IT’s been a successful week for Abergavenny with several players reaching the Monmouthshire Bowls Association semi-finals.

Robert Poynter will play A. Bushell of Crosskeys in the Open Singles semi-final on Monday July 8 at Newbridge.

In the Open Rinks, the rink of Matthew Vale, Gethin Hill, Martin Doughty and John Vale face a rink from New Tredegar at Cwmbran on Tuesday July 2, and the Over 60’s triple of Gethin Hill, Martin Doughty and John Vale will hope to overcome a team from Panteg House in their semi-final at Crosskeys on Thursday July 4. If any of the Abergavenny players win through to the final of their competitions, they will qualify for the Welsh Championships at Llandrindod Wells in mid August.

In addition Abergavenny Bowls Club bowler Erica Price has been selected to play for the Welsh “para bowls” squad against Australia at Berriew, near Welshpool.

The Australian bowlers are in the UK as part of their preparation for the Commonwealth Games in 2022, which will be held in Birmingham. Wales are hosting two test events for the “Jackaroos” in two venues. These will be on July 15, 16 in Sophia Gardens, Cardiff, and on July 18, 19 in Berriew.

Erica said, “This is such an exciting time for the Welsh para and visually impaired bowlers as the events are running in parallel to the Welsh mens’ and ladies’ able bodied teams. Hopefully this will raise the profile of physically disabled and visually impaired bowls.”

Abergavenny Ladies also had a good week by winning their rearranged game against Beechwood. They managed to win on both rinks to win the game by 45 shots to 25. Judy Belli’s rink was in control of their game from the first end. They never allowed their opponents to get into the game and went on to win by 30 shots to 12. It was a much closer affair on the rink of Ceri Clark. They established an early lead but this was gradually eroded until they were eventually one shot behind on the penultimate end. They managed to register three shots on the final end to win by 15 shots to 13.

Abergavenny men were less successful in their MBA game against Newbridge at Avenue Road last Saturday. They could manage to win on one rink only and were therefore narrowly defeated by 80 shots to 78. The victorious rink for Abergavenny was that of Anthony Moriarty. It was close throughout until the Abergavenny sealed victory by scoring 13 shots on the final three ends to win by 27 shots to 15.

Jack Vale’s rink was eight shots behind after the first six ends. Although they fought back over the remainder of the game, scoring five shots on the last two ends, they could not totally reduce their early deficit and were defeated by 25 shots to 22. It was the reverse situation with John Beaton’s rink, they conceded eight shots on the final two ends to be defeated by 22 shots to 15. It was the same situation on the rink of Matthew Vale as they also conceded six shots on the last three ends to lose the game by 18 shots to 14.

It was the same story on Sunday when the rearranged MBA game at Blaina was played on a very fast green. This proved to be difficult for the majority of Abergavenny players as they were defeated on three rinks to lose the game by 82 shots to 61.

The only rink able to come to terms with the speed of the green was that of Matthew Vale. They managed to open a lead during the third quarter of their game and then hold on to that advantage and win by 19 shots to 15. All the other three rinks succumbed to their opponents. Gethin Hills rink dropped ten shots in five ends which led to defeat by 21 shots to 14. Jack Vale’s rink also dropped ten shots over the final six ends to lose the game by 21 shots to 15. The rink of John Beaton was in contention for the first ten ends but their opponents then took control to win by 25 shots to 13.

This weekend there are no league games for Abergavenny men but a mixed team will play a friendly at Gilwern on Sunday. Abergavenny Ladies also play a league game at Garndiffaith.