Match Report
Match Report - 15 Oct 2023, Hertfordshire County Short Mat Bowling Association Inter County Championship Premier 2 lost to Kent
15 Oct 2023
Sunday the 15th October saw the ICC squad play their first match of the new season at our new venue at Stevenage. Hertfordshire are in a group of only three teams this year so we will only play two home games and two away games in the first round of this competition. Our first match was against Kent. Kent currently has six players in the England Squad. Five of them were in the team we played today.
Session one
Darren Brown played singles on Mat One. Darren started by taking a single, Kent replied by taking a double followed by a triple. Darren held end four for a double to make it 3 – 5. Kent then extended their lead taking a double and a single. The following two ends went for a single apiece, this was followed by a double apiece making it 6 – 11 after ten ends. Again two ends went for a single apiece giving Kent a five-shot lead with three ends to play. Darren then held end thirteen for a triple, following this with a double it was all square at 12 all with one end to play. In a tight end Kent held on for a single and the win at 13 – 12.
Jeff Branch played singles on Mat Two. Kent held the first three ends for two triples and a single to go 7 – 0 up. Jeff then took a double, Kent came back for a single but with Jeff taking a further single he had reduced Kent’s lead to 4 – 8. Kent then took two doubles followed by Jeff taking a double and a single. Kent replied taking a single and a triple to be 16 – 7 up with three ends to play. Jeff then took the last three ends for a single and two triples to reduce Kent’s win to 16 – 14.
Beverly Stevenson and Martin Nash played pairs on Mat Three. Kent started with a double but our pair matched it then took a single to be 3 – 2 up after three ends. Kent then held a single but our two increased their lead by taking a double. Kent took a further single only to see our two take two singles to be 9 – 5 up after ten ends. Kent then took a single, following this with a double and a four they had the lead at 12 – 9 with two ends to play. Bev and Martin held the last two ends for singles but Kent had a one shot win at 12 – 11.
Jeanette Gayler and Mark Spalding played pairs on Mat Four. Kent started of with a double, our two then took three singles and the lead at 3 – 2 after four ends. End five saw Kent level it with a single. Our pair then held a triple for a 6 – 3 lead after six ends. Kent then started a short run, taking two singles and a double they had regained the lead at 7 – 6. Our pair then levelled it by taking a single. With the following two ends going for a double apiece it was 9 all after twelve ends. The following two ends then went for a single apiece and it was 10 all with one end to play. The last end saw Kent hold a double and the win at 12 – 10.
Following the first session Kent had won all four mats for an 8 – 0 lead although the games had all been very close.
Session Two
Bill Durham, Alan Spicer and Brian McGivern played Triples on Mat One. Kent started by taking a four and followed this with a single. End three and our triple took a single. Kent came back for a single of their own and followed it with a double. Our three held end six for a triple and reduced Kent’s lead to 8 – 4. Kent then held two singles to which our three replied by taking two singles of their own. Kent took end eleven for a single but our three took the penultimate end for a triple to reduce Kent’s lead to 11 – 9. Kent held the last end for a double and the win at 13 – 9.
Jan Rogers, Julia Bruce and Darren Stanford played triples on Mat Two. Kent started with a single and a double. Our triple took end three for a double and it was 3 -2 to Kent. Kent then took a further double followed by two singles. With end seven being declared a tied end it was 7 – 2 to Kent. With the following two ends going for a double apiece Kent maintained their five shot lead. Kent followed this with a single and a triple to be 13 – 4 up with two ends to play. Our three held the penultimate end for a single and finished with a double reducing Kent’s win to 13 – 7.
Tony Gayler, Toni Gearing, Margaret Hare and Bill Gearing played fours on Mat Three. Kent had the upper hand taking the first six ends for a single, two doubles, two triples and a four to go 15 – 0 up. Our four held end seven for a double only to see Kent come straight back for a four followed by a five. Our four got back in the game winning the last two ends with a single and a double. However, Kent had the win at 25 – 5.
Pauline Taylor, Andrew Miles, Trevor Tharby and Neil Rixon played fours on Mat four. Our four started this game by taking a double. Kent then matched this on end two. Our four went back into the lead on end three with a single. Kent came back for a triple and followed this with a single to be 6 – 3 up on end five. With the following two ends going for a single apiece Kent maintained their three shot lead. Kent then pulled further in front taking a double and a triple. The penultimate end saw our four hold four shots to reduce Kent’s lead to 12 – 8. The last end saw Kent hold a double for the win at 14 – 8.
At the end of session two Kent had won another four mats and now had a 16 – 0 lead. Everyone stopped for lunch in order to give our well worked Umpires Darren Stanford, Jeanette Gayler and Trevor Tharby a well earned rest.
Session Three
Mat One had Jeanette and Mark playing their second pairs of the day. They started by taking the first end for a double. Kent held end two for a tiple and followed it with a single. Our pair then took end four for a double and it was all square. They followed this with a single to take the lead. Kent regained the lead with a triple. Our pair held end seven for a single then Kent started a run of ends. Taking three doubles and two triples they had a 19 – 6 lead after twelve ends. The last three ends all went Jeanette and Mark’s way taking two triples and ending on a single they reduced Kent’s win to 19 – 13.
Mat Two had Bev and Martin playing another pairs game. Kent got on the card first with a double. Our pair matched it with a double of their own. Kent then started a short run taking a single and two doubles. Bev and Martin then took two doubles and a single and it was back to all square, at 7 all after eight ends. The following two ends went for a single apiece and it was still all square. Bev and Martin then started their own short run taking two doubles and a single, giving them the lead at 13 – 8 with two ends to play. The penultimate end saw Kent hold a single. Our pair then held the last end for a single giving Hertfordshire a win at 14 – 9 and our first points on the score sheet.
Jeff Branch played his second singles on Mat Three. Kent took the first three ends to go 5 – 0 up. Jeff held end four for a double. Kent then started a further run of ends, taking a double then a triple followed by four singles to go 14 – 2 up after ten ends. Jeff held end eleven for a double and followed this with a further double on end twelve. The last three ends all went Kent’s way. Taking a double and two triples they had the win at 22 – 6.
Darren Brown played singles on Mat Four. Darren started well taking a double followed by a single. Kent held end three for a single only to see Darren take a double and a single for a 6 – 1 lead after five ends. Kent reduced their deficit by taking end six for a triple. Darren came back and held a double followed by a single, to maintain his five shot lead. Kent then took the following two ends for singles. Darren held end eleven for a single, Kent then held two further singles and reduced Darren’s lead to 10 – 8 with two ends to play. Darren increased his lead taking a single on the penultimate end and following this with a double he had the win at 13 – 8 and Hertfordshire had two more points.
At the end of session three and Hertfordshire had two wins. Kent, however, had better shot differences and took the bonus points for both the singles and the pairs. The score now stood at 24 – 4 to Kent.
Session Four
Pauline, Andrew, Trevor and Neil played fours on Mat One. Our four took the first end for a triple. Unfortunately, in this very difficult match Kent took nine of the remaining ten ends. With end six being declared a tied end, Kent had the win at 18 – 3.
Tony, Toni, Margaret and Bill played fours on Mat Two. Our four took the first end for a double. The following three ends went Kent’s way for a single and two fours. End five and our four took a double to reduce Kent’s lead to 9 – 4. Kent won five of the remaining six ends, with end ten being declared yet another tied end Kent had another win at 25 – 4.
Jan, Julia and Darren played triples on Mat Four. Our triple held the first end for a single. Kent came back taking a four followed by a triple, a single and a double for a 10 – 1 lead after five ends. Our three held end six for a single. With the following two ends going for a single apiece Kent had an 11 – 3 lead after eight ends. Kent then took end nine for a triple and a 14 – 3 lead. Jan, Julia and Darren then held the following three ends. Taking a single, a double and a triple they had reduced Kent’s lead to five shots. Kent held the last end for a single giving them the win at 15 – 9.
Bill, Alan and Brian played triples on Mat Four. Our three held the first end for a single. Kent replied with a double. Taking a single on end three it was all square at 2 all. Kent then took a single followed by a triple for a 5 – 2 lead after five ends. Bill, Alan and Brian went straight back in the lead with a four. Following this with a triple, a double and two singles they were 13 – 5 up after ten ends. Kent then took end eleven for a double. Our three matched this to maintain their eight shot lead. The last end went Kent’s way for a single but our three of Bill, Alan and Brian had our third win of the day at 15 – 8.
The end of session four and the end of the match saw Kent holding on to the bonus points for the triples and fours. The final score was Kent winning 34 – 6. Shots in Kents favour at 241 – 153.
We now look forward to our next game. This will be the return against Kent at their home venue on December the 03rd.
Hertfordshire County Short Mat Bowling Association Inter County Championship Premier 2 6 - 34 Kent