County 2 Bowl Singles Report

County 2 Bowl Singles Report - 09/05/26

On Saturday 9th May, 16 players from across Berkshire travelled to Wantage for the final stages of the County Men’s 2 Bowl Singles. The players had already battled through the early rounds of the competition to make it this far. The prize for the two finalists today? A trip to Leamington for the national finals later in the season! 

Shrivenham had 4 players competing at Wantage and the last 16 stage produced mixed results for our bowlers. Martin Pether put up a good fight against Reading’s Darren Holder, but eventually ended up on the wrong side of the scoreboard, losing out 17-10. It was also an exit in this round for Adam Ridley.  Adam could not quite manage to claw back the early advantage built by Desborough’s Mark Peachey, going down 15-10. 

It was better news for Dave Murray, who eased through to the quarter-finals, recording an impressive 17-4 victory over Suttons’ Robert Parkes. Steve Warren faced a tough fixture against newly crowned Home Counties Singles Champion, Tilehurst’s Patrick Hulbert. Going into the last end 13-14 behind, Steve scored two shots, edging out a one-shot victory to book his place in the last 8.

In the quarter-finals, Dave took on Vaughan Holland of Reading. Trailing by 6 shots with just 4 ends to go, Dave battled hard to reduce the deficit. He required a 2 from the last end to force an extra end. A fantastic last bowl from Vaughan, with Dave holding the required shots to extend the game, meant a 14-17 loss after a brave fightback.

Steve took on Aubrey Merry of Tilehurst with a spot in the semi-final up for grabs. Steve trailed early on, 6-11 at 13 ends. Despite his best efforts, he could not claw these shots back, eventually going down 8-15.

Unfortunately this meant no Shrivenham players making it through to the all-important semi-final matches. A big congratulations to father and son-in-law Aubrey Merry and Andrew Knapper of Tilehurst who were victorious in these. They will meet in the county final later in the season, and will represent Berkshire at the Bowls England National Finals in August.

The season is just getting started for Shrivenham Bowls Club, and the important matches will be coming thick and fast. The next report will cover the National Two Fours, with both our A and B teams in action over the next few days.

Report by MJT Writing & Media Services