The 2024-25 season opener saw Herefordshire given what was, on paper, their toughest match of the group stage away at last year’s group runners up Wiltshire. Missing several players, including Captain Becci Cox, circumstance presented fresh opportunity for players to make their claim for a starting role with three debutants- Jason Chester, Anthony Chesterton and Lynn Williams all of Gorsley Chapel making their first appearance in Herefordshire colours. Also returning to the County fold was former ESMBA Under 18 Woodbridge Trophy runner up Luke Rawlings of Ross, who made his first appearance for The Bulls since 2016 as Herefordshire put out their biggest change around in team lineup for well over a season.
The first session saw a great start for the singles as Joe Loveys won 17-8 whilst Brian Watkins, playing his first singles match for the County, took a fantastic 21-7 win. The pairs had contrasting fortunes as Lynn Williams & Ian Roe claimed a 16-8 win balancing out a battling 6-21 loss for Luke Rawlings and Tony Vitale who won four of the last five ends to keep the pairs within reach of the bonus points.
6-2 up overall, The Bulls looked to kick on heading into the second session but were met with stiff resistance from Wiltshire. The triple of David Millington Jones, Nic Lloyd and John Mills struggled to put together a consistent run of ends in a 4-14 loss whilst Claire Herbert, Sophie Heather-Warner and Dave Watkins featured in an entertaining match that just saw them lose out 8-10 on the final end. In the fours, Anthony Chesterton, Linda Lewis, Shirley Cox & Merion Attwood picked up a 12-5 win whilst it was a gutting loss for Jason Chester, Alan Link, Gary Peachey & Dean Rudman who missed out on the final bowl of the final end 7-8, leaving the halfway score at 8-8, with both sides on course for 4 of the 8 bonus points on offer.
Session Three saw Wiltshire edge ahead with Loveys picking up the only win of the session as Watkins became the third Herefordshire team to fall on the wrong side of an incredibly close game. This was enough for The Bulls to pick up the singles bonus points but two close losses in the pairs saw Wiltshire take the bonus for that discipline putting them in a 16-12 lead and setting up a nail-biting final session.
Looking to put an end to Herefordshire’s two season long unbeaten streak in the group stage of the ICC, Wiltshire launched themselves into a lead across the triples whilst the fours saw an early reverse in Herefordshire’s favour. Dean Rudman’s four were the first of the four matches to finish, taking a 14-7 win and effectively guaranteeing the bonus points for the fours, putting the overall score at 16-16. Attention then turned to the triples with both fighting hard to overturn early deficits. For Watkins’ trio, skipped by Heather-Warner following a team swap that swung the score from 1-7 down to 11-10 up ahead of the final end, victory was just out of each as a single for Wiltshire on the final end saw them secure a draw and push the overall standings to 17-17. In spite of this, it soon became clear that it was just a matter of time for the home team as Mills’ triple couldn’t quite pull back the deficit, falling to an 8-14 loss as Wiltshire also took the bonus points to give them an unassailable 21-17 lead, with a 9-6 victory for Attwood’s rink making it an agonising 19-21 defeat for the Bulls. An example of how close a match it was, Herefordshire scored 186 shots to Wiltshire’s 178, with The Bulls now looking to get the season back on track against Gloucestershire this coming Sunday.
