Saturday 27th August Round-Up
On an action-packed, sunny day at Leamington, an animated crowd enjoyed a feast of top-class bowls. The White Rose Trophy and Amy Rose Bowl brought great energy to proceedings as some of the country’s young, talented bowlers battled it out for national honours.
Women’s Triples – Sussex (winners)
Helen Wall, Birmingham 2022 England para-bowls manager, skipped her Leicestershire side to semi-final victory over Norfolk. The East Midlands trio came out victorious by 22-5. In the other semi-final Suffolk enjoyed a similarly convincing 24-10 win against Durham.
Birmingham 2022 women’s triples gold medallist, Jamie-Lee Winch Leicestershire was unable to make it double gold for the summer, as Sussex edged past a strong Leicestershire team with a fantastic display of bowls. With a two shot advantage going into the last end, Denise Hodd, Nina Allbutt and Rachel Mackriell held their nerve to close out victory 14-13. Well done to the Sussex triple.
White Rose Trophy – Kent (winners)
In the White Rose, both semi finals went down to the wire in spectacular fashion. The Warwickshire and Lancashire semi final was a close-fought encounter with Warwickshire nudging across the line 40-39. The Kent and Suffolk semi-final resulted in a narrow win for Kent by 42 shots to 41. After winning their respective semi finals by just one shot, Kent and Warwickshire went head to head in the final. It was nip and tuck in the early stages of the final, before Kent began to dominate. The final score was 40-26.
Many congratulations to Joseph Vandepeer, Josh Rowe, Harry Duffield, Issac Jenner, Jack Wimble Roberts, Nic Holley, Joe Sandford and Harry Goodwin.
Amy Rose Bowl – Kent (winners)
In the Amy Rose Bowl, Northamptonshire and Kent made it through to the Final with wins against Worcestershire and Leicestershire respectively. Kent got a fast start, racking up a 17 point lead a third of the way into the contest. Despite 7 shots being picked up by the two Northamptonshire fours in their respective 9th ends, Kent maintained their advantage with the match concluding with a score-line of 48 to 32.
Huge congratulations to the Kent team comprising Leah Bamford, Rachel Banks, Emily Ferguson, Paige Dennis, Olivia Moulton, Imogen Jenner, Amy Cheeseman and Erika White.
Family Pairs – Herefordshire (winners)
Dan and Tom Holmes from Herefordshire made it through to the Family Pairs final with wins against Warwickshire in the quarter-final and Yorkshire in the semi-final. They met Charlie and Debbie Souter from Surrey, who defeated Lancashire in their semi-final.
In the Final, as the sun set on Victoria Park, the Family pairs reached a nail-biting climax with the score 13-13 after 18 ends. Two sublime bowls from Tom Holmes closed out the Extra End and secured the Herefordshire brothers a well-earned victory.
Men’s Triples
In the first semi-final of the Men’s Triples, Derbyshire’s Josh Grant, Dan Thornhill and Phil Broughton defeated Alan Symondson, Simon Jones and Robert Newman of Berkshire B by 20-11. In the other semi-final, Lewis Rimmer, Shayne Rimmer and Robert Stirling of Lancashire lost out the Cumbrian team of Kevin Harrison, Mark Irwin and Stuart Irwin.
Disability Bowls England
In the DBE North v South Challenge on C Green, the players enjoyed a great match with the North just coming out on top. Following the conclusion of the match, Bowls England President presented DBE legend, Maggie Smith MBE with her MBE as she was not able to receive it at Buckingham Palace. Also the Friends of English Bowling presented a donation to Daniel Adams from Essex to help him develop his coaching qualifications. Following the huge success of the Commonwealth Games, where the able bodied and para team was integrated, it was great to see the bowlers with disabilities being part of the Bowls England National Finals.
Sunday 28th August Preview
Day four of the Bowls England National Finals starts with the Men’s Triples Finals between Derbyshire and Cumbria, the two sides seeking to succeed Essex County’s Christopher Muir, Steve Gunnell and Edward Morris who were crowned Champions in 2021.
The final four of the Johns Trophy always draws a big audience and this year’s inter-county women’s blue riband event is sure to be no different. Surrey face Norfolk in one semi-final while Wiltshire and Lincolnshire meet in the other final four clash ahead of a 2.30pm final.
The Men’s Pairs also gets underway with Culm Vale’s Commonwealth Games gold medallist Jamie Chestney and his partner Dominic Tuckett among 48 contenders launching their title bids. After Sunday’s preliminary and first rounds 16 pairs will retain hopes of supplanting Norfolk Bowling Club’s John Tufts and Wayne Willgress when the last end is complete.
Social media coverage is available on Bowls England’s Facebook, Twitter and Instagram sites.
Tickets to the National Finals start at just £4 for adults and £1 for Under 21s offer a full day of top-class sporting action. Tickets increase to £5.50 adults and £1.50 Under 21s at weekends. Event passes are available and all tickets are cheaper in advance.
Please note: U16s must be accompanied by an adult. Under 3s enter free of charge.