This Sunday (08^th November) Hertfordshire S.M.B.A. held its triples competition to find who would be this years county champions and who would get a chance to go forward to represent Hertfordshire at the Nationals in April 2027. This year we had a lower entry that last year, nine teams arrived for a nine o’clock start. With two groups, one of five and one of four bowling got under way.

The first round saw The teams of Doreen, Maz & Mike and Barry, Martin & Val take wins in group A whilst the teams of Bobby, Mick & Alan H and Bev, Julia & Mark take wins in group B.

The second round and Barry, Martin & Val consolidated their position with a second win whilst the team of Audrey, Sue & Brian took their first win following a bye in the first round. Group B saw the team of Bev, Julia & Mark take their second win whilst Paul, Toni and Bill got their first win under their belts.

The Third round and Barry, Martin & Val took their third win putting them in a strong position for group winners whilst Alan S, Jan and Darren B got their first win following their bye in the second round. Meanwhile all of group B had a bye.

The fourth round And Barry, Martin & Val took their fourth win putting them firmly at the top of the group. Audrey, Sue & Brian took their second win putting them in second place in the group with one round to play. In group B Bobby, Mick & Alan H got their second win whilst Jeff, Malcolm & Darren S got their first.

The fifth and last round in group A saw Barry, Martin and Val taking a well-deserved rest with a bye, meanwhile Doreen, Maz and Mike took their second win with a score of 7 – 6 and Alan S, Jan & Darren B also took a second win with a score of 10 – 3.  Group B got to play an additional game to allow all teams play four games in the round robins. Bev, Julia & Mark played Jeff, Malcolm & Darren S a second time and repeated their win of session two. Paul, Toni & Bill played Bobby, Mick & Alan H for a second time and again repeated their win of session two.

With all group games completed Darren sorted out which two teams would go through from each group.

Group A was straight forward enough Barry, Martin and Val were clear winners with eight points winning all their games. With two teams on four points it was Alan S, Jan and Darren that gained the second place with a much better shot difference due to there 26 – 4 win in the third session.

Group B was slightly more troublesome, Bev, Julia & Mark were clear winners with six points. We had two teams, Bobby, Mick & Alan H and Paul, Toni & Bill on four points. Closer inspection showed that they both had the same shot difference of +2. Darren then went through all eight score cards to see who had won the most ends. It was close with Paul, Toni & Bill just taking second spot with twenty ends compared to Bobby, Mick and Alan H’s nineteen.   

Following a short break the two semifinals began.

Semi final one had Barry, Martin & Val playing Paul, Toni and Bill. Barry, Martin & Val started with a triple and continued with a double and four singles before Paul, Toni & Bill took an end, they then held two singles but at 9 – 2 there was no way back and Barry, Martin & Val were declared the winners and were through to the final.

Semi Final two between Alan S, Jan & Darren S and Bev, Julia & Mark was a much closer game. Alan, Jan & Darren started with a single which Bev, Julia & Mark matched on end two.  They then took the lead with a second single. The lead reversed as Alan, Jan and Darren held a double and followed that with a single. Bev, Julia & Mark pulled back with a single but Alan, Jan & Darren restored their two-point lead with another single. End eight and Bev, Julia & Mark pulled level with a double. The last end saw a tight head and the final bowl from Darren run the jack to the back of the mat and they took the win with a final single.

Third/Fourth play-off

Paul, Toni & Bill were playing Bev, Julia & Mark. The first end saw Paul, Toni & Bill hold a triple. Their lead was short lived as the next end Bev, Julia & Mark took the lead with a four, they followed on with three single and a double. End seven and Bev, Julia & Mark held a massive five for a 14 – 3 lead. Paul, Toni & Bill held end eight for a double but their time had come and that third place went to Bev, Julia and Mark with a score of 14 – 5 after eight ends.

The Final

Alan S, Jan & Darren B were playing Barry, Martin and Val for the top spot.  Barry, Martin and Val took the first end for a single. Alan, Jan & Darren took the lead with a double and followed that with a second. Barry, Martin & Val fought back, they held a single followed by a double to draw level at four all after five ends. Alan, Jan & Darren then regained the lead with a double but Barry, Martin & Val pulled back level again with another double on end seven and it was six all with two ends to play. Alan, Jan & Darren then held a triple for the lead going into the last end. Barry, Martin and Val held a final single but Alan, Jan and Darren had taken the title with a win at 9 – 7.

So our top four teams are as follows, how many teams make the nationals is debatable, with this year’s lower entry we will have to wait and see how many places we are given.  We will let everyone know once we have had official confirmation of our allocations.

1^st Alan Spicer, Jan Rogers and Darren Brown

2^nd Barry Thorogood, Martin Nash and Val Thorogood.

3^rd Bev Stevenson, Julia Bruce and Mark Spalding

4^th Paul Bruce, Toni Gearing and Bill Gearing.