The final of the annual Two Counties LEH Team of Ten competition saw Herefordshire’s most successful short mat bowls club, Woolhope, bidding to make it three titles in a row but they faced a strong Gloster Knights side who have dominated this season’s Gloucestershire league. The Knights were looking to return to winning ways in this competition after Woolhope’s recent run of success came in the wake of their own three consecutive titles.

The foundation for eventual victory was laid in the first session when Saul Featherstone of the Knights overcame Woolhope’s Anthony Rogers in a singles game which could have gone either way whilst Adrian Atrill and Jack Knight had a convincing win against Sandra Rogers and John Mills in the pairs to give the Gloucestershire side two wins and a 16 shot lead at the interval. After a refreshment break the second half was a much closer affair but Woolhope simply had too much to do. Despite never being behind, Steve Holdsworth’s triple never opened up a gap on the Woolhope team and, although they went into the last end level, they managed to secure the winning shot by a narrow margin. The Fours proved to be the closest that Woolhope came to a mat win and Graham Watkins’ four went into the last end with a two shot lead. When Ryan Knight came to play the final wood he was holding one shot but managed to turn in another of his team’s woods to secure a second shot, and a drawn game, which was only confirmed by the tightest of measures.

The match was played in the usual sporting and friendly spirit and it was apt that the draw had created the opportunity for the two strongest clubs across the two counties to pit their skills against each other in the final for only the second time.