THE COUNTY short mat bowls summer league concluded with a new winner’s name on the trophy.

Ten teams from eight clubs competed in two qualifying groups for a place in the final and both divisions were close run affairs.

Defending champions Ross Rockers fought won their division beating close rivals Woolhope 2 and qualified for the final with a slender two-point advantage.

The opposing division proved even closer with Llangarron triumphing by a single point over Woolhope 1 to set up a repeat of the last year’s final.

The final proved to be a complete reverse of 2018’s match as Llangarron outplayed Ross to avenge their previous defeat and win the trophy for the first time.

A tight singles match saw Llangarron’s Mark Cinderey defeat Ian Park by a single shot but Llangarron’s Four defeated the Ross rink by a comfortable margin.

In the second pair of matches Ross established early leads in both disciplines but Llangarron came back strongly to win the Triples by nine shots and the Pairs by two shots and take a clean sweep of wins and the trophy.

No sooner was the summer business concluded than the winter season was underway and the county Premier team played an early first match, securing a 26-14 away victory against Avon to begin the new inter-county season on a positive note.

The winter county league gets under way in October followed by the first county championship competitions.