Cambridgeshire Short Mat Bowls News story


Over 55s County Championship & National Qualifier Sunday 28th September 2025

07 Oct 2025

We had a very credible 22 teams enter this years county championship and national qualifier which coincidentally matched the same number of teams who entered last year albeit this time some different members.

The 22 teams by way of open draw were split into 2 x groups of 5 and 3 x groups of 4.

This is all in accordance with the ESMBA rules on national qualifiers which over the years has proved a very reliable and fair way of determining final placings.

The quarter final placings were made up of the winners of each of the 5 groups along with the 3 highest losers across the 5 groups.

Group 1 winners were Colin Buck & Peter Johnson with 6 points and a SD of + 16.

Group 2 winners were Barry Stanford & Malcolm Spriggs with 6 points and a SD of + 13.

Group 3 winners were Derek Retchless and Charlie Waling with 6 points and a SD of +20.

Group 4 winners were Lynn & John Boddye with 6 points and a SD of +28.

Group 5 winners were Jayne Thorpe & Rob Bonello with 6 points and a SD of +26.

Highest Loser 1 was Lynn & Dave Bignall with 6 points and a SD of +10.

Highest Loser 2 was Brian Beecham & Peter Gray with 5 points and a SD of + 1.

Highest Loser 3 was Chris West and Richard Warrington with 4 points and a SD of + 9.

QF 1 was won by Jayne Thorpe & Rob Bonello by 10 shots to 4.

QF 2 was won by Barry Stanford & Malcolm Spriggs by 11 shots to 2.

QF 3 was won by Derek Retchless & Charlie Waling by 8 shots to 6.

QF 4 was won by Chris West & Richard Warrington by 14 shots to 1.

The semi finals were close affairs where Jayne & Rob beat Derek & Charlie by

11 shots to 6.

The other semi was won by Chris & Richard who beat Barry and Malcolm 10 shots to 6

Both the final and 3/4th play off were close matches. The play off was a good watch with Derek Retchless and Charlie Waling achieving 3rd place following an extra end 7 shots to 6.

The final was another close encounter with Jayne Thorpe and Rob Bonello winning 8 shots to 5.

The prizes on the day were presented by our Chairman Mr Barry Fox.

The top 3 team placings had ticked Yes for the national qualifier

A big thank you to all those members who brought raffle prizes and purchased raffle tickets.

Following all deductions an excellent total of £202.15 was credited to CSMBA funds.

A special mention must go to Sharon Bingham for her beautiful donated bouquet of flowers along with yet another imaginative raffle prize. All incredibly generous so well done Sharon and thank you.

David Wilcox

CSMBA Competition Secretary (Interim)