County Championship Pairs and National Qualifier : Sunday 1st December 2024
Seventeen (17) teams entered this years county championship pairs which was also a county qualifier for the national finals to be held at Melton Mowbray IBC on Friday 11th April 2025.
A total of five (5) teams had elected to enter the national qualifier, but as usual in Cambridgeshire both competitions were run in conjunction with each other.
The 17 teams were divided by way of open draw into 1 group of 5 and 3 groups of 4.
We all saw some very good bowling and after 6 consecutive rounds the top two teams in each group progressed into the quarter finals.
Group C caused some issues for the over worked scorer as following the three group games both the top two teams had the same number of points as well as identical shot difference.
Following a count back on the score-cards it was found that both teams had also won the identical number of ends.
These two teams were placed in correct finishing positions only after checking the score-card when they played against each other which left Jayne Thorpe & Rob Bonello as winners of the group.
The quarter finals and results were as follows:-
(WG A) Steph Stanford & Maureen Fyson (10) v (RU G D) Brain Beecham & Peter Gray (3)
(WG C ) Jayne Thorpe & Rob Bonello (21) v (RU G A) Dawn Fincham & Mary Fox.
(WG D) Brenda & Charlie Waling (8) V ( RU G B) Richard Kinghorn & Chris Plaice (7)
(WG B) Billy Chapman & Peter Griffiths v (RU G C) Barry Stanford & Malcolm Spriggs (3)
In semi-final 1 on Mat 3 Brenda & Charlie Waling beat Steph Stanford & Maureen Fyson 8 shots to 7.
In the other semi Jayne Thorpe & Rob Bonello beat Billy Chapman & Peter Griffiths 8 shots to 6.
The final was won by Brenda & Charlie Waling in a tough match 8 shots to 6 against Jayne Thorpe & Rob Bonello.
The teams finishing 1st to 3rd had all entered the national qualifier so as a county we hope to be allocated a couple of places for our Cambridgeshire teams.
The chairman Mr Barry Fox presented the prizes to the top four team placings.
A big thank you to those members who helped to lay out the equipment in the morning and were good enough to stay behind to help clear up. Your help is much appreciated.
A special thanks to Roly Fincham for carrying out all umpiring duties three weeks running. It is a difficult job at times but all completed with a minimum of fuss and a sense of humour.
Following a successful raffle and all deductions a total of £68.30 will be credited to association funds from this event.
Thank you to you all and we will be back doing it all again on Sunday January 26th when the County championship triples will be run alongside the under 18’s.
David Wilcox
CSMBA Interim Competitions Secretary