Suffolk Carpet Bowls Association

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» SIX COUNTIES - 19th April 2009

On Sunday 19 April 2009 the Six Counties Tournament was held at Littleport Leisure Centre.

The competition involved the six Eastern Counties, Bedfordshire, Cambridgeshire, Essex, Hertfordshire, Norfolk and Suffolk.

Each county were represented by six rinks (fours), each playing one nine end game against each of the other counties.

The Suffolk team were looking to retain the trophy they had won last year.

In the first session Suffolk opponents were Norfolk. It wasn't the best of starts for Suffolk, losing three of the first four games. They could however consider themselves unlucky to lose two of those games on the last bowl by the odd shot, 8-7 and 6-5. The win was a convincing one 9-1 and this was followed up in the next session with two more wins, in close games, 12-9 and 8-6. Overall six points against Norfolk, so not a disaster.

Next up for Suffolk were Hertfordshire and this time it was a far better start, edging wins in the first two games 8-6 and 9-6. In the following session Suffolk maintained their good form, winning three of the four games and scoring plenty of shots in the process, 14-7, 13-4 and a fantastic 24-2. A ten points return was well deserved for some good performances.

Suffolk's next games were against their main rivals Cambridgeshire who already held a slight lead in the competition. In the first three games very few shots were scored and the outcomes in doubt until the final ends. Unfortunately Suffolk could only pick up a solitary win 7-4, losing the others 6-5 and 9-4. The next three games followed a similar pattern and disappointingly for Suffolk an identical outcome, picking up just one win 10-7, with two defeats 9-6 and 10-7. Only four points from twelve would probably cost Suffolk dear come the end of the day.

After losing four games to Cambridgeshire, Suffolk could not afford to lose another game if they were to have any chance of winning the competition. Against their penultimate opponents Essex that would be difficult. In the first four games the spoils were shared, Suffolk winning two comfortably 14-4 and 9-3, but losing the others 12-8 and on the last end 9-8. The next session was no different, points shared, Suffolk winning 12-5 and losing 10-5. Six points from Essex was not enough, but a fair reflection of the games played.

The final opposition were Bedfordshire and as they had done against Hertfordshire, the Suffolk rinks racked up the shots. With one game conceded by Bedfordshire, Suffolk won the remaining games 9-3, 15-7, 8-5, 14-3 and an incredible 23-2. So to finish a clean sweep of points against Bedfordshire, but it was not enough to prevent Cambridgeshire from winning the competition.

The final points and placings were:
Cambridgeshire

43

Suffolk

36

Essex

34

Norfolk

32

Hertfordshire

18

Bedfordshire

7


Looking back over the event the Suffolk rinks had performed reasonably well and there had also been some excellent individual performances. The difference between finishing second instead of first was only the outcome of the games against Cambridgeshire.

The Suffolk squad are now looking forward to the visit of the Durham county team in the first weekend in August and then the National County Championships at Blackpool in November.

Neil Jolly (County Captain)