Worcestershire's interest in this year's championships came to an end in the second round of the singles with both of this years representatives crashing out. Mark Atkins (Worcester B.C.) beat Don Ormesher of Burnham On Sea (Somerset) 21-18 in the first round with a last end treble after an extremely tight game, but in the second round couldn't find his rhythm against former winner Richard Bray (1988) of Stenalees in Cornwall and lost 21-12. Rob Stanley made a dood start to his first game leading 19-5 before allowing his opponent (Jack Gill, Sandown, Isle of Wight) back into the game before securing a second round place with a 21-14 win. In the second round he again made a good start leading 9-0 against Andrew Briden (Herts B.C., Hertforshire) before going to sleep to trail 14-13. He bounced back and held a shot to make the score 20-20 before his opponent removed the shot bowl to win the match 21-19. Worcestershire can take a little comfort from the fact that both opponents went on to secure good wins to qualify for the quarter finals this morning. Richard Bray beating Darren Griffith of Isle of Wight 21-11 and Andrew Briden beating three time winner John Ottaway 21-8.
Marc Stones and Grant Burgess (Gilt Edge) had an excellent three days which eventually ended in disappointment. They bowled superbly to reach the final of the National Pairs before losing 17-13 to Peter Picknell and Keith Hawes from Iver Heath in Buckinghamshire. In an extremely tight game they were two shots all after 4 ends, only to drop a 4 on the fifth end. They rallied immediately and had gone 8-7 ahead after eleven ends following a run of four consecutive singles. Buckinghamshire, thanks to some brilliantly drawn bowls from their skip, had moved into a 12-11 lead after seventeenth end. Then came the crucial point in the match, holding one shot, Keith Hawes trailed the jack about six inches to secure a count of four. Marc and Grant never really recovered from this and lost 17-13 after exchanging singles for the last three ends. Earlier in the day they had out-classed Alan Theobald and Chris Palmer of White-Le-Head in Durham. Grant and Marc particularly controlled the ends played towards the main stand and ran out 26-16 winners. On Tuesday Marc and Grant defeated Brian Burleigh and Keith Hinder from Lister in Gloucestershire 22-17 in the third round and Karl Finch and Mike Caldwell from Stratford-Upon-Avon in Warwickshire 20-16 in the quarters. Worcestershire's last representatives Mark Atkins and Rob Stanley get underway in the singles this morning (29th).
Marc Stones and Grant Burgess were involved in an extra end shoot out last night in the second round of the pairs against Ian Ward and Mark Royal from the Rookery club in Suffolk. Marc Stones drew shots to give Worcestershire the edge but Ian Ward fired with his last bowl and sent the jack into the ditch. Fortunately for Worcestershire he did not hit it cleanly and his bowl finished about three yards away in the ditch with the jack right in the corner of the ditch. This left the ships to see who could draw closest to the jack, Mark Royal (going first) gained the early advantage drawing about a yard from the ditch with two of his first three bowls. Grant, whose first two bowls had been two yards short and about two feet into the ditch, drew his third bowl to within a foot of the edge to hold shot with one bowl left each. Mark Royal fired, missed and the Gilt Edge pair were through 17-16. Earlier in the game the Worcestershire pair had trailed 7-1 and 13-8 only to pull back to be two down going into the last end. They managed to get the two shots they needed (on a measure) to set up the tense last end. In the first round the Gilt Edge pair were involved in a tight game against David Cole and Ian Hayward of Whitchurch in Hampshire. They lead 4-0 early on, trailed 13-9 after 12 ends, were 15-15 at eighteen before a 4 on the nineteenth end effectively sealed the game with the two teams exchanging singles on the last two ends. However, when Grant came to bowl his last bowl the Hampshire pair held two and a measure for a third which would have given them an extra end. Grant then produced a fine bowl to get the shot and the game was safe. Worcestershire's other pair Jimmy Keegan (in for the holidaying Arthur Jackson) and Brian Borthwick from Worcester B.C. played Richard Train (in for the injured Michael Bennett) and Stephen Harvey from Summerhill in Northumberland. The Worcester pair got off to a fine start leading 9-1 after five ends only for the Northumberland players to hit back, leaving Worcestershire leading by just one shot (11-10) after thirteen ends. The Worcestershire then moved in to top gear and forged ahead 22-14 after eighteen ends with the held of two three's on the seventeenth and eighteenth ends. Although the didn't score again they limited the Northumberland shots sufficiently to run out 22-18 winners. In the second round Jimmy and Brian came up against a determined Middlesbrough (Yorkshire) pair of Roger Godley and Vincent O'Neill. The opening stages were very tight with the score being level at 6-6 after seven ends. However the next six ends saw the Worcestershire pair outscored to leave Yorkshire 19-7 in the lead at the thirteen end mark. This effectively ended the game which saw Yorkshire eventually winning 26-12.
For the second time this year both Worcestershire teams crashed out in the first round. However, unlike the Fours where Mark Weaver was unlucky to lose on an extra end, success in the Triples did not seem likely from the early stages of yesterday's matches. Phil Moule, with Richard Hall at lead and Rob Dawson at two trailed 9-3 after six ends against Ben Sherwen, Ian Reeves and Craig Docherty from Cumbria. Things looked brighter on the seventh end when Phil Moule trailed the jack a short distance to pick up four shots, but this was the end of their revival as Cumbria picked up shots on a regular basis to lead 20-9 after fifteen ends. The Droitwich Spa triple scored on the next two ends, but called it a day trailing 20-13 with one end to go. In the other first round match Chester Road's Triple (Richard Payne, Alan Hall and Dave Durant) had a disastrous start trailing 17-0 after five ends. Whilst playing plenty of good bowls they 'drew' the next five ends, keeping the deficit at 17 (22-5 after ten ends). However, the poor start was just too much to recover from and they eventually lost 30-7. Worcestershire's triples were not the only big name casualties in the Triples as Stuart Airey, Simon Skelton, Andy Wills (with Rob Griffiths at skip) and Brett Morley's Triples also went out. Worcestershire's hopes now rest with the Pairs starting next Monday and the Singles starting next Thursday.
Mark Weaver's Gilt Edge four came agonisingly close to beating the Norfolk County Arts four skipped Brian Taylor. They lead 14-2 after ten ends, but County Arts then brought the mat up the green, bowled short jacks and went on a seven end scoring spree and lead 18-14 after seventeen ends. Gilt Edge score a couple of singles on the next two ends, but a four to the Norfolk rink on the twentieth end seemed to have ended the Worcestershire's rinks hopes. However, they drew six bowls within two feet of the jack on the last end and with Norfolk failing to beat any of them, Mark's rink secured the six shots needed to take the game into an extra end. On the extra end the shot changed hands several times before John Reynolds drew shot with his last bowl only to see the Norfolk skip remove it at the first attempt. Despite two gallant efforts by Mark, he couldn't retrieve the situation and Gilt Edge had gone out by two shots. The Gilt Edge rink was Ray Vickers, Chris Lane, John Reynolds and Mark Weaver, their opponents Mal Elvin, Mal Nicholson, Gary Blake and Brian Taylor. In the other first round match involving Worcestershire Phil Moule's rink never hit top form against Junior International Ryan O'Flanagan's Royston rink from Hertfordshire. They trailed 7-1 after five ends, 15-3 after eleven ends 19-9 after seventeen ends and called it a day when they dropped a further three shots on the eighteenth end. The Droitwich Spa rink consisted of Richard Hall, Pete Davis, Rob Dawson and Phil Moule, their opponents from Royston were Simon Lee, Bob Porter, Adrian Charter and Ryan O'Flanagan. Neither of Worcestershire's conquerors had any further success with both losing in the second round.
Paul Speake of Broadway had two good wins in the Junior Singles on Saturday, beating Mark Devonshire (Winget, Kent) 21-10 and Nick Welsh (Rover (Cowley), Oxfordshire) 21-20. Unfortunately this was as far as Paul's success went, as he was beaten 21-9 by Mark Griffith (Cowes Medina, Isle of Wight) in the quarter final. The winners over the weekend were all members of the Midland Counties. Cleethorpes (Lincolnshire) won the Lincoln Two Fours, beating Bristol 41-33 in the final. The Champion of Champions title was won by Mick Sharpe (Northamptonshire), who beat Steve Farish 21-17. The other final was the Junior Singles which was won by Simon Gilbert of Warwickshire who beat Chris Gale of Lancashire 21-15.