Herefordshire ensured Captain Becci Cox will receive a fitting end to her fifteen-year captaincy as they booked their place at ESMBA ICC Finals Day where they will face Oxfordshire in the “Premier 2” final.
Following their narrow 22-18 victory over Northamptonshire a fortnight earlier, The Bulls once again travelled to Solihull where they faced a relatively unknown quantity in opponents Somerset in what would turn out to be almost an exact replica of their quarter-final.
Session one kicked off with a win and a loss across both disciplines as Kate Williams cancelled out Joe Loveys’ loss with an emphatic 22-7 victory in the singles whilst Dave Andrews & Gary Peachey secured two points in the pairs with a 15-9 win as Linda Lewis & Jim Knowles lost 7-14 to put the overall score at 4-4.
Session two showed just how close the match was with momentum swinging across the mats on each end, as the scores rarely saw either team take a lead of more than two at any stage. In the triples, a fantastic final bowl from Ian Roe sealed a 10–8 victory for his team, alongside David Millington Jones and Dave Watkins. A nip and tuck game saw the other triple of Anthony Chesterton, Dawn Cox & John Mills finish with a 12-12 draw following a brilliant final bowl from the Somerset skip. A similar story followed in the fours as the rink of Dean Rudman, Tony Vitale, Steve Kite & Bryan Watkins drew 10-10 as Somerset again managed to pull back on the final end in spite of The Bulls’ best efforts. Likewise for the rink of Shirley Cox, Sophie Heather-Warner, Merion Attwood & Becci Cox, one end proved to decide it as Somerset ran out 7-12 winners to leave the overall score level at 8-8 at the halfway stage.
Just as it had in the quarter-final, it looked as though the game had swung away from the Bulls over the course of the third session. A 21-6 victory for Loveys alongside a narrow loss for Williams was enough to secure the bonus points for the singles. However, Somerset stepped up a gear in the pairs to take 7-23 and 7-18 victories to take the bonus and carry a 12-16 lead into the final session.
Just as they did in the quarter-final, Herefordshire knew that they had to win 3 x mats and get both bonuses or win all four mats with one bonus. Sitting two shots up in the triples but five down in the fours, it was set up to be a tense final session and in an ICC format that has its critics, this proved to be a great advert for the tension and drama it can deliver. Just as it had in the second session, the momentum across the mats sat on a knife edge, with it seeming for much of the second half that Somerset were just going to get across the line.
First to finish was Captain Becci Cox’s mat who secured a 9-9 draw to take the overall score to 13-17, with Somerset needing to claim just 4 of the remaining 10 points on offer to take victory. However, things were getting ever closer! Mills’ triple was the next to finish with an 11-8 win to take the score to 15-17. This was quickly followed by Ian Roe’s triple who, with a 10-10 draw (meaning half of the triples and fours games across the day ended in a draw!) took the bonus points for the triples to put the overall score at 18-18.
With just Bryan Watkins’ rink to finish, a win by five or more was needed for The Bulls to take the overall win- a win by anything less would have seen the match go to a singles shootout whilst a loss would have seen Somerset book their place in the final. Heading into the final end with a 10-6 lead, the permutations were clear and a fantastic end for the Somerset team looked to be taking it to shootout, with the jack firmly hidden and behind two of their bowls. With all eyes on him, skip Bryan Watkins delivered two incredible pressure draws, working around a front blocker to land straight into the pack and take shot. With one shot having already been conceded by Somerset, both teams were hurriedly checking their maths was correct and ultimately this proved to be enough, with Watkins’ rink securing an 11-6 win to take the Bulls to 20-18, with the drawn bonus points giving a final score of 21-19 (175-185).
With the County Championship knockouts now a three-tiered system seeing the group winners head into “Premier 1”, 2nd placed teams into “Premier 2” and 3rd/4th into “A-Team” respectively, this victory represents The Bulls’ best ever ICC result having only ever reached the “consolation” final (for teams placed 3rd and fourth in their group) under the two-tiered system, losing to Northamptonshire in 2016.
Commiserations go to a Somerset side who fought tooth and nail right to the end whilst huge congratulations go to Captain Cox and her team who will now travel to Melton Mowbray IBC for Finals Day on Sunday April 19th- all supporters are welcome for what is sure to be a competitive day of bowls!
