Hertfordshire at the SMPT World Fours and Pairs
Hertfordshire was well represented at the World Fours and World Pairs this weekend. We had three entries in the fours and six entries in the pairs. Saturday was the fours event with 64 teams taking part in sixteen groups of four. The round robin stage sorted the entries out with the top two teams in each group going forward to the cup and the third and fourth places entered for the plate.
The Fours Cup
The team of Julia Bruce, Jan Rogers, Mark Spalding and Darren Brown came second in their group and progressed to the last thirty-two in the main cup draw, where they lost their first-round knockout match to a team from Sweden.
The Fours Plate
The team of Martin Nash, Darren Stanford, Roger Watkinson and Terri Watkinson won their first-round knockout 14 – 3 in the plate getting them through to the last sixteen but unfortunately went out in the following round. The team of Jeff Branch, Bev Stevenson, Alan Hare and Andrew Miles went out in the first round of the plate.
Sunday
Sunday and it was the pairs competition. This time with 128 pairs competing in 32 groups of four, in a similar format to the fours the top two pairs in each group went into the cup and the third and forth place pairs going into the plate competition. With Jeff and Dennis, Alan and Brian, Martin and Darren & Julia and Jan progressing to the cup draw with the other pairs of Darren and Mark & Alan and Andrew competing in the plate.
The Pairs Cup
The pair of Jeff Branch and Dennis Mack won their first knockout match by a close 9 – 8. The pair of Julia Bruce and Jan Rogers won their first-round match 10 – 1, with both pairs progressing through to the second knockout round and the last thirty-two. Unfortunately both of our pairs lost out in this round. The pairs of Martin Nash and Darren Stanford & Alan Spicer and Brian McGivern lost out in their first round.
The Pairs Plate
The first round of the plate competition saw our remaining pairs of Alan Hare and Andrew Miles & Darren Brown and Mark Spalding both win their first-round games to be in the last 32 of the plate. The second round of this competition saw these two Hertfordshire pairs drawn against each other. Winning 12 – 5, Alan and Andrew were in the last sixteen. Their next match was very tight, winning 7 – 6 after a nail biting 3 end single wood tie break, our pair had made the last eight in the plate competition. The next round saw stiff opposition from previous winners who knocked Andrew and Alan out of the competition.
Hertfordshire should be proud of all our fifteen members who took part in this two-day competition which had many world-class competitors. If you would like to take part in this competition next year then talk to any of the above competitors for information on how to enter.