Six players from Woolhope SMBC travelled across the border to take part in the Llansamlet Short Mat Bowls Club Open Pairs and Triples at Earlswood IBC near Swansea. A well organised event weekend, the open competitions draw teams from both England and Wales, all featuring a mix of Club, County and International players.
Day One saw Bryan Watkins & John Mills, Dawn & Shirley Cox and Carole & Steve Crisp competing. Drawn into 4 x groups of 6, the top two teams in each group went through to the main competition (Premier), third and fourth into the plate (Championship) and fifth and sixth into the shield (Conference). For Carole and Steve, a strong group performance saw them make it through to the Premier before losing out in the quarter finals. Meanwhile Shirley & Dawn saw a slow start lead to better fortunes and a run through the Conference to the final where they lost out to a team from Rhydlewis and Cwmllynfell. The headline performance of the day went to John and Bryan who, having made it through to the Premier section, fought their way past some incredibly strong opponents to take the title, beating Llansamlet’s Lee Lewis and Steve Bainbridge in a close final.
Day Two saw John teaming up with Shirley and Carole whilst Bryan joined Dawn and Steve. A competitive group stage saw both teams go into the Championship section for the knockout. At opposite sides of the draw, an all Woolhope final was potentially on the horizon but after two days of tough bowls, the trio of Bryan, Dawn & Steve saw their journey come to an end in the quarter finals. For Mills and Co, another hard-fought run to the final saw them come up just short, losing out to Llansamlet on the final end to finish as runners up in the Championship.
Congratulations to all six players on a fantastic weekend of bowling!
