The 2018 English Short Mat Bowls National Championships proved to be Herefordshire’s most successful ever as the county’s previous best performance was matched not just once but twice in a matter of days.

The Mixed Four of Joe Loveys (Gorsley Chapel), John Mills and Shirley and Becci Cox (Woolhope) started the ball rolling with the county’s first appearance in a national semi-final since 2003 when Pam & Neil Kellett, in the Pairs, had been the first county bowlers to reach that stage.

Not satisfied with this one fine performance, John Mills then paired up with Shaun Jones (Ross) to repeat the feat by reaching the Pairs semi-finals later that week. Then, to round off the week’s performances, Mark Cinderey (Llangarron), David Millington Jones and Phil and Anthony Rogers (Woolhope) reached the quarter-finals of the Fours with Kate Williams (Ross), John Mills, Shirley and Becci Cox also qualifying from their round robin group before falling in the round of 32.

Taken together these results represent a step forward for the county’s bowlers with recent championships having seen teams from the county struggle to qualify from their round robin phase groups or, when qualifying, fail to get beyond the first knockout round of the competition. This progression hopefully bodes well for a Herefordshire national finalist, or even national title winner, in the coming years.

The county winter leagues came to a conclusion with a familiar scenario as Woolhope A collected their 15th Division 1 title in 17 years by a comfortable margin from Ross A who had to settle for the runners-up spot for the 11th time in 13 years. The Woolhope club have now garnered the ‘triple’ of Summer League, Winter League and LEH Club Knockout Trophy for the second consecutive year as they continue to dominate short mat bowls in the county.

Llangarron, finishing in third place, recorded their highest ever league finish, whilst at the bottom, the battle for the relegation places came down to the wire with three teams in the bottom four separated by a single point.

Fownhope fell a mere ½ point short of lifting themselves out of the second relegation place.

Gorsley Chapel secured an immediate promotion back to Division 1, following last season’s relegation, as they held off the challenge of Dewchurch Warriors, who had led the division for large parts of the season, to win Division 2.

Dewchurch had to settle for the runners-up spot but this still represented their highest ever finish and the prospect of playing in Division 1 for the first time.

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