05 and 06 March 2022.
This weekend saw the finals of the National Mixed fours and Over 55’s pairs held at Solihull. Hertfordshire had three entries in the mixed fours on the Saturday and four entries in the Over 55’s on the Sunday. The mixed fours saw a reduced entry of 48 teams instead of the usual 64 teams. I assume that this was due to covid. Three teams did not turn up on the day again one assumes due to covid so there were a few byes during the day. The Over 55’s should have had a full complement of 64 teams, but again three teams did not appear due to covid so again there were a few byes during the first round of the competition.
As you will see in the following report Jeanette Gayler was in the Hertfordshire 2 team. This was her twenty sixth consecutive appearance at the nationals. As far as we can tell, although a couple of other players have achieved this feat, no one to date has exceeded it. Well done Jeanette long may it continue, looking forward to seeing you there again next year. Jeanette will be at Sollihull again next week as part of our ICC team in the Semi Final match against Kent
Saturday National Mixed Fours:-
Hertfordshire 1:- Teri Watkinson, Gerri Bignall, Mike Hargreaves and Darren Stanford.
The first round saw team 1 getting a bye due a team not turning up, they beat Dorset 2 by one shot but lost out to Norfolk 1. This put them through to the first round of the knockouts where they were beaten by Essex 2.
Hertfordshire 2:- Jeanette Gayler, Jan Rogers, Tony Gayler and Jeff Branch.
The first round and team 2 beat West Sussex 3 and Humberside 1 although they lost out to Suffolk 1. This put them through to the first round of the knockouts where they were beaten by Dorset 1.
Hertfordshire 3:- Denise Moores, Pauline Taylor, Alan Spicer and Brian McGivern.
In the first round, team 3 beat Northants 1 and Oxford 2. They narrowly missed out by one shot to Worcestershire 1 however being second in the group they were through to the first knockout round. They drew Essex 3 and beat them 14 – 5. Knockout round two saw them draw Devon 1 who they narrowly missed out to with a score of 6 – 8.
Sunday National Over 55’s Pairs
Hertfordshire 1:- Jeff Branch and Dennis Mack.
In the first round, team 1 beat Cambridge 2 and Norfolk 3 but went down to Dorset 1. With all three teams winning two matches this groups table was very tight. The top two teams both had 4 points and a shot difference of +4. Team 1 took the top spot as they had beaten Cambridge 2. Knock out round one and team 1 drew Suffolk 1 who they beat 13 – 5. Round two and the next opponents were West Midlands 1. Winning this match 8 – 4 put our pair through to the Quarter finals. With the competition getting stiffer our pair now drew Norfolk 1. Another good match and a win at 10 – 6, putting Jeff and Dennis into the Semi Finals. The Semi-finals were videoed and can be viewed on Facebook. This tightly played match saw the score level at 3 all after 3 ends and then level again at 4 all after five ends. End six saw our pair drop a two but they pulled back a single on end seven. End eight saw Northants hold three shots, they followed this by taking two further shots and the win at 11 -5 after nine ends. Northants went on to win the final against Norfolk 1 with a score of 10 – 3.
Hertfordshire 2:- Brian McGivern and Alan Spicer.
In the first round, team 2 beat all three teams in their group, Herefordshire 1,Suffolk 2 and Oxford 1. Being top of the group they went into the knockouts where they drew Northants 2. Northants 2 had the upper hand in this match beating our pair 13 – 2.
Hertfordshire 3:- Julia Bruce and Trevor Knight.
In three close matches, team 3 lost to Dorset 3 and Oxfordshire 2 by a single shot. They also got beaten by Essex 4.
Hertfordshire 4:- Mike Hargreaves and Roger Watkinson.
Drawing a bye in their first match unfortunately team 4 lost their two matches against East Sussex 2 and Cheshire 1.
With all three of our mixed fours getting through to the second round and Dennis Mack and Jeff Branch making the Semi Finals of the pairs, Hertfordshire is proud of all our members that took part in this weekend’s competition. We are now all looking forward to our return trip to Solihull next weekend for our ICC Semi-final against Kent.
Watch Jeff and Dennis’s game on the ESMBA England Ladies Facebook page.