The County Pairs competition, played at Ross Bowling Club, was the final Short Mat Bowls County Championship competition of the season.

For the second consecutive season 24 teams entered, who played in eight round robin groups leading to a main knockout and Plate competition. In the main competition, five different clubs were represented at the semi-final stage from where the Larruperz pairing, Sheila Whittingham and Peter Wright, defeating 2015 finalists, Gill and Tim Rigden of Weston, and John Mills (Woolhope) and Joe Loveys (Gorsley Chapel), defeating Ian Roe and Ian Park of Ross, progressed through to the final. The experience of Mills and Loveys came to the fore in the final where they won comfortably against the Larruperz pair, both appearing in their first Pairs final.

The Plate competition saw a second successive victory for Dean Rudman of Gorsley Chapel, playing this year with Les Barlow, who defeated the Ross pair of Sue Dix and Pam Park in the final.

The county’s qualifying competitions for the National Finals have been completed and Herefordshire’s entries are dominated by Woolhope and Ross club players. John Mills (Woolhope) is again the most successful individual, qualifying in four disciplines, with Shirley and Becci Cox (Woolhope) and Shaun Jones and Ian Roe (Ross) all qualifying in three disciplines. The national finals take place in March and April and the county will be hoping to emulate its success in 2018 when two different teams reached the semi-final stage in the county’s best ever performance.

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