SHORT MAT BOWLS

Cornwall County Short Mat Bowls Association latest by Nicholas Truscott

THE second weekend of February saw nine local bowlers travel to Chelmsford for the Short Mat Players Tour English Masters, with Saltash Kernow’s Ian Crossett securing the Shield title.

Ian scored four points in the group stages before putting together a run of results to win the Shield competition.

Those victories saw him see off Frans Roberts (11-10), Caroline Trubshaw (15-10), Faye Ray (19-0), Grace Doorey (15-9) and Tommy Mikkelsen (12-11) to set up a re-match against Andrew Scott in the final which Ian won 14-8.

Ian gained five points from the weekend to increase his total to 119.5 ranking points and move up to 203rd overall.

Only one local bowler, David Studden (Holmans), qualified for the main Cup competition, courtesy of four victories.

A 15-7 win in the first round of the Cup against Tony McHugh was followed by a 13-4 defeat in the last 32 to Rory Gittoes.

David added 92 ranking points to increase his total to 387.50 and moved into the top 50 at number 45.

Three Cornish bowlers – Nigel Nicholls (Newlyn Trinity), Mark Slack (Duloe) and Steve Smith (Holmans) qualified for the Plate competition.

Nigel was was drawn in Group 29 and having won two of his four Saturday outings, a narrow 11-10 loss in Sunday morning’s final group game against Alex Tymon (ENG) ended any chance of qualifying for the Cup competition.

Nigel won early Plate games against John Jeffery (15-4) and Carin Carlsson 15-13 before losing in the last 16 to Roger Stevens (12-10).

He came away from the weekend with a net loss of 65 points dropping back to 809.75 points and fourth overall in the standings.

Mark Slack was drawn in Group 22 and won three of his five matches to qualify for the Plate.

A first round 13-3 win against against Phil Spry was followed by a 4-14 defeat to Kris Mckee in the last 32. Mark added 39 ranking points to increase his total to 118 and move up to 207th.

Steve Smith (Holmans) was drawn in Group 30 and started his tournament with two wins before a trio of losses.

In the Plate competition a first round 10-9 win against Kerry Scott was followed by a 10-8 loss to Mark Spalding. Steve comes away from the weekend with a net gain of 19 to increase his total to 288.5 and move up to 74th.

Holmans’ Peter Hore was placed in Group 32 and lost four of his five matches.

In the Shield competition an 11-6 win against Marcus Cattell was followed by a 11-6 defeat to Faye Ray.

Peter dropped a net 61 points to drop to 311.25 and 65th place.

Duloe’s Alan Trubshaw was also beaten in four of his five Group 16 outings and and was then beaten 10-6 by Pat Goodchild in his opening Shield clash.

Alan gained three ranking points to increase his total to 43 and move up to 405th overall.

Elise Daniell (Holmans) was drawn in Group 15 where she failed to pick up any points with five successive defeats.

She did beat David Ryste in her Shield opener before losing 12-4 to Ron Smith in the second round.

Elise came away from the weekend with a net drop of 82.13 to 363.50 and 53rd overall.

Caroline Trubshaw (Duloe) was drawn in Group 27 where she also failed to pick up any points.

The first round of the Shield brought a 9-8 win against Angharad Brideaux before losing to eventual winner Ian Crossett in the second round.

Caroline picked up three points from the weekend to increase her total to 18 and move up to 538th overall.