Match Report
Match Report - 18 Sep 2016, Hertfordshire County Short Mat Bowling Association Inter County Championship Premier 2 lost to Buckinghamshire
Buckinghamshire may have moved a few hundred yards to the new bowls hall in High Wycombe but it was the same result as last year for the visitors, Hertfordshire. The home side look as though they will be just as hard to beat in their new home. In a tough opener to the 2016-17 Inter County Championship competition, the stand out performers for Hertfordshire were in the singles discipline.
Session 1 (singles and pairs)
Michael West started things off with an impressive 15-10 win. Despite falling behind 1-7 after five ends, Michael dominated the rest of his game, scoring on eight of the remaining ten ends. A 3 shot count on the 6th end started his comeback and by ten ends he had drawn level. Scoring another 3 on the 13th end, the only response from the Bucks player was a 2 on the penultimate end.
Alan Hare of Letchworth had his first outing in the singles discipline, having been a stalwart of the fours in previous games. He did not disappoint, just missing out on an opening win. He lost his first three ends but won the next three to level at 4-4. An exchange of 3s kept the game tied before a brief flurry of scoring gave the Bucks player the edge at 11-7. Undaunted, Alan bounced back with a single and a maximum 4 count to take the lead for the first time with two ends to play. In a tense finale, the home player poached two singles to take the points 12-13.
Pauline Taylor and Jeanette Gayler, the rhyming couplet of Herts, dropped 1 shot on the opening end of their pairs. After that, it was all Hertfordshire. Despite losing a 4 count on the 4th end, Pauline and Jeanette romped home 22-6.
In the other pairs game, Audrey Fowler and Tony Gayler led to the two thirds point, at one stage being 5 shots ahead. However, the Bucks duo found their form, scoring four 3s in the remaining ends and finishing on the winning side of a 10-18 score line.
Session 1 result: Buckinghamshire 4 pts Hertfordshire 4 pts
Session 2 (triples and fours)
Hopes of a repeat performance in the second session of play were roundly dashed by a whitewash for Buckinghamshire.
Jill Oakes, Peter Griffiths and Brian McGivern got off to a poor start, being 5 down after just two ends. They scored on only four of their thirteen ends and, despite restricting their opponents to mainly singles, lost 5-14.
Adrianne West, Margaret Hare and Mary Chadd held their own for five ends and were drawing 3-3. They too could manage only four scoring ends and went down 7-16.
The same pattern was followed by the two Hertfordshire fours. Winning four ends seemed to be the order of the day, although the fours play less ends overall (only 11). John Taylor, Roy Duke, Robin Quarterman and Brian Fowler lost 4-12. Cherry Nolan, Graham Yates, Margaret Regan and Ted Nolan led after six ends and were level after eight but couldn’t score again and lost out 8-12.
Session 2 result: Buckinghamshire 8 pts Hertfordshire 0 pts
At the halfway stage Buckinghamshire were comfortably ahead at 12 points to 4 but Hertfordshire held the shots advantage in both the pairs and singles disciplines. An overall aggregate win in any discipline carries a reward of 2 bonus points.
Session 3 (reverse singles and pairs)
Michael West took maximum points from his day’s work, winning his second game 21-15. A maximum 4 shots on the fourth end set the trend. He did drop two 3s and a 4, the last of these narrowing his lead to just 3 shots with one end to play but he finished the game emphatically with 3 shots of his own.
Alan Hare showed he is a quick learner in the singles and, with a 4 and a 3 in the first four ends, leapt out to a 9-3 lead. The Bucks singles players are always tough to beat and Alan’s opponent clawed away at the deficit to level at 10-10 with three ends to go. This time, Alan finished the stronger of the two and took his first singles points 13-11. This also confirmed Hertfordshire as the winners of the singles discipline once all four scores were added together.
Pauline Taylor and Jeanette Gayler started well with 4 unanswered shots but were quickly overhauled and were 4-6 behind after five ends. The next five ends were closely contested and the margin was still only 2 shots at ten ends. Pauline and Jeanette couldn’t repeat their fine performance in the opening session of play and went on to lose 8-14.
Audrey Fowler and Tony Gayler got off to the worst possible start, dropping 4 shots on the first end. That was still the difference after seven ends and from there on the home pair pressed home to a score of 8-18.
Session 3 result: Bucks 4 game pts + 2 bonus pts Hertfordshire 4 game pts + 2 bonus pts
Session 4 (reverse triples and fours)
Jill Oakes, Peter Griffiths and Brian McGivern bounced back from the disappointment of their earlier loss. They went quickly into a 6-0 lead after four ends. However, a run of five fruitless ends saw Bucks go ahead at 6-7. A single on the 10th end tied the scores and two doubles gave the Herts trio a 4 shot advantage with the last end to play. Conscious that they needed to protect their lead, a cautious last end resulted in a single shot dropped and an 11-8 win.
Adrianne West, Margaret Hare and Mary Chadd had a similar start, leading 4-0 before being pegged back to 5-5 after seven ends. They fought hard for the remainder of the game. Despite not scoring again, they held their opponents to a string of seven successive singles and finished 5-11.
John Taylor, Roy Duke, Robin Quarterman and Brian Fowler led 3-0 after two ends but succumbed to an onslaught from the Bucks quartet. The Herts foursome notched two 3 shot counts which was not enough to prevent their opponents winning 9-16.
In the remaining game, Cherry Nolan, Graham Yates, Margaret Regan and Ted Nolan grabbed a point with a terrific last end score of 4 shots. They led 5-2 after five ends before failing to score for the next five and were 5-9 down after the penultimate end. Their last end heroics were enough to ensure that Hertfordshire scored points in all four disciplines.
Session 4 result: Bucks 5 game pts + 4 bonus pts Hertfordshire 3 game pts + 0 bonus points
Match summary
Playing Buckinghamshire away in the first fixture of the Inter County Championship is a tough start to the season. However a 13 point return, the same as the equivalent match last year when Hertfordshire finished second in the qualifying group, should not be viewed as a disappointment.
Buckinghamshire 27 - 13 Hertfordshire County Short Mat Bowling Association Inter County Championship Premier 2
| 1 |
Mary Chadd |
7-12, 5-11 |
| 2 |
Roy Duke |
4-12, 9-16 |
| 3 |
Audrey Fowler |
10-18, 8-18 |
| 4 |
Brian Fowler |
4-12, 9-16 |
| 5 |
Jeanette Gayler |
22-6, 8-14 |
| 6 |
Tony Gayler |
10-18, 8-18 |
| 7 |
Peter Griffiths |
5-14, 11-8 |
| 8 |
Alan Hare |
12-13, 13-11 |
| 9 |
Margaret Hare |
7-12, 5-11 |
| 10 |
Brian McGivern |
5-14, 11-8 |
| 11 |
Cherry Nolan |
8-12, 9-9 |
| 12 |
Rosemary Followell |
8-12, 9-9 |
| 13 |
Jill Quarterman |
5-14, 11-8 |
| 14 |
Robin Quarterman |
4-12, 9-16 |
| 15 |
Margaret Regan |
8-12, 9-9 |
| 16 |
John Taylor |
4-12, 9-16 |
| 17 |
Pauline Taylor |
22-6, 8-14 |
| 18 |
Adrianne West |
7-12, 5-11 |
| 19 |
Michael West |
15-10, 21-15 |
| 20 |
Jen Holding |
8-12, 9-9 |
| 21 |
Dorothy Hill |
|
| 22 |
Brian Hatherly |
|