The HSMBA celebrated its 25th Anniversary in style on Saturday 18th January with the launch of a new team of five tournament, to be dubbed the “25th Anniversary Cup”, which saw Ross Bowling Club dominant, leading to an all-Ross final as their team captained by Peter Wright beat their clubmates captained by Dave Watkins in a tense final that went down to the wire!
The tournament saw teams of five to seven players enter, competing in matches comprising of a pairs and triples game with overall shots across the two mats deciding the outcome. Teams could utilise the “squad” format, enabling them to swap players in and out of their teams between games. A fantastic entry of fourteen teams representing ten of the county’s thirteen clubs gathered with over eighty HSMBA members taking part, totalling just over a third of the County’s overall membership. A well-stocked (and subsequently well supported) raffle was also held as players threw themselves into a busy, competitive and enjoyable day. A group photo taken at the beginning of the event (with all members still smiling) almost certainly represented the largest gathering of the membership in one image, truly capturing what makes the sport so unique with members from 6-96 taking part on a level playing field.
The fourteen teams were drawn into two groups of seven who competed in a round robin as the County made use of all twelve mats to accommodate the brilliant entry number. Some incredible bowls soon followed as the players got used to the format and threw themselves in. With the top two teams in each group going through to the semi finals, it all came down to the final round of games in both groups. Group 1 saw Gorsley Chapel 1, captained by Joe Loveys, finish top of the table on the maximum 12 points. They were joined by Weston who just snuck in to take second place on 9 points ahead of St Martin’s in third. Meanwhile Group 2 came down to the wire as three teams finished on 10 points leaving the top two places to be decided by shots difference. Qualifying top were Ross 1, captained by Peter Wright on +62 shots. They were joined by Dave Watkins’ Ross 2 on +50 who just edged out The Lea who fell 10 shots short on +40.
Semi final one saw Dave Watkins’ Ross team comprising of Sue Dix & Ian Roe in the pairs and Linda Lewis, Les Williams & Dave Watkins in the triples taking on the Gorsley team of Sophie Heather-Warner & Joe Loveys in the pairs and Anthony Chesterton, Clive Matthews and Dean Rudman in the triples. Contrasting fortunes saw Heather-Warner and Loveys leading 9-2 at the halfway stage whilst Watkins led the triples 7-1 as the two-team format showed just how exciting it could be with Gorsley holding a slender 1 shot lead. The second half of the games were all about comebacks as Dix and Roe hit back with a crucial four on the final end leading to a 10-10 draw in the pairs. Meanwhile a Gorsley comeback in the triples just couldn’t match that of Ross on the other mat with Watkins’ triple taking a 9-5 win to put Ross through to the final by 4 shots, 19-15.
The second semi final saw the Ross team of Peter Wright, Claire Herbert, Dave Andrews, David Millington Jones and Gary Peachey taking on Weston under Penyard captained by Tim Rigden who from his six players available was joined by Graham Weare in the pairs whilst Kate Williams skipped Gill Rigden and Jim Wilkinson in the triples. A tight opening few ends saw Weston take an early 7-2 lead in the triples, however, a dominant start from Claire Herbert and Ross captain Peter Wright had Ross in the overall driving seat with a 12-2 lead on the mat giving them a 5 shot overall lead at the halfway stage. The final ends continued in a similar vein as Williams’ Weston triple finished 10-4 victors, unable to make up what was needed following an eventual 18-7 loss in the pairs as Wright’s team took the overall win 22-17.
An all-Ross final almost certainly guaranteed drama and that is exactly what was delivered! Two nip and tuck matches saw Wright’s teams in the lead at the halfway stage, 4-3 up in the pairs and 5-1 up in the triples. However, team Watkins fought back hard, dominating the final few ends on both mats to produce an incredible result with both disciplines finishing in a draw- 7-7 in the pairs and 5-5 in the triples-taking the inaugrual 25th Anniversary Cup to an extra end. With the tension high, it was Wright’s triple who struck the crucial blow, taking a fantastic three to leave Dix and Roe with too much to do as Ross 1 came out victorious against their clubmates.
The Association’s thanks go to Joe Loveys and Becci Cox for their work in putting the tournament together as well as all those who entered. We look forward to hosting it once again next year as it takes its place on our regular calendar. A new 25th Anniversary Cup page is now available under the competitions tab of the website with Wright’s triple securing their place as the first team in the Record of Champions.
Please find a selection of photos from the day below as captured by Merion Attwood:
