Jones and Palmer to contest Herefordshire under-25 bowls title (From Hereford Times)

Jones and Palmer to contest Herefordshire under-25 bowls title

2:30pm Thursday 21st June 2012 in Other

HEREFORDSHIRE’S annual under- 25 singles took place at St Martin’s and, for the first time, a girls’ competition was organised.

The weather conditions were terrible but the green played well.

In the male competition, Shaun Jones (Ross) stormed into an early lead against Dan Holmes (Ledbury) in a preliminary match and held on comfortably to win 21-6.

In the quarter-finals, Tom Churchill (Eastnor) led 10-2 after eight ends against Connor Diggens (Kingsland), and although the two players exchanged shots over the rest of the game, Diggens was unable to close the gap, eventually going down 21-10.

Greg Harris (Eastnor) and Ashley Edwards (Brimfield) had a tight game with Edwards leading 13-11 after 16 ends.

But over the final four ends, the Brimfield man went up a gear to finish with a three, one, one and four to win 22-11. Dan Palmer (Ross) had a comfortable win over Mark Hewitt (Eastnor) by 21-3.

The last quarter-final was between Jones and the youngest player in the tournament, Tom Holmes (Ledbury), who made Jones work hard for his 21-8 win.

In the semi-finals, which produced a high standard of bowling games, Churchill started the stronger, taking a early 4-0 lead but Palmer picked up a maximum four on the eighth end to lead 10-7.

The Ross man continued his good form to lead 15-9 on the 14th end and, despite a good response from Churchill, finished with three twos to win 21-13.

In the other semi-final, Edwards took an early 6-1 lead against Jones and still had a 10-5 advantage after 11 ends. Jones then levelled the scores at 10-10 by picking up a two and three and two critical ends then decided the game.

On the 15th, Edwards was one down and decided to fire but this resulted in all his own woods going out of the head for Jones to have a draw to pick up a maximum four.

Then, on the 17th end, Jones picked up another four to lead 18-12 and went on to win 21-13.

Jones and Palmer will contest the final at Leominster BC on Saturday, July 14.

In the female competition, Abi Herbert (Kingsland) played Kate Williams (Ross) in one of the longest games of the day. After five ends, Williams had a 5-0 lead but Herbert hit back to earn a 13-7 advantage.

By 21 ends, it was 16-16 but Herbert responded and picked up a one, one and two to lead 20-16 before Williams finished in style with a one and a four to win 21-20.