The Herefordshire Premier Team made the best possible start to the new season by qualifying for the finals of the National Inter County Rinks short mat bowls competition.

In their qualifying group they began by defeating Surrey by 46 shots to 30 but then came up against last year’s losing finalists, Essex. In a very tense finish that match was eventually drawn 46 shots each but Surrey’s consequent defeat of Essex meant that Herefordshire topped the qualifying group and now progress to the finals in January. The A team came up against strong opposition in a group containing Devon and Somerset and lost both of their matches to go out of the competition.

The first round of Inter County Championship matches produced mixed fortunes. The Premier team, once again in a strong qualifying group containing Cheshire and West Midlands, both of whom have much more national and international experience at their disposal, began with a visit to West Midlands. Herefordshire produced a phenomenal morning session to rock their higher ranked opponents and win five of the eight games but West Midlands rallied strongly and swept through the afternoon session to secure the match 26-14.

The morning session had, however, shown the progress that the Herefordshire team has made to a point where they can compete with some of the stronger counties in the country.

The A team started their campaign very strongly with a resounding 28-12 home victory over neighbours Gloucestershire and this strong squad looks well placed to perform well in a group which also contains Worcestershire and West Midlands.