Match Report
Match Report - 07 Feb 2016, Hertfordshire County Short Mat Bowling Association Inter County Championship Premier 2 lost to Cambridgeshire
The Hertfordshire County Short Mat Bowls team made their exit from the 2015-2016 Inter County Championship at the hands of near neighbours Cambridgeshire.
The day didn’t start well when player/manager Darren Stanford fell victim to Network Rail weekend maintenance and an emergency substitute (Peter Regan) had to be summoned from their Sunday morning lie-in to dash to Brentwood.
Session 1 (singles and pairs)
Michael West made a good start to his singles game jumping out to a 5-1 lead after four ends but a dropped 4 shot count levelled things. Shots were exchanged in the next four ends and the score was 8-8. Even though the remaining ends were tightly contested, Michael couldn’t trouble the scorers again and lost out 8-15. In the other singles game, Tony Gayler was up against inspired opposition and went down 2-27.
Audrey Fowler partnered husband Brian in the pairs and despite slipping 5 shots behind in the early stages, managed to get back to level at 8-8 with a maximum 4 shot count on the 10th end. They could only score one more shot in the remaining five ends and finished 9-14 behind. Pauline Taylor and Jeanette Gayler went ahead on the second end and retained a narrow lead through to the last end but a 3 shot reverse was enough for Cambridgeshire to snatch a draw at 11-11.
Session 1 result: Cambridgeshire 7 pts Hertfordshire 1 pt
Session 2 (triples and fours)
Margaret Regan, Peter Griffiths and Ken Murray had a scoring streak of six winning ends to lead 10-3 with four ends to go but couldn’t hold off the opposition and slipped to a 10-12 defeat. The other triple of Sue Murray, Jill Oakes and Brian McGivern fared much better. A 5 shot haul on the 5th end gave them an 8-3 lead. They lost only two more ends, scoring on the last five and powered to a 19-5 win.
Margaret Hare, Peter Regan, Sam Salmon and Alan Hare were tied with their opponents at 2-2 after four ends. However, they dropped a 5 and a 2 to fall behind 2-9. Whilst they kept the rest of the game tight they could only close the gap marginally and finished 7-13. The other Hertfordshire four of Adrianne West, Graham Yates, John Taylor and Aaron Jones were ahead for just one end, gradually slipping further behind but scored a 3 on the last end which was to prove significant later in the battle for bonus points. They lost 7-12.
Session 2 result: Cambridgeshire 6 pts Hertfordshire 2 pts
At the halfway stage Hertfordshire trailed by 10 points and needed to reverse the scoring to have any chance of progressing to the next round.
Session 3 (reverse singles and pairs)
Michael West was up against an opponent who had dominated in the morning singles but started well again to lead 6-2. In an uncannily similar fashion to his earlier game, he dropped a 4 and the scores were level. Undeterred, Michael went ahead to lead 10-6 after seven ends. Once again he faced a second half onslaught and scored only one more shot, finishing 11-16. Tony Gayler made the worst possible start, dropping a maximum 4 shots on the first end and was 0-8 down after three. He came back strongly winning eight of the remaining twelve ends but still came out on the wrong side of an 11-17 score line.
Audrey and Brian Fowler were briefly ahead in their pairs game. The Cambridgeshire duo then took control and the Fowlers slipped to a 6-16 defeat. Pauline Taylor and Jeanette Gayler were trailing for the majority of their game before a two end closing flourish secured a much needed 13-11 win.
Session 3 result: Cambs 6 game pts + 4 bonus pts Hertfordshire 2 game pts + 0 bonus pts
Session 4 (reverse triples and fours)
Hertfordshire entered the last session of play with nothing but pride to play for and can be rightly proud of the way they finished. Margaret Regan, Peter Griffiths and Ken Murray, in an almost exact replica of their morning performance, started strongly, led 10-7 with three ends to play but lost 10-12. Sue Murray, Jill Oakes and Brian McGivern had a similar good start but dropped a 5 shot count on the 9th end and couldn’t recover, losing 8-15. However, despite losing three of the four triples games, Ken Murray’s tight score lines and Brian McGivern’s big morning win were enough to take 2 bonus points with an overall 47-44 aggregate result in this discipline.
Margaret Hare, Peter Regan, Sam Salmon and Alan Hare scored heavily and lost only four singles to win their fours game 18-4. Adrianne West, Graham Yates, John Taylor and Aaron Jones also lost only four ends and led throughout to finish 19-11 ahead. These two strong results meant the bonus points from the fours discipline went to Hertfordshire.
Session 4 result: Cambs 4 game pts + 0 bonus pts Hertfordshire 4 game pts + 4 bonus points
Match summary
Cambridgeshire were clear favourites going into this match having won their qualifying group comfortably. Hertfordshire came second but can take great heart from the fact that they got the better of very strong opposition in two of the four disciplines.
Cambridgeshire 27 - 13 Hertfordshire County Short Mat Bowling Association Inter County Championship Premier 2
| 1 |
Audrey Fowler |
9-14, 6-16 |
| 2 |
Brian Fowler |
9-14, 6-16 |
| 3 |
Jeanette Gayler |
11-11, 13-11 |
| 4 |
Tony Gayler |
2-27, 11-17 |
| 5 |
Peter Griffiths |
10-12, 10-12 |
| 6 |
Alan Hare |
7-13, 18-4 |
| 7 |
Margaret Hare |
7-13, 18-4 |
| 8 |
Aaron Jones |
7-12, 19-11 |
| 9 |
Brian McGivern |
19-5, 8-15 |
| 10 |
Ken Murray |
10-12, 10-12 |
| 11 |
Sue Murray |
19-5, 8-15 |
| 12 |
Jill Quarterman |
19-5, 8-15 |
| 13 |
Margaret Regan |
10-12, 10-12 |
| 14 |
Scot Salmon |
7-13, 18-4 |
| 15 |
Peter Regan |
7-13, 18-4 |
| 16 |
John Taylor |
7-12, 19-11 |
| 17 |
Pauline Taylor |
11-11, 13-11 |
| 18 |
Adrianne West |
7-12, 19-11 |
| 19 |
Michael West |
8-15, 11-16 |
| 20 |
Jen Holding |
7-12, 19-11 |
| 21 |
Rebecca Nightingale |
|
| 22 |
Roy Duke |
|