Monmouthshire Short Mat Bowls Association held the Finals of the Monmouthshire Short Mat Bowls Association Autumn Triples at Usk Memorial Hall on Saturday 25 November, courtesy of Usk Short Mat Bowls Club.

The four group winners, Dingestow 1, Usk 3, Little Mill 1 and Dingestow 4 drew lots for the semi-final pairings resulting in Little Mill facing Dingestow 4 on Mat 1 and Usk 3 meeting Dingestow 1 on Mat 2. Both Dingestow teams made a good start; Dingestow 4 lead 4-0 after 2 ends while Dingestow 1 recovered from losing the first end to lead 4-1 after 3 ends. However, Usk won the next 3 ends to tie the score at 4-4 after 6 ends making the 7th and final end a sudden-death shoot out. With Usk holding 3 shots, Dingestow skip, Haydn Holder failed to seize shot with the last bowl and Usk progressed to the final.

Meanwhile, Dingestow 4 were faring a little better, taking the 6th end to lead 5-3 going into the final end. Unbelievably, all three Dingestow players failed to get a telling bowl into the head and Little Mill picked up 4 shots to go through 7-5.

The 9-end Final was a gripping affair with the score tied at 2-2 after 2 ends. The Little Mill trio of Caleb Hilder, Tom Chaloner and Rob Hamer won the next two ends to lead 6-2, before the Usk team, Pat Cullimore, Phil Radley and Ralph Berry responded in end 5 with Phil wresting the Little Mill shot bowl to hold two and skip, Ralph adding one more to bring the score back to 6-5. Ends 6 and 7 were tightly contested and shared, taking the score to 7-6, before Usk struck a major blow with 4 shots in the penultimate end to take the lead 10-7. It was the first time that Usk had held the lead since the first end and left Little Mill with the daunting task of scoring 4 in one end to win the match.

Unfortunately for them the Usk players set about making it very difficult for them and by the time the two skips bowled there appeared to be no shot available for Rob to rescue the situation and, indeed, Ralph added another bowl to the head to ensure that Usk became the deserving winners of the MSMBA Autumn Triples Trophy.

MSMBA clubs are currently involved in League action, having completed three matches each, with Caerwent and Caldicot leading the way on 20 points, but there’s a long way to go.

All clubs welcome new players. No previous experience is required, just a pair of clean, flat-soled shoes and a desire to have fun!

For details of Clubs, please visit the Monmouthshire Short Mat Bowls Association website at: https://sites.google.com/view/monshortmatbowlsassociationon