After the success of the inaugural 25th Anniversary “Team of 5” Cup, this year’s edition carried real expectation as the first to be held since the association confirmed it as a permanent fixture on the calendar.
Twelve teams from nine of the HSMBA’s clubs gathered in Leominster on Saturday 24th January for what was guaranteed to be a day of great bowling action. The 25th Anniversary Cup sees teams of 5-7 players enter, competing in matches comprising of a pairs and triples game with overall shots across the two mats deciding the outcome. Teams can utilise the “squad” format, enabling them to swap players in and out of their teams betweeen games. This year, over 75 players took part with many teams opting to make the most of their “squad”. The Association was pleased to welcome St Weonards to what we hope was the first of many HSMBA Competitions for our newest club.
The competition also marked a substantial milestone for the HSMBA with the first ever livestreamed match, for more information on this and to view the semi-finals and final, please click here.
Following a highly competitive group stage, the two group winners, Woolhope and Ross “2” faced Llangarron and Lea respectively in the semi finals with both matches delivering the nail-biting tension that the two-mat format intends. Having dominated their group, Woolhope looked to kick on but were met with stern resistance from a Llangarron team keen to make their mark. In spite of a 9-6 win for Woolhope in the pairs, a dominant performance from the triples saw them take a crucial 3 in the eighth end to take a 10-5 win and book their place in the final by just two shots! For Ross and Lea, an equally close match was developing. With nothing between the pairs in a 7-7 draw, it all came down to the triples with the Ross side doing enough, limiting their opponents to three single shots in a 8-3 victory to win the match by 5 shots overall.
The final saw Ross looking to retain the trophy with a completely different side to that which won the inaugural competition 12 months earlier. Following a close start that saw the overall match score level following the third end, it was the Ross team who were able to find another gear, only conceding one more end on each mat to run out 16-5 winners in the pairs and 15-3 winners in the triples to win 31-8 and claim the 25th Anniversary Cup.
Congratulations to both the winning Ross team of Sue Dix, Linda Lewis, Les Williams, Luke Rawlings & Dave Watkins as well as the Llangarron squad of Andy & Glenys Biggs, Wendy & Graham Holder, Jamie Harris and Chris Harvey on their impressive runs to the final. Huge thank yous go to Becci Cox and her team for organising and running the event as well as all those who came together to take part.
We now look forward to the HSMBA County Singles Championship on Sunday 8th February where we’ll be bringing you even more live coverage of what promises to be a brilliant event!
To view all of the photos taken from the event please click here
To view full results from the day please see below: