Ross Bowling Club Short Mat Bowling 2015-16
The short mat bowling season started in the best possible way for the club with its
first capture of the County Summer League title. After winning their round robin
group with only a single defeat in their 8 matches, Ross 1 progressed to the Final
where they defeated Aston Ingham 8-2 to take the title.
As usual the club ran a full programme of internal competitions across the winter
which culminated in a Finals Evening which started with the final rounds of the Club
Singles competition, followed by presentation of trophies and prizes for all of the
club competitions by president John Perks and a buffet supper.
In the Singles competition the final was between two Herefordshire county premier
team singles players. In the semi-finals Dave Watkins had seen off the challenge
of Phil Jenkinson, whose achievement in reaching this stage of the competition in
his first season of short mat bowling was highly commendable, whilst defending champion
Tony Vitale produced some very accurate draw bowling to defeat Alan Carver. The final
saw Tony make another strong start with sustained high quality draw bowling from
the off and although Dave settled and clawed back some shots he was unable to make
significant inroads into Tony’s lead and prevent him from winning his 3rd title in
4 years.
The competition winners in full were:
Singles Tony Vitale
Evening Triples Betty Aubrey, Maurice Leake, Ian Roe
Afternoon Pairs Liz Nicholson, Harold Aubrey
Afternoon Australian Pairs Pauline Mills, Les Williams
Afternoon Triples (1) Gwen Lambert, Stella Bufton, Tony Vitale
Afternoon Triples (2) Liz Cole, Mike Nicholson, Harold Aubrey
In the county competitions Ross had their most successful season for many years.
Following disappointing National Qualifiers, which saw only the triple of Ali & Ian
Roe and Ian Park advancing to represent Ross in the national finals, the club then
enjoyed a phenomenal run of success in the County Championships which began with
Kate Williams, partnering Joe Loveys from the Gorsley Chapel club, winning the County
Pairs. Next up saw two titles captured in a weekend with the County Triples being
won by Ali & Ian Roe and Ian Park and then the County Fours falling to George Marshall,
Ian Roe and Pam & Ian Park. The Bromyard Triples Challenge resulted in a victory
for George Marshall, Les Williams & Dave Watkins before finally the County Mixed
Fours was won by Elaine George, Ian Roe and Pam & Ian Park. For the club to have
won 5 of the 6 county competitions represents a remarkable achievement.
Despite all of the county championship successes, Ross A had to settle for the runners-up
spot in the county Winter League, yet again losing out to a team from rivals Woolhope.
Ross B finished in 4th place in Division 2 of the Winter League and Ross C finished
8th in that division.
In other events, Ali Roe, Dave Watkins, Pam & Ian Park finished runners-up in the
Gavin Wright charity tournament held at the Larruperz Centre in September and the
season was rounded off with Les Williams, Dave Watkins, Ian Roe & Ian Park winning
the Fownhope Open Fours charity event in April.
Across the season 6 Ross players also represented the county teams in the Inter County
Championship with Kate Williams, Dave Watkins and Ian Roe appearing in the ICC Premier
Consolation Final when Herefordshire lost narrowly to Northamptonshire in their first
ever final at Premier level.
