October is nearly upon us and our Short Mat Bowls Competition season has started following our summer break. This Sunday the 27th of September saw the start of the I.C.C. competition and our county squad all traveled to Stowmarket for the first of our round robin games. Our first game was away to Suffolk. We took the win from them last year so with our new County Manager (Jeff Branch) in charge could we do it again. The I.C.C. format remains the same as last year with four session of four mats in play.
Next year will see this format revised, see more about that at the end of this report.
With the carpets in place and having been rolled nice and flat session one got under way just before 10 o’clock.
Mats 1 and 2 had our two singles players. Neil Rixon started with a cheeky single and followed that with a triple, two hotshot fours and a single to be 13 – 0 up after five ends. Meanwhile Martin Nash found some stiff opposition from Suffolk’s England main team player. Suffolk held 2 singles before Martin took the lead with a triple. Suffolk reclaimed the lead with a double followed by a single. Martin then drew level by taking two singles to make it five all after seven ends. Meanwhile the other mat saw Suffolk start to pull back, taking three singles and a double they had edged five shots into Neil's lead. Having just pulled level Martin saw his Suffolk opponent hold a hotshot four and follow this with a single. Martin pulled it back with a single and a double. Neil now held a single but Suffolk pulled back with a double and a single to reduce Neils lead to 14 – 8. Martin’s last four ends were shared between the two bowlers but in a close fought game Suffolk held on for the win at 14 – 10. Neil took the following two ends for doubles, although Suffolk held the final end for a double Neil had the win at 18 – 10.
Mats 3 and 4 had our two pairs teams. The pairing of Mark Spalding and Bill Gearing started their campaign with a single. The Suffolk pair of two England Ladies replied by taking three singles and a double for a 5 – 1 lead after five ends. Our new pairing of Darren Stanford and Julia Bruce dropped a single on the first end but fought back to take two singles a double and a triple for a 7 – 1 lead after five ends. Mark and Bill now turned the tables, taking a double and two singles it was all square at five all after eight ends. Suffolk came back for a double but Mark and Bill pulled half of that back with a single to be just one shot down after ten ends. Darren and Julia’s mat saw both pairs hold a single following which Suffolk held a triple. Our pair then took a single and a double to maintain their six-shot lead after ten ends. Mark and Bill’s mat now saw both hold a single but Suffolk then held a triple on end thirteen for an 11 – 7 lead. Mark and Bill came straight back for a hotshot four and it was all square going into the last end. The last end saw a tight head but it was Suffolk that held on for a single and the 12 – 11 win. Darren and Julia’s mat now saw Suffolk hold a single followed by a triple but our two still had a two-shot lead. With the following two ends going for a single apiece, Darren and Julia had a two shot lead and held on for a final single and the win at 13 – 10.
So at the end of session one it was all square with two mats each. Hertfordshire had a small advantage as both shots differences were in our favour.
Session two began.
Mats 1 & 2 had the Triples matches. Alan Spicer, Jeff Branch and Val Thorogood started with two singles and followed that with three doubles for an 8 – 0 lead after five ends. Audrey Fowler, Ruzmilla Haque and Jan Rogers mat started with a single apiece, this was followed by another single apiece in some very tight heads. End five saw Sussex take their third single for a 3 – 2 lead after five ends. Alan, Jeff and Val continued their winning streak with a triple before Suffolk managed to hold end seven for a single which they followed with a second. Alan, Jeff and Val then took two singles to maintain their eleven-shot lead. Suffolk then held their third end for another single but our three reinforced their position with a triple on the penultimate end. Suffolk came back for their fourth single on the last end but Hertfordshire had the win at 16 – 4. Audrey, Ruzmilla and Jan then took the lead on end six with a double. Suffolk equalized with a single on end seven. Our three then doubled their score by taking two doubles. Suffolk came back and matched one double but our three held another single for a 9 – 6 lead with two ends to play. Suffolk then drew closer with a double but Audrey, Ruzmilla and Jan matched this on the last end to take the win at 11 – 8.
Mats 3 & 4 had our two sets of fours playing. Bev Stevenson, Malcolm Warwick, Susan Knight and Brian Fowler dropped the first end for a single and Suffolk continued with a second single on end two. Bev, Malcolm, Susan and Brian then took the lead with a triple. They followed this with three singles and two doubles for a 10 – 2 lead after eight ends. Suffolk then pulled back a single on end nine but our four matched that on end ten. The last end saw Suffolk hold on for a double but Bev, Malcolm, Susan and Brian had the win at 11 – 5.
Doreen Andre, Margaret Hare, Andrew Miles and Alan Hare also dropped the first end for a single but pulled it back by taking a single on end two. Suffolk then held another single on end four but Doreen, Margaret, Andrew and Alan held a double followed by a triple for a 6 – 2 lead after five ends. Suffolk then matched our fours triple but they came straight back for another triple and followed that with their fourth triple of the game, they continued with a single and a fifth triple for a 16 – 5 lead with one end to play. Suffolk managed to hold the last end, their fourth of the game for a final single but Doreen, Margaret, Andrew and Alan had taken the win at 16 – 6.
Winning all four mats gave Hertfordshire a 12 – 4 lead at the half way stage and a very decent shot difference in the triples and fours.
After a short break session three started with our singles and pairs taking to the mats. Bill and Mark dropped the first end for a single but pulled it back on end two with a single of their own. This was repeated on ends three and four. With end five being declared a tied end it was all square at two shots apiece. Meanwhile Julia and Darren dropped the first five ends and were 8 – 0 down. Mark and Bill dropped another single but came back for the lead with a triple. Suffolk took another double followed by a single but Bill and Mark pulled it back all square with a triple on end seven. The following two ends went for a single apiece then Bill and Mark held a double on end ten for an 8 – 6 lead. Back on Julia and Darren’s mat our pair held end six for a single, Suffolk matched that on end seven but Julia and Mark came back strongly and took a hotshot four on end eight to reduce their deficit to 5 – 9. The following two ends went for another single apiece so on end ten our pair were still four shots down. Bill and Mark took a single on end eleven but Suffolk matched this and followed on with a triple to take the lead at 10 – 9 with two ends to play. Bill and Mark took a triple of their own on the penultimate end and followed that with a single for the win at 13 – 10. Back on Julia and Darren’s mat, Suffolk held a single and followed that with a hotshot four. Taking two more doubles and a single Suffolk won their second pairs mat with a score of 20 – 6.
Martin played his second singles game of the day on mat three. Suffolk took an early lead with a single and followed on with two more. Martin then fought back and leveled the game with a triple on end four, he followed this with a single to be 4 – 3 up after five ends. Meanwhile mat four had Neil playing his second singles game. Neil started with a double and continued with a single and a triple before Suffolk got going with a double on end four. Neil came straight back for a single and was 7 – 2 up after five ends. Back on mat three Martin continued his winning streak with another two singles followed by a triple. Suffolk attacked back and held a triple of their own and followed that with a single on ten to reduce Martin’s lead to 9 – 7. On mat four Neil took another single on mat four and followed this with a double. Suffolk held on for a single on end eight but in a run of very close ends Neil took two more singles for a 12 – 3 lead after ten ends. Back on mat three Martin pulled forward again with a single on end eleven and followed that with a triple for a six shot lead with three ends to play. Suffolk went on the attack and held a double and followed that with a hotshot four. It was 13 all going into the last end. With all the bowls surrounding the jack Martin’s last bowl rolled in for shot giving Hertfordshire the win at 14 – 13. Back to mat four and Neil took two more ends for singles for a 14 – 3 lead with three ends to play. Suffolk then took a double on end thirteen but Neil matched this on end fourteen to maintain his eleven shot lead. Suffolk attacked again and held the last end for a triple but Neil had a comfortable win at 16 – 8.
At the end of session three Hertfordshire had three more wins to bring the score to 18 – 6 Hertfordshire took the bonus points for the singles and Suffolk had the bonus points for the pairs so the score going into the last end was 20 – 8 in Hertfordshire’s favour.
Session four got under way.
Mats 1 & 2 now had the fours playing. Doreen, Margaret, Andrew and Alan started well with a triple. Now it was Suffolk’s turn for a triple and they followed that with a single for the lead. End four saw Doreen, Margaret, Andrew and Alan hold a magnificent six. Suffolk came straight back for a triple to reduce our fours lead to 9 – 7. Meanwhile on mat two Bev, Malcolm, Susan and Brian started with a single. Suffolk matched this on end two and then took the lead with a double on end three. Bev, Malcolm, Susan and Brian came back for a double on end four and it was all square at three apiece. Suffolk then held a double and followed this with a single for a three shot lead after six ends. Back on mat one Doreen, Margaret, Andrew and Alan took two singles and followed this with a double to increase their lead to 13 – 7 after eight ends. Suffolk took end nine for a double they followed that with a four and it was all square at 13 all going into the last end. Suffolk went on the attack and held the final end for a five to take the win at 18 – 13. On mat two Bev, Malcolm, Susan and Brian started to pull back with a single, they followed this with a another single then took the lead with a double. The penultimate end and Suffolk drew level with a single, this time Suffolk held on for a further single on the last end and took the win at 8 – 7.
Mats 3 & 4 now had the triples playing. Audrey, Ruzmilla and Jan started their second triples game with a single, they followed this with a double and another single to be four shots up. Suffolk then held a single and followed that with a second. Audrey, Ruzmilla and Jan then held two more singles to be 6 – 2 up after seven ends. Alan, Jeff and Val took the first end of their second triples game with a single. With two bowls sitting on the jack end two was declared a tie. Our three then took a further single on end three. Suffolk came back and took their first end for a single but Alan, Jeff and Val came back for three more singles to be 5 – 1 up after seven ends. Back on mat three Audrey, Ruzmilla and Jan took a significant four and followed this with a double to be 12 – 2 up after ten ends. Suffolk held the next end for a single but our three took end eleven for another single to maintain their ten shot lead. Suffolk held on and took the final two ends for singles but Hertfordshire had another win at 13 – 5. Back to mat four, Suffolk held a single on end eight, then Alan, Jeff and Val took a run of three ends all for doubles to be 11 – 2 up with two ends to play. Suffolk came back on the penultimate end top hold a triple. They followed this with a single on the last end but Hertfordshire had another win at 11 – 6.
So at the end of session four the scores were all tallied. With two wins apiece in session four the scores increased to 24 – 12, however thanks to those good scores in session two Hertfordshire held on to the bonus points for both disciplines giving the final score a win for Hertfordshire at 28 – 12.
Well, what an exciting day we had for our first I/.C.C. outing of the new season. We don’t have to wait long as the next game will be at our home mats in Stevenage against Norfolk on the 11th October.
There now follows the proposal from the E.S.M.B.A. for next year’s format.
If you have any comments you would like to make about this please can you email them to herts.icc@gmail.com so that we can discuss them at our committee meeting on the 05th October.
Proposed New Inter-County Competition Format For Season 2027-2028
Dear All,
I am writing to outline the proposed format for the new Inter-County competitions.
The proposal is to introduce two separate competitions:
- Premier League
- ICC
Premier League
The new Premier League will consist of teams made up of 20 players, plus 4 reserves.
Format will be:
Format
- 3 Sessions per game allow 3.5 hours per round (?)
- Session 1 - Triples (11 ends?) and Fours (10 ends?)
- Session 2 - Pairs (12 ends?) and Singles (12 ends?)
- Session 3 - 5 Fours (10 ends?)
Scoring system
- 2 points for a win, 1 point for a draw, 2 points for overall session score
- Total points available 32
- Count back if tied on points at end of round 7 – shot difference, shots scored, shots conceded, ends won.
Umpires
Umpires will be provided by the ESMBA Oganisers
ESMBA rules to apply
The Premier League will be played over two weekends, at central venues, venues to be used will depend on entries, with all teams playing against each other during the course of those weekends. This will provide a full round-robin format, ensuring that every county competing in the PremierLeague has the opportunity to play against all other Premier teams.
Players selected to represent their county in the Premier League will not be eligible to play in the ICC Competition.
ICC
The ICC Competition will remain in its current format, with no changes to the existing structure.
The ICC Competition will continue to provide an opportunity for players who are not participating in the Premier League.
County Entries
Counties will have flexibility in how they enter teams into the two competitions.
Cost for the new format will be £250 per team. Cost for the 2nd tier competition will remain unchanged.
A county can:
- Enter one team in the Premier League;
- Enter one team in the ICC Competition;
- If they have sufficient players to make up two teams, enter one team in the Premier League and one team in the ICC Competition; or
- Enter two teams in the ICC Competition.
This gives counties the flexibility to enter teams according to the number of players they have available, while also creating a clear Premier level for the strongest county teams.
The proposed format should provide a competitive and structured Premier Competition while retaining the current ICC type Competition and giving counties greater flexibility to accommodate their available players.
We hope that the proposal will be given careful consideration and that counties will have the opportunity to provide their views before the final format is agreed.