Match Report
Match Report - 22 Oct 2017, Hertfordshire County Short Mat Bowling Association Inter County Championship Premier 2 beat Oxfordshire
Hertfordshire leapt to the top of their Inter County Championship Qualifying Group with an emphatic 29-11 win over Oxfordshire.
Session 1 (singles and pairs)
Michael West made a strong start, 5-0 up after three ends. Continuing to build on that early lead he was 13-4 ahead after ten ends and went on to win 16-10. Two 4s in the first four ends took Jeanette Gayler to an 8-3 lead. Her opponent struck back with a maximum 4 count on the 5th before two 3s for Jeanette reopened the gap to 13-7. A spirited fightback from the Oxfordshire player levelled the scores at 13-13 with five ends to play and he went ahead on the next end. Another 4 from Jeanette meant she regained the advantage only to be knocked back. Trailing by two shots with just the last end to play, Jeanette won with the last bowl of the game, trailing the jack for the required 3 shots and a 20-19 victory.
Sue and Ken Murray opened with a single but failed to move their score again until the 8th end and trailed 1-8. They slipped further behind before a 5 shot count on the 12th end offered a slight hope of a comeback. The Oxfordshire pair quickly dashed that hope and the game ended at 7-17. Pauline Taylor and Alan Hare led briefly at 3-2 after three ends. Their opponents went ahead on the next end and, despite closing to within 2 shots with three ends to play, the Hertfordshire duo lost 11-14.
With the points shared in the first session it looked like this could be a closely contested match.
Session 1 result: Hertfordshire 2 points Oxfordshire 2 points
Session 2 (triples and fours)
Liz Bradley, Eileen Prior and Bill Gearing were tied with their opposition at 4-4 after five ends. Five shots in two ends put the Herts triple 9-4 ahead and they scored on three of the last four ends for a 17-8 win. Adrianne West, Mary Chadd and Brian McGivern were second best for the first part of their game, trailing 2-7 at five ends played. They eventually got going and levelled at 8-8 before taking three of the last four ends to win 13-10.
Jeff Branch, John Taylor, Sam Salmon and Gordon Burrow were engaged in a low scoring fours game where the key score of 3 shots for the home quartet came on the 4th end. Winning seven of the eleven ends, the Herts four won 9-6. Bill Durham, Margaret Hare, Tony Gayler and Ted Nolan scored 7 shots in the first three ends. Their opponents got on the scoreboard the next two ends before the Herts foursome took control with a five end scoring burst including a 5 on the penultimate end. They won comfortably 22-7.
Session 2 had turned out to be a clean sweep of points for Hertfordshire.
Session 2 result: Hertfordshire 8 points Oxfordshire 0 points
Session 3 (reverse singles and pairs)
Michael West immediately stamped his authority on his game with an opening 4 shots. Another maximum on the 8th end saw Michael 13-4 ahead and he restricted his opponent to just two more shots to win 21-6. Jeanette Gayler’s game was level at 3-3 after five ends. A 3 and a 4 established a 10-3 lead and, despite dropping shots on the final three ends, Jeanette closed out a 13-9 win. That meant the singles for Hertfordshire had contributed the maximum 10 points to the match total.
Sue and Ken Murray had a much better start than in the morning session and were 10-4 ahead at the halfway point. They then lost five of the next six ends to trail 11-14 with two ends left. With 2 shots scored on the 14th end, the game was poised for an exciting finish at 13-14. With the Hertfordshire husband and wife combo holding a game winning position, the Oxfordshire skip played the jack through with the final bowl to end the game 13-16. Pauline Taylor and Alan Hare’s pairs game was a ding-dong affair with the lead changing hands four times. The Herts pair led 4-1 before being pegged back to 4-4. 3 shots on the 6th end had Herts ahead. Oxfordshire responded with a 4 to take the lead for the first time. The scores were level again at 9 ends, 11 ends and 13 ends. Oxfordshire went into the last end with the minimum lead and a single shot from the Herts duo saw the game finish appropriately at 13-13.
Session 3 result: Herts 5 game pts and 2 bonus pts Oxfordshire 3 game pts and 2 bonus pts
Session 4 (reverse triples and fours)
Liz Bradley, Eileen Prior and Bill Gearing were well in their game at 3-5 after five ends. A three end run of 8 shots gave Oxfordshire a decisive lead and the Herts four scored just once more. With Oxfordshire scoring heavily in the run in, the game finished at 5-24. This big score gave Oxfordshire a chance to take the bonus points from the triples discipline. Adrianne West, Mary Chadd and Brian McGivern dropped a 2 on the first end but after that it was all Hertfordshire scoring with the exception of a single dropped on the 6th end. With four 3s scored, the Herts trio won 21-3 and this winning margin was enough to offset the reverse of the other triple and Herts secured the 2 bonus points.
Bill Durham, Margaret Hare, Tony Gayler and Ted Nolan led throughout their game. Despite dropping three 3s, they were never really troubled and won 13-10. The final fours game followed a similar pattern. Jeff Branch, John Taylor, Sam Salmon and Gordon Burrow were ahead after two ends. Although their opponents got within 2 shots with four ends to play, the Herts quartet finished with a 16-9 win. This meant another maximum 10 point haul, this time for the two Hertfordshire fours.
Session 4 result: Herts 6 game pts and 4 bonus pts Oxfordshire game pts and 0 bonus pts
Match summary
The 29-11 final points tally lifted Hertfordshire from fourth place to top spot in the qualifying group with all four teams having played three matches.
Hertfordshire County Short Mat Bowling Association Inter County Championship Premier 2 29 - 11 Oxfordshire
| 1 |
Michael West |
16-10, 21-6 |
| 2 |
Jeanette Gayler |
20-19, 13-9 |
| 3 |
Pauline Taylor |
11-14, 13-13 |
| 4 |
Alan Hare |
11-14, 13-13 |
| 5 |
Sue Murray |
7-17, 13-16 |
| 6 |
Ken Murray |
7-17, 13-16 |
| 7 |
Adrianne West |
13-10, 21-3 |
| 8 |
Mary Chadd |
13-10, 21-3 |
| 9 |
Brian McGivern |
13-10, 21-3 |
| 10 |
Elizabeth Bradley |
17-8, 5-24 |
| 11 |
Eileen Prior |
17-8, 5-24 |
| 12 |
Bill Gearing |
17-8, 5-24 |
| 13 |
Bill Durham |
22-7, 13-10 |
| 14 |
Margaret Hare |
22-7, 13-10 |
| 15 |
Tony Gayler |
22-7, 13-10 |
| 16 |
Rosemary Followell |
22-7, 13-10 |
| 17 |
Jeff Branch |
9-6, 16-9 |
| 18 |
John Taylor |
9-6, 16-9 |
| 19 |
Scot Salmon |
9-6, 16-9 |
| 20 |
Gordon Burrow |
9-6, 16-9 |
| 21 |
Bill Durham |
|
| 22 |
Dorothy Hill |
|