The finals of the remaining four E.S.M.B.A. National competitions were held at Melton Mowbray over the last four days. Hertfordshire had twenty five bowlers competing in the four disciplines.
On Thursday we had four bowlers competing in the singles. Mark Spalding topped his group and progressed to the knockouts. He came across stiff opposition against a bowler from Hampshire who stopped Mark from progressing any further. Winning all three of his group games Darren Brown topped his group and drew a player from Suffolk in the first knockout round. Winning this game 11 – 03 Darren progressed to the last sixteen where he played a bowler from Cornwall. Winning this game 10 – 08 Darren was in the last eight bowlers and played his quarter-final match against Craig Burgess of Essex. Craig won this game 10 – 5 but was knocked out in the following round. The eventual winner was Matty Worden of Cheshire who beat Nathan Caines of West Midlands 12 – 5.
The pairs competition was held on Friday, our three pairs came across some stiff opposition but unfortunately none of them progressed beyond the group stages.
Saturday morning saw Melton Mowbray Bowls Club buzzing with sixty four teams bowling in the fours competition. Our Hertfordshire team of Wendy Hunt, Jan Rogers, Darren Brown and Mark Spalding topped their group and drew Dorset in the last thirty two. They won this closely fought game 6 – 5. Now in the last sixteen they drew West Midlands. West Midlands had the upper hand and took the win at 7 – 3. West Midlands went on to win the quarters and the semis. They played a team from Devon in the final. West Midlands took a comprehensive win with a score of 10 – 2. In fact when you look back at all of West Midlands games they won most of them with a large shot difference. Wendy, Jan, Darren and Mark only lost by four shots. In fact in all their eight games only one team got closer to West Midlands and that was Audrey Fowler, Mike Haslam, Sue Knight and Brian Fowler who only lost with a shot difference of three in the round robin stage. So in our eyes although West Midlands took the trophy, Hertfordshire took second and third place.
Sunday morning and the last National competition of the season was the triples. Our four teams took on some stiff competition. The team of Bev Stevenson, Julia Bruce and Mark Spalding made it through the round robin stage in second place which they took with a shot difference of just one. It just shows every shot counts. They drew a Humberside team in the last thirty-two. Humberside got the upper hand and progressed to the last sixteen with a score of 13 – 06.
Well, another enjoyable National competition. Hertfordshire should be proud of all our entrants. By its nature a national competition brings together all of the best bowlers and Hertfordshire proved that we can be included in that group.