Sunday the 04th January and many of Hertfordshire’s elite bowlers along with all of those aspiring of greatness attended Stevenage for the highlight competition of the season, ‘The Singles’. With twenty eight entries this was the largest entry for the singles that Hertfordshire has seen in its twenty seven year history, it was going to be a long day. Our bowlers were split into seven groups of four. At nine o’clock sharp the round robin stage began. With seven of our eight mats in constant use there were six rounds with each bowler getting three games, marking two others in their group and getting one rest break. At the end of the round robin stage the top two in each group along with the two highest runners up progressed to the last sixteen.

First Knockout Round

This round saw all eight mats in use, we had Neil Rixon, Sue Knight, Mick Thrush, Darren Brown, Malcolm Warwick, Barry Thorogood, Bev Stevenson, Colin Jones, Jeff Branch, Alan Spicer, Alan Hare, Brian Fowler, Mark Spalding, Val Thorogood, Darren Stanford and Neil Stevenson all playing for a place in the quarter finals.

Quarter Finals

Mat five had Malcolm Warwick playing Colin Jones.  Mat six had Alan Spicer playing Darren Brown, mat seven had Neil Rixon playing Darren Stanford and mat eight had Mark Spalding playing Brian Fowler. As the day drew on our four Semi finalists were Malcolm Warwick, Darren Brown, Neil Rixon and Mark Spalding.

Semi Finals

Mat one and Darren Brown was playing Neil Rixon. Neil started this game with a double which Darren matched on the second end. Neil pulled back ahead with a single but end four saw Darren take the lead with a triple, he followed this with a single for a 6 – 3 lead after five ends. Neil pushed again and got close with a double on end six but Darren matched this on end seven and followed that with another double for a 10 – 5 lead with three ends to play. Neil went on the attack again and held another double on end nine. The penultimate end saw Darren hold his fourth double of this game. With a 12 – 7 lead there was no way back for Neil and Darren Brown become our first finalist.

Mat four and Malcolm Warwick was playing Mark Spalding. Mark started this game with a triple and followed this with a single. Malcolm held end three for a single but Mark pushed harder and took three consecutive singles for a 7 – 1 lead after six ends. Malcolm got into his stride, he started with two singles and followed this with a triple to reduce Mark’s lead to 7 – 6 with two ends to play. It was not to be. Mark extended his lead with a single then finished the game with a triple for an 11 – 6 win and gained his place in the final.

As darkness approached Stevenage and the clock racked up the time it was decided to end the day. The final and the 03^rd/04^th playoff will now take place following the mixed fours in three weeks time on Sunday the 25^th January. Keep an eye out for the report on the mixed fours which will be available a day or two following the competition which will include a report on the last two games of these singles. It is possible that by then we will know our full allocations for the Nationals.

As always we say thank you for a well run day to Darren Stanford who not only organised but also managed to compete and umpire on this busy day. We also have to thank Rebecca who gave up her day to assist Darren and make sure all those scorecards were collected and cross referenced.