10 shots to 11. There was a win for Terry Clifford’s Triples team in a hard fought match with the team winning by 12 shots to 9. There was also a win for Scott Lambert’s Fours team by 11 shots to 7.
During the afternoon session there were more losses for the Singles and Pairs teams. Scott lambert’s Fours team, however, won their second match of the day by 7 shots to 5 and Richard Hulbert’s Fours team had a comfortable win by 12 shots to 6.

The results of each of the county teams is shown below :