Hello all you Hertfordshire bowlers, Saturday the 16th October saw our highly anticipated friendly match against the England Ladies Squad at Riverain in Hitchin. There were many spectators at Riverain along with all the competitors and match officials. The following is a brief summary of the day, for those of you who could not make it.
Hertfordshire laid four of their mats on Riverain’s main rink. The match consisted of six rounds of one pair’s mat, two triples mats and a four’s mat. All matches were played with two bowls over a fixed time of 45 minutes. The number of ends played were quite variable dependent upon umpire use and team discussion time.
Following the usual introductions and team line-up, play commenced slightly early at 09.45
Session 1
Brian and Audrey Fowler played pairs on mat 1. The England pair got into their stride taking the first four ends to go 6-0 up. Brian and Audrey took a total of four ends. In a game of thirteen ends England Ladies won 14 – 5.
Trevor Knight, Darren Stanford and Martin Nash played triples on mat 2. This eight end game saw England Ladies win the first four ends, however our three took three shots on the fifth and a single on the last with England Ladies winning 11 - 4.
Julia Bruce, Mike Ecclestone and Brian McGivern played triples on mat three. The first three ends went Hertfordshire’s way taking a single, a two and a four. So after three ends our three were up 7 – 0. England Ladies then won the remaining five ends although our three managed to limit this to one shot per end with the result the first win of the day for Hertfordshire of 7 – 5.
Bill Durham, Toni Gayler, Toni Gearing and skip Jeanette Gayler played fours on mat 4. In a game with only six ends being played our four won five ends. With end five being declared a dead end with two bowls touching the jack, England Ladies failed to score and Hertfordshire got their second win, 6 – 0. A resounding win.
So at the end of the first session the points were level at 4 all.
Session 2
Jill Quarterman and Jeff Branch played pairs on Mat 4. The first four ends went alternately for singles to give a score of two all. England Ladies then took the following three ends to take a 6 – 2 lead. Mirroring this, our pair then took the following three ends to level the score after ten ends at 6 all. After twelve ends we were even again at 7 all. After 14 ends England Ladies were ahead 9 – 8. On the last end of this exciting 15 end match Jill and Jeff took a double to win the game 10 – 9.
Sue Murray, Jan Rodgers and Dennis Mack played triples on mat 1. England Ladies won the first end. Our triple replied with a double to go 2 – 1 up. England ladies then won four of the next five ends to creep in front with an 8 – 3 lead. End eight saw our triple take a three to narrow the lead to 8 – 6. The last two ends of this ten end game saw each team take a double with England Ladies winning 10 – 8.
Michael West, Margaret Hare and Bill Gearing played triples on mat 2. The first five ends all went England Ladies way for a single shot each. Our triple then took two singles to narrow the gap to 5 – 2. England ladies then took the only double of this closely fought ten end game. The last two ends went for a single shot each leaving England Ladies winning 8 – 3 in a tightly fought game.
Carol Still, Liz Bradley, Alan Spicer and Skip Alan Hare played the fours on mat 3. The first seven ends of this eight end game all went England Ladies way with them being 10 – 0 up after seven ends. Our four took the last end for a single. England Ladies winning 10 – 1.
So at the end of the second session England Ladies took the lead 10 - 6.
Session 3
Brian and Audrey played pairs on mat 3. After two ends the score was level at one all and after four ends it was still level at 2 all. England Ladies then started to creep in front taking the next five ends of this eleven end game to go 9 – 2 up. The last two ends were even at one a piece giving England Ladies the win at 10 – 3.
Trevor, Darren and Martin played triples on mat 1. England Ladies took the first five ends of this nine end game to take a lead of 7 – 0. Our triple then took ends six and seven for two shots each to narrow England’s lead to 7 – 4. England then took the last two ends of the game for singles to win 9 – 4.
Julia, Mike and Brian played the second triple on mat 4. England Ladies took the first two ends for a three and a five to take a healthy lead of 8 – 0. Our triple then took two doubles and a single to reduce England’s lead to 8 – 5. England came back with a single to improve their position to 9 – 5. The last two ends went our triples way taking a double and a single. Despite winning five of the eight ends, our three narrowly lost 8 – 9.
Bill, Tony, Toni and Skip Jeanette played the fours on mat 2. The first two ends went England Ladies way for a single each. The following two ends went our fours way. With a single and a double in this low scoring game our four took the lead 3- 2. The last two ends of this six end game went for a single each to England Ladies giving them a 4 – 3 win.
At the end of the third session England Ladies increased their lead to 18 - 6
And so we all stopped for a magnificent buffet lunch and pudding, laid on by Riverain. At this point in time Riverain were far and away the winners of the day. Your match reporter enjoys a good feed nearly more than adding up numbers. So, with everybody refreshed and eager to get back to the match in hand, some officious looking bloke with a full belly blew his whistle and play commenced at 13.40.
Session 4
Jill and Jeff played pairs on mat 2 getting of to a good start by winning the first two ends to go 2 – 0 up. England Ladies then took the next four ends to take a lead of 6 – 2. Our pair then took two singles to narrow the gap to 6 – 4. End nine of this twelve end game saw England Ladies take a four. Our pair took a further single but England ladies took the last two ends to win 13 – 5.
Sue, Jan and Dennis played triples on mat 4. England Ladies started with a three and a single to go 4 – 0 up. Our three then stormed in taking a triple followed by three twos to go 9 – 4 up after six ends of a nine end game. End seven saw England Ladies take a single, but our three then took the last two ends for a single each to win the game 11 – 5.
Michael, Margaret and Bill played triples on mat 3. In this seven end game our three started by taking the first end. England Ladies came straight back to level the game at one all. Our three then took the next four ends with two doubles and two singles to go 7 – 1 in front. England Ladies won the last end for a single, but our triple had the win at 7 – 2
Carol, Liz, Alan and Skip Alan played fours on mat 1. Fired up with a good lunch they took the first end for a triple. England Ladies replied taking the following two ends for a single each. Our four then came straight back taking a single and a double to increase their lead to 6 – 2. End six saw England Ladies take a single however, our four instantly replied taking the last end of a seven end game for a double to win 8 – 3.
At the end of the fourth session Hertfordshire reduced England Ladies lead to 20 – 12
Session 5
Brian and Audrey played pairs on mat 2. England Ladies took the first end for a single, however our pair replied taking two doubles to go 4 – 1 up after three of the eleven ends. England Ladies took a three to level the game and our pair came straight back with a single to go back in front. England Ladies then won the remaining six ends, eventually winning 14 – 5
Trevor, Darren and Martin played triples on mat 4. Our three took the first end for a single with England Ladies replying by taking two doubles to go 4 – 1 up after three ends. The remaining five ends of this eight end game went alternately for a single shot each with our three winning three of them. England Ladies winning the game 6 – 4.
Julia, Mike and Brian played triples on mat 1. Our three got on the scorecard first taking a single. England Ladies took the next two ends for singles to go 2 – 1 up after three ends of this seven end game. Our three replied taking ends four and five for two apiece and regain the lead at 5 – 3 England Ladies took end six for a single. Our three took the last end for a double to win 7 – 3.
Bill, Tony, Toni and Skip Jeanette played fours on mat 3. England Ladies started by taking the first end for two shots. Our four replied taking a single and a four to go 5 – 2 up after three ends. England Ladies then took a double to reduce our lead to 5 – 4. Our four then took a single on the penultimate end of the game to have a lead of 6 – 4. The last end of this match saw a reversal of fortunes with England Ladies taking a four and winning the match 8 – 6.
At the end of the fifth session England Ladies increased their lead to 26 – 14
Session 6
Jill and Jeff played pairs on mat 1. Taking the first three ends for a three and two singles our pair got off to a good start with a lead of 5 – 0. England Ladies came back for a single but our pair replied taking a further two to go 7 – 1 up after five ends of a twelve end match. Ends six and seven saw England Ladies starting a comeback by taking a double and a single, our pair then got a single. England Ladies again replied with a single and a double to reduce our pairs lead to 8 – 7. End eleven saw our pair take a double to stretch their lead to three. England Ladies took the last end for a double which left them one short, our pair winning 10 – 9.
Sue, Jan and Dennis played triples on mat 2. England Ladies took the first two ends of this eight end game to go 3 – 0 up. Our three then took a double to reduce England’s lead. England replied with a single and a double to stretch their lead out to 6 – 2. Our three then took a single but with England Ladies taking the last two ends for a double each they won this game 10 – 3.
Michael, Margaret and Bill played triples on mat 4. Our three started with a single. However, England Ladies replied with a single of their own to level at one all. End three saw our four take a single with England coming straight back for a double. With our three taking end five for a single the game was now all square at three shots each. Ends six and seven of this eight end game saw our three taking them both for two shots. Although England Ladies took the last end for a single our triple had won the game 7 – 4.
Carol, Liz, Alan and skip Alan played fours on mat 3. England Ladies stormed in taking the first end for five shots. They then followed this with three doubles to go 11 – 0 up after four ends of this seven end game. Our four then took the following two ends for a single each. Taking the last end for a single, England Ladies won this game 12 -2.
At the end of the last session the final score was England Ladies 30 – Hertfordshire 18.
What a fantastic day, the score really is not relevant, the actual winner was our sport of Short Mat Bowls. This was the first time that Short Mat Bowls has been hosted at Riverain. Let’s hope its not the last and we can organise more events on this scale at this superb venue.
Our thanks go out to the England Ladies Squad, Hertfordshire County Squad, Hertfordshire committee, our umpire for the day, all the spectators, the Riverain staff and all the other people that help organise events like this.