A COUNTY trophy has returned to the only home it has ever known – as Ross bowlers Claire Herbert and Peter Wright made it five wins out of five for their club in the recent over-55s pairs championship.

Victory in the Herefordshire Short Mat Bowling Association tournament also secured a title hat-trick for the pair, who overcame intense competition to reclaim the trophy they last won in 2022.

Eighteen pairs travelled to Leominster Indoor Bowling Centre, each looking to make their mark in a wide-open tournament.

Defending champions Gary Peachey and David Millington Jones won their quarter-final to set up an all-Ross Bowling Club clash with Herbert and Wright in the semis.

And St Martin’s Alan Link with Woolhope’s newly eligible and recently crowned County Pairs Champion John Mills also won through to a last-four showdown with Mills’ Woolhope teammates Shirley Cox and Bryan Watkins.

The clash of the Ross teams saw Herbert and Wright rush into an early 6-0 lead.

Two singles on the fourth and fifth ends looked to give Peachey and Millington Jones a chance, but a combined five off the following two ends put their opponents into an 11-2 lead which, in spite of a late comeback, was enough to book their place in the final 11-8.

The second semi followed a similar pattern as Link and Mills took an early lead to control the match 8-3 by the seventh end.

But a single on the eighth end followed by twos on the ninth and tenth saw Cox and Watkins complete a comeback and force the game into an extra end at 8-8, only for Link and Mills to sneak over the line taking a two.

A final that promised so much lived up to and surpassed expectations as only 11 shots were scored across the ten-end match.

With the score at 5-5 heading into the final end, Herbert and Wright showed the value of having played so many matches together to take a single with the final bowl and secure their third County Over 55 Pairs Championship as a pairing – their fourth county honour following their County Pairs Championship victory in 2023.