Slightly lower entry levels have proven to punish Herefordshire with the County only receiving one spot in the National Singles, Pairs and Triples respectively having received a minimum two entries across the board last year. The County have retained three places in the Over 55 Pairs as well as two entries in the Fours and Mixed Fours.
Played across two weekends in December, the National Qualifiers once again saw a high quality of bowling as teams battled to book their place at Melton Mowbray in a couple of months time. In the Singles, Ian Roe (Ross) came through a tough field of ten players to book his place whilst in the pairs, John Mills and Joe Loveys (Woolhope and Gorsley Chapel) added to their recent County Champtionship title to make it through. In addition to this, the duo, being joined by Bryan Watkins (Woolhope) in the triples and Watkins and Sophie Heather-Warner (Gorsley Chapel) in the fours, qualified top in both respective disciplines to guarantee themselves three days of play. They were joined in qualification for the fours by the St Martin’s team of Jo Millington, Sue Foden, Jim Knowles and Phil Ladd who will be looking to make their mark at Melton in April.
The Over 55 Pairs once again saw Herefordshire receive its largest allocation of three places. Shirley Cox & Bryan Watkins (Woolhope) qualified for the fourth year in a row as they topped the table. They willl be joined by two Ross teams of Andre Edwards & Tony Vitale and David Millington Jones & Gary Peachey. The final qualifier saw Watkins, Loveys and Mills become this year’s joint “most qualified”, each qualifying in four of the six disciplines. Watkins was joined by Shirley & Dawn Cox (Woolhope) and Tony Vitale (Ross) in taking the first qualifying place. Also qualifying were Sophie Heather-Warner (Gorsley Chapel), Kate Williams (Weston), John Mills (Woolhope) & Joe Loveys (Gorsley Chapel) as Herefordshire look to continue their strong form in this discipline.
The HSMBA wishes all qualifiers the very best of luck and we now look forward to reporting back on their progress at the Mixed Fours and Over 55 Pairs on 8th and 9th March before the Singles, Pairs, Triples and Fours on 10th-13th April.