A-team match reports  2024-25 season

6th october.  won (38-2) home to cornwall






















2023-24 Season.     'A' team reports: 

ICC Semi Final on 3rd March 2024
(LOST)   HAMPSHIRE 19 points (191 SHOTS), norfolk 21 points (174 SHOTS)
the  Hampshire A Team went into the semi final match with seven regular players missing due to family commitments, holidays & illness which meant Manager Andrew Shorney made use of the extensive squad that he has built up over the past 2 years.   It also meant new partnerships were necessary. Player/Manager Andrew Shorney in his pre game team talk asked the team to try their best, enjoy the day and relax.    He also wished Brian Brown a very happy 90th birthday where cake was dispensed at lunch time.
Billy Ray was in good form and went off like a rocket8-3 up after 4 ends this quickly became 15-3 after 7 ends as his opponent was often frustrated by his excellent shot play. His opponent only managed to win 4 of the 15 ends with Billy winning 23-8. Meanwhile, Tony Wall was having a closer match after 5 ends he was winning 3-2, he then won the next 5 ends gaining 4 two’s in the process to take his lead to 12-2 by the 10th end. He also only allowed his opponent to win 4 ends and eventually won 15-4. In the pairs, 15 year old Chris Hardman was paired with David Brindley. They started well winning the first two ends to take a 3-0 lead but dropped a three on the third end to make the score 3-3 after 3 ends. By the 8th end the score was 7-7 and by the 12th end the score was 9-10 in favour of Norfolk. At the ned of the 14th end the score was 9-13 and with one end remaining the Hampshire pair needed all 4 shots. Amazingly, they achieved this to draw the match 13-13. The other pair saw Trevor Holmes move to lead with Alec Gall at skip. This match was a tight affair.  Hampshire were 2-3 down after 4 ends, 6-5 up after 8 ends and 9-9 after 12 ends. With the final three end shared equally the final score was 11-11.

This meant at the end of the first session Hampshire were winning 6-2. With shot difference in the singles of +26 & in the pairs it was even.

In the triples, Caroline Gall, Brian Brown & Faye Ray were playing what looked like a strong triple. They were 2-5 down after 5 ends which moved to 4-11 down after 10 ends. They did rally towards the end gaining a 3 & a 4 but eventually lost 11-14. Meanwhile, the other triple of Sharon Bradbury, Mark Berry & Richard Edwards were also having a difficult time and never really got going. Winning only 3 ends in the match they lost 5-15. In the Fours, the team of Chris Davison, Paul Doggett, David Sperry & Shane Davison were in a tight match 2-2 after 3 ends and 4-4 after 6 ends. They unfortunately dropped a 5 on the 10th end and lost the match 8-12.  Meanwhile, the other four comprising of Les Ricketts & Hayley Bucknall (both stepping in very late due to illness (thank you Les & Hayley)) were also playing in a tight match. 2-2 after 3 ends, the Hampshire team managed to gain a 4 on the 5th end to take a 6-3 lead and they managed to maintain this margin for the rest of the game eventually winning 10-7

so at the end of the second session & the half way stage the match was tied at 8-8 with the triples shot difference -10 & in the fours it was +1.

so on to the third session. Billy Ray was looking to continue his fine form and stormed into a 12-1 lead after 6 ends, this moved to 15-3 after 8 ends and although he had a wobble in the middle of the match he was only dropping singles.  He took the last two ends with two 2’s to win the match 19-9.  In the other match Tony Wall started well and was 5-1 up after 5 ends and by the 10th end the score was 11-4. Tony dropped a 4 on the 11th end to let his opponent back into the match. With Tony 12-11 up on the last end and holding 1, the jack was in the ditch with Tony’s toucher hidden behind two of his opponents she drew to the line to draw the match 12-12 In the pairs, Chris Hardman & David Brindley were having another tight match. Although 5-1 up after 6 ends the Norfolk pair fought back to 5-9 after 11 ends and although the Hampshire pair won three of the last 4 ends they eventually lost 8-10. In the other pair Trevor Holmes & Alec Gall were also playing in a tight match. They were 5-2 up after 6 ends but 5-5 after 8 ends eventually losing 9-11.
at the end of the third session Hampshire were now losing 13-15. the singles bonus points went to Hampshire but the pairs went to Norfolk.

when The triples & fours went into the final session they knew that they needed 3 wins to win the match overall....two wins & a draw would tie the match.   Caroline Gall, Brian Brown & Faye Ray's match was very tight, 2-2 after 4 ends, 3-3 after 6 ends, 6-8 down after 9 ends. They then won three of the last 4 ends to take the match 11-9.  unfortunately however, the other triple of Sharon Bradbury, Mark Berry & Richard Edwards struggling throughout their match won only 5 ends and, dropping a few multiples along the way, they eventually lost 7-17.   the foursome of Chris Davison, Paul Doggett, David Sperry & Shane Davison had an "interesting" game losing 2-3 after 4 ends.   they took the fifth end with a six, the sixth ends with a single & the seventh end with a five to take a 14-3 lead and Eventually winning 18-8.  The other four of Les Ricketts, Hayley Bucknall, Lorraine Shorney & Andrew Shorney were playing in a difficult match, although they took the lead and were leading 5-1 after 3 ends, the Norfolk four fought back well and by the 8th end the score was 8-8. The Norfolk four won the last 3 ends which meant the Hampshire team lost 8-14.

so to the Final result.  Hampshire lost 19-21 , Hampshire 191 shots, norfolk 174 shots, and  This meant the season was over for Hampshire.
Speaking after the match, Player/Manager Andrew Shorney said that whilst he was disappointed to lose by such a narrow margin he was pleased with all the players that stepped in and thanked all his players that played for the A team throughout the season for a great season’s bowling. Getting to the Semi Final was a great achievement and all his squad should be pleased at the progress we are making as a team. 



home to kent:  07/01/24
(won) hampshire 27 (196 shots) Kent 13 (163 shots)

the final match of the season saw us playing Kent at Riverside IBC, Winchester on a cold winter’s morning. The team was aware that a win by 24-16 or more would guarantee us first spot in the league and a place in the semi, 5 points would guarantee second place and a place in the knock outs. Player/Manager was unavailable for the game and Tony Wall stepped in for the day. We also had 4 players cry off during the preceding week with Covid and other ailments. Tony Wall started the day well finding himself 3-1 up after 3 ends and 7-5 up after 7 ends. Then an inspired bit of bowling saw him take 10 shots in three ends to lead 17-5 after 10 ends. With the match effectively won Tony defended his lead well and finished 20-12. Billy Ray - who is now the regular singles player also had a good game. After 3 ends he was level at 3-3, but then only allowed his opponent the advantage on one of the next nine ends to take a comfortable 16-4 lead after 12 ends. Although his opponent had a mini fightback and won the last 3 ends Billy eventually finished 16-8 up.

In the pairs, Chris & Shane Davison were playing in a tight match, with Shane additionally suffering with a bad back. At 10 ends the score was 6-5 to the Hampshire pair but the Kent pair won the final 5 ends to take the game 6-13. In the other pair, Janice Sansom & Alec Gall were also having a difficult game losing the first end and never really getting to grips with the Kent pair, they were 4-6 down at 6 ends, 5-13 down after 10 ends before eventually losing 9-18. Therefore at the end of the first session the position was 4 points to each side, with singles shot difference of +16 & the pairs were –17.

The second session saw the triples & fours playing with Caroline Gall stepping in to replace the sick Anita Bucknall, playing with Brian Brown & Faye Ray were also playing in a tight match. 3-3 after 4 ends, 7-7 after 9 ends. Going into the 12th end they were 8-9 down but managed a 3 to go into the final end 2 up. The Kent triple only managed a single on the last end with the Hampshire trio winning 11-10. The other triple comprising of June messenger, Roger Messenger & Richard Edwards started badly and found themselves 0-8 down after 5 ends, and 2-10 down after 8 ends. Then a remarkable come back for the Kent triple started which included a 4 on the last end to win the match 11-10. Their “never give up attitude” won the game. In the Fours, we saw Kim George (who stepped in on the Friday – thank you) playing with David Sperry, Graeme George & Mark Berry. This was another close game with the score 3-2 to the Hampshire foursome after 5 ends and 8-6 after 9 ends. They secured the win by winning the last 2 ends to take the match 12-6. The other rink of Bobbie Godley, Chris Hardman, Trevor Holmes & David Brindley also had a tight game being 4-4 after 6 ends, 7-7 after 10 ends, and unfortunately they lost the final end to go down 7-9. That meant at the end of the second session & thereby the half-way stage Hampshire were narrowly ahead 10-6. The triples SD was +2 and fours SD was +4. All very tight. However, second place guaranteed in the group and Hampshire had qualified for the knock out stages, first objective secured. In the third session Kent were looking to fight back. Tony Wall struggled to find the form of his first match although he was winning 4-2 after 5 ends, this had changed to 8-8 after 8 ends and 11-11 after 12 ends. Tony then dropped a 2 & a 1 on the next two ends to go into the final end three down. However, he refused to give up and collected a 3 on the final end to draw the match 14-14. Meanwhile, Billy Ray was in no mood to take prisoners, leading 5-3 after 4 ends, this moved to 7-7 after 7 ends. This was the last shot the Kent player scored with Billy taking the last 8 ends which included two maximums to win the match 24-7.
In the pairs, Chris & Shane Davison continued to find the going tough, the match was 2-2 after 4 ends 6-7 after 9 ends, eventually narrowly losing the match 8-11. Janice Sansom & Alec Gall were fairing a little better 4-1 up after 4 ends this had changed to 6-6 after 8 ends but then some controlled bowling saw them win 5 of the last 7 ends to win 12-8.

so that meant that at the end of the third session Hampshire were winning 17-11 with the singles bonus points going to Hampshire 7 the pairs bonus points to Kent

The fourth session started with Hampshire needing 7 points to win the match and jump over Kent into first place. Caroline Gall, Brian Brown & Faye Ray were playing in a tight match, 4-5 down after 4 ends & 7-7 after 7 ends before a 4 in the 9th end secured them an advantage. They dropped a 2 on the 10th end but won the last three ends to take the match 18-11.       The other triple of June Messenger, Roger Messenger & Richard Edwards were also playing in another tight match, being 2-3 down after 4 ends and 4-5 down after 7 ends. They then upped their game winning 4 of the last 5 ends to win their match 11-6 In the fours, Bobbie Godley, Chris Hardman, Trevor Holmes & David Brindley were playing in a topsy turvey game, winning 7-1 after 4 ends, the Kent rink pulled back well to level the game to 8-8 after 9 ends. Two singles on the last 2 ends for the Hampshire secured a narrow win 10-8. The other foursome of Kim George, David Sperry, Graeme George & Mark Berry were also having a difficult game against a strong Kent four. Finding themselves 1-9 down after 6 ends they could not recover from that position and eventually lost 7-12.

the triples bonus points went to Hampshire with the fours SD being +1 to Hampshire courtesy of the first leg of matches so the fours bonus points were also won.

The final match score was 27-13 to Hampshire (196 shots Hampshire to 163 shots Kent).

Speaking on hearing the result, Player/Manager Andrew Shorney said the result was awesome and that he was proud of his team to qualify for the semi finals and topping a very difficult group for the second consecutive season.

The semi final match is on Sunday 3rd March and planning for this has already started.


home to surrey  10/12/23
(won)  Hampshire 23 (187 shots) Surrey 17 (174 shots)

In the pre match team talk Andrew Shorney asked his team to do their best and accumulate as many points as possible and although Surrey were bottom of the table they were not to be underestimated as they had some good players. We were in a good position to qualify for the knock outs but we still needed two wins from our final games which were both at home. Singles regular Tony Wall found himself playing in a tight match, with 6 single shots in the first 6 ends Tony found himself down 2-4 down but picked up a two on the 7th end to make it 4-4. Unfortunately, however, he dropped a three on the ninth end and went 5-8 down at the completion of the tenth end. Whilst he fought back to 10-10 by the fourteenth end it was disappointing to drop a 2 on the final end to lose 10-12. Meanwhile, Billy Ray was also playing in a tight game, 3-3 after 4 ends, 7-7 after 9 ends, However, Billy won 4 of the last 6 ends to take the match 14-11. In the pairs Chris & Shane Davison started slowly, and never recovered losing 4-22. Jan Sansom & Alec Gall however started well and found themselves 8-3 up after 6 ends, but by the ninth end the score was level at 9-9. With Surrey now controlling the game the score moved to 10-14 on the fourteenth end. A great second shot by Jan picked up the jack and moved it towards her back wood to hold two, the Surrey skip then played a great shot to draw in and take second wood after touching the jack, Alec then played a really good shot hitting the Surrey wood into the ditch and stopping to hold three. The Surrey skip had a chance to win the match either by removing a Hampshire wood or taking the jack into the ditch but unfortunately, for Surrey he went too wide and sailed into the ditch. This left Alec to draw in to tie the match. However, fate took a hand and he was a little short so Hampshire picked up a 3 only to lose 13-14. After the first session Hampshire were down 2-6. With singles shot difference of +1 and pairs -19.

In the triples, Anita Bucknall, Brian Brown & Faye Ray found themselves 3-3 after 4 ends and 7-7 after 9 ends in another tight match. Although the teams split the final two ends the 3 for Surrey in the penultimate end secured the win with Hampshire team losing 10-12. The other triple comprising June & Roger Messenger & Trevor Holmes were also playing in a tight match. Leading 4-1 after 5 ends they then dropped 5 ends in a row and with the score at 4-10 after 10 ends the game seemed lost but securing a 2 , a single and then a 4 on the final end they secured an improbable win of 11-10. In the fours, Hayley Bucknall, David Sperry, Russ Reeves & Mark Berry were playing well after 5 ends were leading 7-3 and this moved to 11-5 after 8 ends. Then the wheels came off and they lost the last 3 ends dropping a 2 on each remaining end drawing the match 11-11. Meanwhile, David Stallibrass, Chris Hardman, Lorraine & Andrew Shorney shot into a 8-0 lead after 4 ends. At that stage, the Surrey team swapped their skip with the number 3 and the game started to swing to the Surrey four with their new skip playing some inspired shots. The Hampshire four managed to win only one of the last seven ends but managed to hold on to win 9-8. This meant that at the half way stage the score was quite tight with Hampshire on 7 points and Surrey on 9.   The triples shot difference was -1 & the Rinks was +1.   

so at the halfway point, the match was at an “interesting” stage and could go either way.  Manager Shorney spoke to his singles & pairs players individually and asked them to try to turn the game in Hampshire’s favour.      No pressure then!!

Tony Wall was playing in another tight match with neither player able to get an advantage with the lead changing hands regularly. He led 4-3 after 3 ends, was losing 5-6 after 6 ends and drawing 9-9 after 9 ends, and by the 14th end the score was 13-13. Tony had the last wood and was holding 1 shot with the final wood of the game in his hand - he chose not to bowl but to take the (albeit slender) win 14-13. The reason for this was that Billy had been playing well in the other singles match and although dropping the first three ends and losing 0-3 he had stormed away only allowing his opponent to collect a further two ends, one of which was the last end, and he took the match 20-6 securing the bonus points at the same time. Both sets of pairs knew that the bonus points were almost certainly lost but Chris & Shane Davison were in no mood to lose after their first match. 8-2 up after 7 ends they only allowed their opponents to win 6 single shots to win the match 17-6. Jan Sansom & Alec Gall were not having a good match, however and the opposition lead who had played so well in the first match was at it again and the Hampshire duo never recovered from their slow start of being 0-9 after 4 ends. They eventually lost 7-23 and the bonus points went to Surrey. However, it had been a much better showing from the singles & pairs players which now left the match delicately poised with Hampshire 15 shots to 13 up at the completion of the third session.

Session 4 found the triple of June & Roger Messenger & Trevor Holmes starting slowly and indeed they were 2-6 down after 5 ends. After 10 ends this had moved to 5-9 down, eventually losing 6-12. Meanwhile, the other triple of Anita Bucknall, Brian Brown & Faye Ray were having an amazing game, leading 10-0 after three ends and only allowing their opponents to win 4 ends. They won 22-4 and the triples bonus points were secured. The foursome of Hayley Bucknall, David Sperry, Russ Reeves & Mark Berry were again playing in a tight match, they found themselves 1-5 down after 5 ends but secured a 4 on the sixth end to tie the match at 5-5. They then shared the last 4 ends which included the ninth being a tied end with no score and eventually lost 7-8. Meanwhile David Stallibrass, Chris Hardman, Lorraine & Andrew Shorney were playing in an interesting game, leading 4-1 after 4 ends and 7-4 after 8 ends and eventually won 12-5, also securing the bonus points. Final score for the team was a great win for Hampshire by 23 shots to 17.​

one game to play - home to kent on the 7th january


away to west sussex    02/12/23
West Sussex 17 points (162 shots)   Hampshire 23 points (195 shots)

The A Team went into the their fourth match of the season well placed in second place and with a chance to reduce league leaders West Sussex lead of 12 points with an away win. Player/Manager Andrew Shorney in his pre game team talk asked the team to take care with the fast mats of West Sussex which would be the fastest mats we will play on this season. This proved to be the case with the underfloor heating speeding the mats up for the second half. Billy Ray started the match well and stormed into a 7-0 lead after 5 ends and after getting a four on the ninth end he found himself 13-3 up. His opponent wasn’t finished yet though winning four of the last six ends but Billy managed to hold on to win 15-9. Singles regular Tony Wall was meanwhile finding it difficult to adjust to the fast mats and found himself 2-9 down after 7 ends and although he had a better second half he couldn’t clawback the deficit and lost 7-14. In the pairs, Chris & Shane Davison started quickly not allowing the West Sussex duo to get the line or length and went into a 7-2 lead after 5 ends. They never looked back only allowing the opposition to win 6 ends and eventually winning 19-9 which included a four on the eighth end. The other pair comprising Jan Sansom and Alec Gall also started well finding themselves 4-1 up after 3 ends although this was reversed to 4-5 down after 6 ends. They were strong in the middle of the match winning 4 ends out of 5 to take a 13-6 lead after 13 ends. Although they lost the last two ends they still won 13-11. This meant at the end of the first session Hampshire were ahead 6-2, with shot difference in the singles of -1 & in the pairs +12. In the second session, the triple of Anita Bucknall, Brian Brown & Faye Ray started well, finding themselves 5-0 up after 3 ends. However, by the seventh end they were losing 6-7. They never recovered from the shock of dropping a four on the seventh end and eventually lost 9-16. Elsewhere, the other triple, which was changed due to late illness the team of Hayley Bucknall, Roger Messenger & Trevor Holmes found the fast mats difficult and by the fifth end they were 2-5 down. Although they had a late rally they eventually lost 7-11. In the Fours, the team had two debutants with Bobbie Godley & Caroline Gall stepping him to cover late withdrawals due to sickness. Playing with Dave Sperry at three & Russ Reeves at skip they started well and found themselves 7-1 up after 5 ends. Then the wheels came off losing all but one of the remaining ends they eventually narrowly lost the match 8-10. The other foursome of David Stallibrass, Chris Hardman, Lorraine Shorney and skip Andrew Shorney started well & stormed into a 8-0 lead after 4 ends. They only allowed West Sussex to win 4 of the 11 ends and won the match 20-7. At the end of the second session & the half way stage the match was drawn 8-8 with the triples shot difference -11 & in the fours it was +11. It was clear to the Manager that bonus points were going to decide this close match and the Manager Andrew Shorney spoke to the team individually to encourage and ask them to keep it close and watch the shot difference in the second half.

The second half started with the underfloor heating (!) clearly having an effect - the mats were much faster. Billy Ray was looking to continue his fine form against a very good Dean Rundle, he stormed into a 7-0 lead after 5 ends. He only allowed the West Sussex player to win 4 ends, 2 of these were in the last three ends with the match already won and the bonus points secured. Billy eventually won 15-6. Meanwhile, Tony Wall was also in determined mood and was looking to seal a win thus avoiding losing both games. He moved into a 5-1 lead after 4 ends but had two bad ends and the score was 5-4 after 6 ends. The match then continued with singles only scored throughout the rest of the match. Thankfully, Tony won 6 ends to the West Sussex player’s 3 and Tony eventually won 11-7. In the pairs, Chris & Shane Davison were having a tough match against a good West Sussex pair who had now got the pace of the mat. They were 4-2 up after 5 ends, then 6-7 down after 8 ends and 9-11 down after 12 ends. They stepped up their game winning the last 3 ends and winning the tight match 14-11. Meanwhile, the other pair of Janice Samson & Alec Gall were finding it difficult to adjust to the extremely fast mats and found themselves 0-7 down after 4 ends. By the tenth end they had fought back to 7-8 down and after 14 ends the score was 10-10. Unfortunately, a good shot by the opposing skip with the last wood of the match took the shot and they lost 10-11. Encouragingly, at the end of the third session, Hampshire were winning 18-10 as the singles & pairs bonus points went Hampshire. But the job wasn’t finished yet. The triples & fours went into the final session knowing the match was there for the taking but still had to play at their best to earn the points & the win. Anita Bucknall, Brian Brown & Faye Ray started well taking a 2 on the first end and a one on the second although by the fourth end the score was 3-3. The West Sussex & the Hampshire then played in a ding dong battle, by the seventh end the score was 5-5 and on the eleventh it was 9-9. The match finished as a draw 10-10. In the other triple, the team of Hayley Bucknall, Roger Messenger & Trevor Holmes were also playing in a tight match. After 4 ends the score was 3-3, ninth end the score was 9-9 with the last 4 ends also shared the Hampshire triple lost narrowly 13-14 with the triples bonus points going to West Sussex. In the fours, the team of Bobbie Godley, Caroline Gall, David Sperry & Russ Reeves also played in what became a very tight game. They were losing 3-6 after 5 ends and 3-10 after 6 ends after dropping a four. But then a great fightback commenced winning 4 of the last 5 ends the final score was a narrow 10-11 defeat. The other four comprising David Stallibrass, Chris Hardman, Lorraine Shorney & Andrew Shorney were also involved in a tight match. With the score 3-3 after 5 ends. West Sussex took a 2 on the sixth end they found themselves 3-5. Then a remarkable change occurred and Hampshire won the final 5 ends to win the match comfortably 14-5 and secure the bonus points. Final result, Hampshire won 23-17, Hampshire 195 shots, West Sussex 162 shots. Speaking after the match, Player/Manager Andrew Shorney said he was very pleased with the result, he hoped for a win to reduce West Sussex’s lead at the top. This had been reduced to 6 points with a game in hand.
Andrew Shorney Team Manager





 Surrey away  04/11/23

(Lost)  Surrey 23 points (209 shots)  HAMPSHIRE 17 POINTS (191 SHOTS)
hampshire's A Team went into their league match with Surrey with 6 players from the previous match not available. Four players were called up to the Prem team to fill some gaps they had, and in addition 2 were unavailable due to work and family commitments. This meant given the opportunity for a debut for one playing and recalling another who had not played for Hampshire for about 10 years. The fast mats at The Wey Valley IBC in Guildford on a very wet November morning were going to try us that’s for sure. Player/Manager, Andrew Shorney, warned the team in the pre match team talk that the mats were fast and to try and adjust as quickly as possible and not to fall too many shots behind whilst their got used to the mats. Singles regular Tony Wall dropped a two on the first end mainly due to the speed surprising him but he adjusted well and quickly found himself 6-2 after 4 ends.  Although he dropped a two on the fifth end, Tony produced a strong performance, never relinquished his lead and went on to win 15-11. On the other mat, Andrew Shorney was having an interesting match in the other singles match. Having won the first end with a two he slumped to 2-9 after 5 ends. He then brought the match to 9-9 after 8 ends before falling behind again dropping a 3 & a 2 to find himself 9-14 down after 10 ends. Fighting back again he levelled the score at 15-15 by the thirteenth end and managed to win a single on the fourteenth to go into the final end one up. Having ditched the jack with his final wood he found himself holding two but his opponent was able to knock his two woods into the ditch to level the match at 16-16. In the pairs, Jan Sansom & Alec Gall also had a close match, they initially found the speed difficult and were 0-5 down after 2 ends. By the ninth end they had turned this around and found themselves 8-7 up. However, they then lost 4 ends in a row to eventually lose 11-14. In the meantime, new pairing Trevor Holmes was playing with debutant, David Brindley. After 5 ends they found themselves 3-6 down before pulling this back with a 2 on the sixth end. They lost three ends in arow and after 9 ends found themselves 5-12. Then, a remarkable recovery was forged winning all but one of the remaining ends they went onto steal a narrow win 15-13. At the end of the first session Hampshire were winning 5-3. Shot differences Singles +4 and the pairs -1. The second session saw the triples & fours playing with Anita Bucknall, Brian Brown & Russ Reeves playing well, they also initially found the mats fast and dropped to 0-4 after two ends before fighting back to 4-4 after 5 ends. They then won 6 of the remaining 8 ends to take the match 14-7. The other triple, comprising Sharon Bradbury, Roger Messenger & Richard Edwards ended up playing in a tight match. Although seemingly looking good and taking a 5-1 lead after 5 ends and were leading 6-3 after 8 ends they then dropped a 5 to find themselves 6-8 down after 9 ends. However, they were not giving up without a fight, winning back a 4 on the tenth end to go back to a 10-8 lead which they managed to hold onto eventually winning 11-10 In the Fours, the team of Paull Doggett, David Sperry, Chris Hardman & Mark Berry played in an interesting game, the score was 4-4 after 5 ends but they dropped a 3 & a 5 in consecutives to find themselves 5-12 down after 6 ends, they never recovered from those two ends and eventually lost 10-16. The other four comprising David Stallibrass, Kim George, Graeme George & Lorraine Shorney started slowly dropping three singles in the first 3 ends to find themselves 0-3 down. They then won the next 3 ends and after 6 ends they were 4-3 up. By the eighth end the score was 5-5. The decisive end was the ninth end with the Hampshire four securing a 4, the last two ends were split with a single each end to give Hampshire a 10-6 win. At the end of the second session & thereby the half way stage Hampshire were winning 9-7 overall. Shot difference in the triples was +8 and in the fours it was -2. So the third session took to the mats, and it was clear early on that the surfaces had warmed up as they were significantly faster than the morning session. This proved to be Tony Wall’s undoing. He found it difficult to adjust his pace and found himself 1-7 down after 4 ends. By the tenth end he had narrowed the gap to 7-11 but the Surrey singles player always had the edge and Tony eventually lost 9-16. Meanwhile, Andrew Shorney was able to adjust his pace and playing on a swinging mat chose to stay virtually the whole game on the less swinging side, he often forced his opponent onto the more difficult side with the larger swing. After 5 ends he was 6-1 up, by the ninth he was 8-5 up and winning 4 of the last 6 ends he went onto win 16-8. In the pairs, Jan Sansom & Alec Gall were having a much better afternoon. They stormed into a 11-3 lead after 7 ends & although the Surrey pair narrowed the score to 11-9, a late flurry of good shots saw them home to a 16-11 win. The other pair of Trevor Holmes & David Brindley started well and found themselves 5-4 up after 5 ends. However, the wheels came off at that stage and 4 bad ends saw them slump to a 6 -15 deficit by the ninth end, they eventually lost the match 10-21. That meant that at the end of the third session Hampshire were winning 17-11, with the singles bonus points being won but the pairs bonus points were going to Surrey. The fourth and final session started with Hampshire knowing that winning two matches would secure the win. However, this proved to be difficult against a resurgent Surrey team eager for a win with the mats definitely a lot faster than the morning session. The triple of Anita Bucknall, Brian Brown & Russ Reeves found the speed difficult to master and found themselves 1-11 down after 5 ends and although they pulled this back to 10-12 by the ninth end they could not continue the recovery and eventually lost 12-17. The other triple of Sharon Bradbury, Roger Messenger & Richard Edwards also found the speed hard to master falling to 1-10 after 5 ends, they never recovered from this and eventually lost 10-21. In the fours, Paul Doggett, David Sperry, Chris Hardman & Mark Berry played in a very tight match. Finding themselves 1-4 down after 5 ends they were always chasing the game and eventually lost 7-9. Meanwhile, the other four of David Stallibrass, Kim George, Graeme Geroge & Lorraine Shorney also struggled, they found themselves 1-8 down after 5 ends and although they did rally to 9-11 by the ninth, they dropped two singles on the last two ends to lose 9-13. The bonus points for the triples & fours went to Surrey and Hampshire lost 17-23 (191 shots v 209 shots) Speaking after the match Player/Manager Andrew Shorney said they although he was disappointed to lose the match he was pleased that the 17 points gained was sufficient to put Hampshire top at the half way stage of the competition. There’s everything to play for in the last 3 matches.
So currently the league table looks like this:
1st Hampshire Played 3 Points 69
2nd West Sussex Played 3 Points 67
3rd Surrey Played 3 Points 44
4th Kent Played 1 Points 20



Home to west sussex  15/10/23
(won) Hampshire 32 (235 shots) – West Sussex 8, (142 shots).
Hampshire's 'A' Team went into this, hampshire's second league match of the season following the excellent away draw with Kent a few weeks ago.  This was West Sussex’s third match having beaten Surrey Home & Away previously. Player/Manager Andrew Shorney in his pre game team talk asked the team to take advantage of playing at home on slower mats than West Sussex would be used to playing on.  The first few ends of the match could give us a clear advantage.   Billy Ray started the match against Bognor Regis player and North End regular Clive Andrews.  It was a tight match. 4-4 after 4 ends, 6-6 after 7 ends, 7-7 after 9 ends. A slip from Billy and an excellent shot from Clive gave Clive 3 shots on the tenth and the advantage. Billy fought back well and the match was tied 12-12 on the fourteenth end. Billy lost the last end with some strong positional bowling from Clive with the score 12-15 to the West Sussex player. Singles regular Tony Wall was absent due to illness which meant that Player/Manager Andrew Shorney stepped into the second singles spot. Playing in his first singles match for over a year this match was also close. 6-6 after 6 ends, 8-8 after 9 ends. Then Andrew won three ends in a row including a four which gave him a 15-8 lead after 12 ends. He defended this well and eventually won 16-11.

In the pairs, Player/Manager introduced a change with Chris & Shane Davison taking one of the pairs spots. They started quickly not allowing the West Sussex team to get the line or length and went into a 5-0 lead after 4 ends. They never looked back only allowing the opposition to win 4 ends and eventually winning 20-6. The other pair comprising of Jan Sansom and Alec Gall started slowly finding themselves 1-3 down after 3 ends, they did win the fourth end to take a 4-3 lead but slipped to 5-8 after 7 ends. Then they upped their game winning all but two of the remaining ends, they were level at 8-8 by the ninth and went on to win 17-10.
At the end of the first session therefore, Hampshire were ahead 6-2 With positive shot differences in the singles of +2 & in the pairs +21.
The second session saw Anita Bucknall, Brian Brown & Faye Ray in the Triples taking on board the Manager’s team talk and picking up a 6 on the first end. By the fifth end they were 10-1 up. The West Sussex triple then mounted a fightback and by the tenth end the Hampshire triple were only up 11-7. However from there they scored on the final three ends to end the game 15-7 up. The other triple of Sharon Bradbury, Roger Messenger & Chris Hewitt also shot into a good lead leading 6-1 after 4 ends and only allowed the West Sussex triple 5 singles going on to take their match 14-5. In the Fours, the team of June Messenger, Dave Sperry, Chris Hardman at three & skip Mark Berry started slowly and found themselves 0-2 down after 2 ends. However, they won 7 of the remaining 9 ends to take the match 16-7. The other four of David Stallibrass, Hayley Bucknall, Graeme George & skip Lorraine Shorney showed they had also taken notice of the Managers pre game team talk and stormed into a commanding 8-0 lead after 5 ends. They only allowed West Sussex to win 2 ends and won the match 14-4.
That meant at the end of the second session & the half way stage Hampshire were winning 14-2 with the triples shot difference +17 & in the fours it was +19.
the third session, saw Billy Ray looking to put the first match behind him as he stormed into a 9-0 lead after 5 ends. He only allowed the West Sussex player to win 5 ends, and two of those were in the last two ends with the match already won and the bonus points secured, he eventually won 17-8. Meanwhile, Andrew Shorney was in determined mood and looking to seal a win and the match played well, only allowing the West Sussex player to win 4 ends and eventually taking the match 26-7.
In the pairs, Chris & Shane Davison were having a tough match against a good West Sussex pair who had now got the pace of the mat. They were 2-5 down after 5 ends but levelled after 10 ends to 9-9. Unfortunately 5 single shots in the last 5 ends saw the match fall the opposition’s way as they lost 11-12. Meanwhile, the other pair of Janice Samson & Alec Gall were also having a bad start finding themselves 1-4 down after 3 end, but by the sixth end they had rallied and the score was 6-6. After that it was a cat-and-mouse game and by the twelfth end the score was 8-8. They exerted more pressure though and went onto win the final 3 ends to take run out winners 16-8.
therefore at the end of the third session Hampshire were ahead 24-4 and the singles & pairs bonus points were firmly in Hampshire’s tally.

The triples & fours went into the final session knowing the match was won but looking to achieve as many points as possible, with only a disaster preventing the bonus points going to Hampshire following the performance of the first session.
Anita Bucknall, Brian Brown & Faye Ray started well taking a two on the first end and a four on the second and by the fourth end they were leading 7-1. The West Sussex triple then mounted a fight back and after 6 ends the score was 7-6 to the Hampshire triple. Three successive ends for the Hampshire triple including a 4, broke the game and by the ninth end they were leading 14-6, eventually going on to win 16-9. Unfortunately Hampshire’s other triple just couldn’t get going and couldn’t find the form of the their first match, winning only won 5 of the available 13 ends, losing 6-16. However, the bonus points were secured.
In the fours, the team of June Messenger, Dave Sperry, Chris Hardman & Mark Berry played in a very tight game. They were leading 6-2 after 7, but this was narrowed to 6-5 after 9 ends. However, they won the last 2 ends to take the game 9-5. The other four comprising David Stallibrass, Hayley Bucknall, Graeme George & Lorraine Shorney started well and stormed into a 10-2 lead after 6 ends which included a 6 on the second end. Then, inexplicably, the wheels came off & they lost the final 6 ends, and they eventually lost on the last shot of the match 10-12. Nevertheless, the bonus points were secured. Final result, Hampshire won 32 – 8, Hampshire 235 shots, West Sussex 142 shots.
Speaking after the match, Player/Manager Andrew Shorney said he was very pleased with the result, he hoped for a win but was not expecting such a good performance. Everyone had a good day and played well. Andrew Shorney Team Manager


away to Kent 24/09/23  :  
(match Drawn)   KENT 20 (180 SHOTS) - HAMPSHIRE 20 (182 SHOTS)- 
it was a curious quirk of fate that the first match of the new season for Hampshire A Team was against the same opponents as the last match of the previous season. The final. Which unfortunately Hampshire had lost. 
Player/manager Andrew Shorney needed to pick 5 debutants due to 7 players being unavailable (for various reasons) from the team that started the final back in April. Singles regular Tony Wall started well and by the fifth end was leading 4-1. He went on to restrict his opponent to winning 5 singles and winning the other 10 ends and came out 16-5 winner. Meanwhile, Billy Ray starting his second season playing singles started slowly and found himself 1-4 down after 4 ends. In a low scoring match which had 13 singles, one two & one three in it Billy found himself 7-8 down with three ends remaining. However, he managed to win all those three ends taking one shot each time to win 10-8. In the pairs, David Sperry & David Stallibrass started slowly and found themselves 0-9 down after four ends. They never recovered from this and they found themselves 0-20 down after 10 ends, they did win 4 of the final 5 ends to eventually lose 7-21. The other pair comprising of Jan Sansom leading & debutant, Alec Gall were faring much better and after 4 ends the score was tied 2-2. In the fifth end the Hampshire pair took all 4 shots but the Kent pair fought back well and after 7 ends the match was again tied at 6-6. The teams traded shots in the final 8 ends with the score ending up 14-14. This meant at the end of the first session Hampshire were winning 5-3. With shot difference in the singles of +13 & in the pairs -14. In the triples, Anita Bucknall, Roger Messenger & Faye Ray were having a tight game, after 4 ends the score was 2-1 to the Kent triple. By the sixth end, the score was 4-4. Unfortunately, the Kent triple was able to win two of the next three ends to build a lead which they managed to hold, with Hampshire losing 7-11. Hampshire’s other triple comprising Sharon Bradbury, debutant Graeme George and octogenarian Brian Brown found themselves 3-3 after 4 ends before taking control winning 6 of the remaining 9 ends to take the match 16-8. In the Fours, the team of June Messenger, debutant Paul Doggett, 15 year old Chris Hardman at three & skip Mark Berry started slowly and found themselves 2-6 down after 4 ends. However, they won three consecutive ends including a 6 on the seventh to take a 10-6 lead. The Kent four fought back well with the score eventually 11-11. The other four included two debutants with Kim George at lead & Hayley Bucknall at 2 with Lorraine Shorney at 3 and Player/manager Andrew Shorney at skip. The four had a strong game only dropping one end in this eleven end match to win 19-5. Thus at the end of the second session & thereby at the half way stage Hampshire were winning 10-6 with the triples’ shot difference +4, whilst the fours were at +14.

Unfortunately in this third session of the match, Tony Wall struggled to repeat his form of the first match finding the pace of the mat difficult and by the fourth end he was 1-5 down. He never really recovered from this eventually losing 9-16. Meanwhile, Billy Ray’s confidence was high, playing the same player he had beaten 34-1 last season, he took a commanding lead winning 7 of the first 8 ends to lead 11-1. Restricting his opponent to 5 ends he eventually ran out with a comfortable 16-6 win. In the pairs, David Stallibrass & David Sperry struggled again and found themselves 2-11 down having only won one end of the first seven. They did hold their own in the second half of the match but the lead was too large to claw back and they eventually lost 10-16. Meanwhile, the other pair of Janice Sansom & Alec Gall were also having a bad start and found themselves 1-9 after 6 ends. However a fightback was on and in a remarkable turnaround they managed to tie the match on the penultimate end and collecting a single shot on the final end to take the match 12-11

That meant that at the end of the third session Hampshire were winning 16-14 as the singles bonus points went Hampshire’s way. The bonus points for the Pair unfortunately went to Kent.

Into the final session, then. Neither of the triples matches started well with Anita Bucknall, Roger Messenger & Faye Ray losing but managed to pull it back to 4-4 after 6 ends. Dropping two fours and a three along the way, they finally lost 10-15. In the other triple, the team of Sharon Bradbury, Graeme George and Brian Brown couldn’t find the form of their first match and were 0-8 down after 4 ends. Although they managed to match the shots of the Kent team in the remainder of the match they couldn’t claw back the deficit and eventually lost 9-19. In the fours, the team of Kim George, Hayley Bucknall & Lorraine & Andrew Shorney also struggled to find the form of their first game and found themselves 5-9 down after 7 ends. They fought back well eventually losing 9-10. The other four of June Messenger, Paul Doggett, Chris Hardman & Mark Berry found themselves playing in a very tight game. Finishing a good three ends after everyone else their match was being watched by all the players from both teams! The situation was quite simple, a win would guarantee a draw, a draw or a loss would see Kent win the whole match. It was tight match, only one count of two and 10 singles were scored: 3-3 after 5 ends, 6-3 to Hampshire after 8 ends, 6-5 on the final end. A single on the final end to win 7-5 with Hampshire guaranteed the bonus 2 points. Final result, 20-20, Hampshire 182 shots, Kent 180 shots. 


Speaking after the match, Player/Manager Andrew Shorney said he was very pleased with the result bearing in mind there were 5 debutants in the Hampshire team 


Andrew Shorney Team Manager







a - team results for the 2022-23 season (hampshire shown first home or away)
ICC championship final  (vs kent) 16th april, 2023
​lost : 18 points (172 shots) -22 points (176 shots)
Hampshire A Team went into the final against Kent with player/manager Andrew Shorney asking the team to do their best and to see what happened. In a very close match they ended up losing 9 mats to 7. Singles regular Tony Wall, arriving just10 minutes before the match started because he was back from a cruise which berthed that day, found the going tough. He started slowly and found himself 0-7 after 4 ends. He never recovered from and lost his match 7-20. Meanwhile, Billy Ray was having a really close game game, the match was tied 4-4 after 8 ends, 7-7 after 10 ends but a good last shot from his opponent meant that he lost the match 9-10. In the pairs, David Sperry & David Stallibrass started slowly and found themselves 1-5 down after four ends. They never recovered from this and although they did pull back to 4-5 they never quite got control of the game, eventually going down 10-15. The other pair, Jan Sansom & Shane Davison also had a slow start finding themselves 0-6 down after 4 ends.They never recovered either, losing    7-19.

It was a difficult start to the match, as after the first session Hampshire were losing 0-8. Shot difference in the singles of -14 & in the pairs -17 made it a bit of hill to climb. Player/manager Shorney needed a “brief talk” with his team asking the triples & fours to fight back in the second session and asking for thee wins to keep Hampshire in the game. Despite Anita Bucknall playing at lead bowling well in the first few ends the team with Dave Jelley & Faye Ray found themselves 0-6 down after four ends & 2-7 down after six ends. Then the team had an amazing fightback, collecting 5 shots on the seventh end to tie the match at 7-7. They never lost another end and won the match 20-7 which included two fours. The other triple of Sharon Bradbury, Roger Messenger & Brian Brown (Chris Hewitt being on holiday) also started slowly and found themselves 1-7 down after 6 ends. Then another team fightback started and they won 5 of the last 7 ends overturning the deficit and running out 12-9 victors. In the Fours, June Messenger, Chris Davison, Mark Berry & Trevor Holmes lost their first end and found themselves 0-2 down. However, that was it for their opponents, and in a match of brilliant bowling by the Hampshire four the remaining 10 ends went Hampshire’s way, highlighted by a five on the tenth end and a four on the last end. It was a comfortable win of 19-2. Meanwhile, Russ Reeves, Chris Hardman, Lorraine Shorney & Andrew Shorney found the player/managers in opposition to each other. Hampshire started well finding themselves 6-3 up after 5 ends and 7-5 up after 7 ends. However, unfortunately, the wheels came off the wagon at that stage and they dropped the last 4 ends to lose 7-14… including dropping a six on the last end when skip Andrew Shorney, tried to win the match with his last wood just brushing a blocker to straighten the wood when it looked he might get in. Curses!! In the triples the shot difference was +16 & the fours it was +10. At the end of the second session & thereby the half way stage Hampshire were losing 6-10 but with everything to play for.

Another team talk, asking for a big effort in the second half by everyone and in particular asking the Singles & Pairs players for a minimum of two wins to keep Hampshire in the match.

In the third session, Tony Wall (playing now like we know he can), embarked on a tough match against a good opponent, After six ends he was ahead 6-3 and although he was pulled back to 7-7 after 9 ends and 7-8 after 10 ends he won the last 5 ends to run out with a positive 14-8 scoreline. Meanwhile, Billy Ray was having a tight match with the score level at 7-7 after 9 ends but dug in and won four of the last six ends to win the rubber 14-10. In the pairs, David Stallibrass & David Sperry fought well and after eight ends the score was 5-5. After 11 ends they were leading 8-6, but unfortunately lost the last four ends and ended their rubber 8-16 down. Meanwhile, Janice Samson & Shane Davison also had a tight match on their hands and after nine ends found themselves 5-6 down. Things became difficult after that and dropping shots on four straight ends they lost their match 8-14.

That meant that at the end of the third session Hampshire were losing 10-18 and the singles and pairs points had gone to Kent.

With a strong shot difference in the Triples & Fours in favour of Hampshire this meant that the team needed to win three mats to draw the match and send it into a play off or better still win on all four mats to win the match.

The triples started well with Anita Bucknall, Dave Jelley & Faye Ray were ahead 5-3 after four ends, but then they dropped three consecutive ends and found themselves 5-9 after 7 ends. They were not able to recover the deficit and eventually lost 9-12. In the other triple the team swapped positions with Roger Messenger leading, Sharon Bradbury at two and Brian Brown at skip started well finding themselves 8-2 up after 5 ends, playing short jacks. Although Kent mounted a fightback they managed to hold onto their lead and won 12-9. In the fours, there was also a swap of positions with Chris Hardman playing lead & Russ Reeves moving to two, Lorraine Shorney & Andrew Shorney started slowly but found themselves 4-3 up after five ends. However, they dropped a four on the sixth end to go 4-7 down. Skip Andrew Shorney decided a more aggressive stance was needed with Hardman & Reeves being instructed to ditch the jack. Lorraine Shorney also played some weighted shots which moved the jack around the mat and into the ditch, this seemed to completely throw their opponents with the Hampshire four winning the last five ends and the rubber 12-7 The other four meanwhile could not replicate their form of the first match and playing against Kent’s player/manager they never really got going and lost their match 3-14 Therefore with only two wins in the final session Hampshire suffered a narrow defeat of 18-22 on points, 172-176 in shots. Speaking afterwards, Hampshire A team Manager, Andrew Shorney, said he was proud of his team, that they had had a great season and everyone should be proud of their achievements. He also confirmed he was looking forward to managing the A Team next season .... if they would have him!!.
​Andrew Shorney. Team Manager

inter county championship semi-final, 26th march 2023
won:  21 points (199 shots) - devon 19 points (177 shots)

​Hampshire A Team went into their semi final match against Devon with player/manager Andrew Shorney saying that he would be happy with a 21-19 win in his team talk …. and the team delivered what he asked for. In style. The match was played against a very strong and committed but friendly Devon side on a spring morning which coincided with the clocks going forward but everyone made it on time.   

Singles regular Tony Wall starting the day well winning three of the first 4 ends and taking a 6-2 lead. However, his opponent started to fight back and after 10 ends Tony found himself 7-13 down. Tony then went on to win the next four ends to tie the match at 13-13 with one end remaining, unfortunately he lost the last end with the final result 13-15.      Meanwhile, Billy Ray was having an amazing game, winning 7 of the first 8 ends to lead 10-1, with one four & 7 singles scored in those ends, Billy took two more 4’s and a 3 to win the match 21-8. In the pairs, David Sperry & utility player Brian Brown (David Stallibrass was on holiday!) started slowly and found themselves 0-8 down after three ends. Unfortunately, they never recovered from this and whilst they matched the other team in the remaining ends, they eventually lost their match 12-19. The other pair comprising of Jan Sansom leading & Shane Davison had a more comfortable time, and although they dropped a three on the first end they then won the next 6 ends and were leading 13-3 after 7 ends, going on to win comfortably 20-7.

therefore at the end of the first session whilst the overall match was tied at 4-4, importantly (as will be seen later) the Singles disciplines were 11 shots up & the Pairs were 6 shots up.
The second session saw the triples & fours disciplines with Anita Bucknall, Dave Jelley & Faye Ray playing well, and although they dropped a four on the first end, by the eighth they were 11-5 up. The Devon triple tried to mount a comeback but the Hampshire trio held on to win comfortably 15-10, which included a tied end on the last end of their match. The other triple, comprising Sharon Bradbury, Roger Messenger & Chris Hewitt had a more difficult game against a very strong triple. They never got going and lost their match 4-16.   In the Fours, Russ Reeves, Chris Hardman, Lorraine Shorney & Andrew Shorney, playing against a strong rink (which also included the Devon’s player/manager), started well and stormed into a 5-0 lead after 4 ends. However, they then dropped five of the next six ends to find themselves 6-8 down with two ends to go. Two singles for the Hampshire foursome meant the match was tied 8-8. The other rink comprising June Messenger, Hampshire debutant Chris Davison (a late replacement for Jeff Hannell who was unwell), Mark Berry & Trevor Holmes were playing in a very tight match. With the score tied at 4-4 after 4 ends it was the Devon pair who took control in the later stages, with the Hampshire four losing narrowly 7-10. In the Triples the shot difference was -7 & the fours it was -3 so the match was very close.

At the end of the second session & thereby at the half-way stage, Hampshire were losing 7-9 but with everything to play for.

In the third session, Tony Wall struggled to find both his form and the mat, losing 4-18.    Billy Ray started well and by the seventh end he was 9-1 up.  He was also aware that his singles partner was struggling, and lit the after burners and stormed on to win 21-5 allowing his opponent to only take 4 ends in the whole rubber. The win also secured the bonus points with the overall singles score 59-46 in Hampshire’s favour.   In the pairs, Brian Brown (promising the manager that they would win) & David Sperry started well, finding themselves 6-2 up after 4 ends, gelled well together and by the tenth end they had a convincing 14-4 lead. They continued to play well and finished 20-6. In the other match Janice Samson & Shane Davison were having a more difficult time against a Devon pair who were playing well, and whilst they found themselves 7-3 up after four ends, they dropped to 7-8 down after 6 ends but rallied and at 8 ends they were 10-8 up.  Unfortunately the Devon pair came back with a strong finish and Hampshire finally lost this rubber 14-20.  However, the close finish was important as it secured the bonus points with the overall pairs score 66-52 in Hampshire’s favour.

at the end of the third session Hampshire were ahead 15 points to 13. A slim advantage.  

The fourth session started with Hampshire knowing that 6 points were needed to win.  Two wins in the same discipline would likely be enough because the shot difference in both sections was close although negative.   The Triples started well with Anita Bucknall, Dave Jelley & Faye Ray ahead 5-2 after four ends, but then they dropped a four and found themselves pulled back to 6-6 after six ends. Then the strong Devon team upped their game winning 5 of the last 7 ends with Hampshire losing the match 8-13. The other triple of Sharon Bradbury, Roger Messenger & Chris Hewitt had a much tighter game, and after 6 ends the score was 4-5 with everything to play for. the match remained tight but they eventually fell away and lost 7-12.   Devon also won the bonus points for this discipline with the overall triples score 34-51 in Devon’s favour.    In the fours, Russ Reeves, Chris Hardman, Lorraine Shorney & Andrew Shorney started well and moved into a 10-2 lead after six ends. They remained in control throughout the game, allowing the Devon four to only win 2 ends in the match running out comfortable 16-3 winners.  The other foursome of June Messenger, Chris Davison, Mark Berry & Trevor Holmes, meanwhile, were playing in a very tight match finding themselves 6-3 up after 5 ends.  After 10 ends the score was 8-7 to Hampshire. By this time all the other matches had completed and they were all aware that whoever won the last end won the whole match. A drawn match would have seen Devon through to the final, as the rules state removal of bonus points decides result before shots scored. The team was aware of this and knew they had to win this rubber. The last end was a slightly nervous affair for both teams. The first woods were nervously bowled and both leads put them off to the left of jack, then June Messenger drew to the jack and was a few inches away but to the left and in front. Chris Davison drew round the back with her first wood as instructed and left it in a good position but the opposition second drew onto the shot wood. With his first wood the Devon three tried to put a blocker in but it went slightly to the right of the jack. Mark Berry at three bowled an excellent first wood, hit the Devon’s toucher on the jack and brought the jack completely into the open on the left hand side of the mat (the backhand for the remaining players all of whom were right handed).  with his final wood the devon three tried to ditch the jack... but missed the wood on the right hand side by a margin of about an inch!   Skip Trevor Holmes, then asked Mark Berry (playing in only his third match for Hampshire – no pressure then!) to ditch the jack, and a beautifully weighted shot from Mark  picked up the jack and put it in the ditch with his wood about a foot from it, which drew loud cheers from the watching crowd. However, this game wasn’t over yet - Devon also had a toucher!  hidden behind two other woods admittedly, but it was possible to knock it into the ditch, although very difficult. The Devon skip tried to knock it in but with Hampshire skip, Trevor Holmes also running interference by putting another wood in her eyeline, she was not able to do so and the Hampshire Four won their match 9-7.   Hampshire had won the bonus points for the fours with a score of 40-28.  

Final score for the team was an exceptional win by 21-19 (shots 199 v 177) and now the team will contest the final in April.  This was very much a team result.

Of interest, only one player in the whole team won both their matches, but all the players contributed to the overall success. The bonus points were a key factor, and Hampshire won 6 of those available 8 bonus points.   Well done to the whole team.
the final will be against kent, which promises to be another close affair.  16th April.  

Andrew Shorney Team Manager 27/03/2023

​
​Surrey, away, 21/01/23
Won:  35 points (232 shots) - surrey 5 points (161 shots)
Hampshire A Team went into their final league match of the season knowing a win or a draw would be sufficient to put them straight into the semi final of the competition. A defeat would mean a preliminary round before a Quarter Final.

The match of the season so far saw us away on the fast mats at The Wey Valley IBC in Guildford on a cold & foggy January morning.

Singles regular Tony Wall starting the day well winning the first 4 ends and taking a 9-0 lead.  However, his opponent started to fight back and after 12 ends the score was 11-9. Tony then went on to win the remaining three ends to win comfortably 14-9. Meanwhile, Billy Ray was having a more difficult time, losing the first two ends, however at the half way stage (8 ends) the score was 5-5, then some great shots by Billy saw him take a 12-7 lead by the thirteenth end, he lost the last two ends but held onto a narrow 12-10 win.  In the pairs, David Sperry & David Stallibrass continued their excellent partnership in a tight match. After four ends the score was 4-4, after eleven end the score was 9-9 with David Sperry winning the match 13-11 with his last shot. The other pair comprising of Jan Sansom leading & Brian Brown had a more comfortable time taking a 5-1 lead after four ends, they were always in front and won 17-7.

thus at the end of the first session Hampshire were winning 8-0. it was a good start  to the day.

The second session saw the triples & fours playing, with Anita Bucknall, Dave Jelley & Faye Ray playing well.  by the tenth end they were 12-1 up, perhaps they relaxed too much because on the eleventh end they dropped a count of 5.  spurred on by this they immediately bounced back with a 4 and eventually won their match 17-6 with the Surrey triple only wining two ends in the match. The other triple comprising of Sharon Bradbury, Roger Messenger & Chris Hewitt stormed into a 5-0 lead after two ends, but then dropped the next two ends making the score 5-4. however, they then went on a fantastic run, winning 7 of the remaining 9 ends to end up 19-9 winners.  In the Fours, a revamped rink comprising  Colin Sansom, Jeff Hannell, Mark Berry & skip Trevor Holmes had a difficult morning, they struggled with the fast mats and eventually lost 23-5. Although losing there were signs towards the end of the match that they were finding the pace. The other rink - comprising Russ Reeves, (in only his second match for Hampshire), 15 year old Chris Hardman together with Lorraine Shorney and player manager Andrew Shorney stormed into a 13-0 lead after four ends. Winning all but two ends in the matching and winning 20-3.

at the end of the second session (& at the half way stage) Hampshire were ahead 14-2, having won an incredible 7 out of the 8 matches, which put the team in a very strong position. concentration was key at this point.

 In the third session, knowing that two wins plus the bonus points would seal the match, Tony Wall struggled to find his form of the first match and found himself 1-6 down after four ends, and 3-8 down after seven ends. however the fightback had started and by the eleventh end the score was 10-10.  he won the last five ends to eventually run out the victor by 17-10.  Billy Ray was in no mood to take prisoners, starting strongly and by the sixth end he was 10-1 up.  Although his opponent did rally winning the seventh and eighth ends he could only get one shot on each end, and the hampshire man went on to win six of the last seven ends to win his match 24-4.  Singles guaranteed the bonus points as well.  In the pairs, David Stallibrass & David Sperry had a topsy-turvey game, the lead changing sides five times in the match. The score was 12-12 after thirteen ends with the Davids managing a three on the penultimate end.  however, with nerves hitting both players they played a little too long and the opposition was able to pick up a three on the final end to tie the match 15-15. In the other pairs match, Janice Samson & Brian Brown had a difficult time, finding themselves 0-9 down after five ends.  they gradually fought back to a score of 10-11 after eleven ends.  The final four ends were shared with the final score being 12-14, a very close match, and although they lost the match, the bonus points were in the bag.

Therefore at the end of the third session Hampshire were winning 23-7, the match was secured.

the fourth session started with Hampshire knowing the win had been achieved, but the team was looking to continue this winning streak and finish the day in style. The triples started well with Anita Bucknall, Dave Jelley & Faye Ray up 4-1 after three ends, but then lost five consecutive ends and found themselves 5-9 down.  after a team chat on the mat they went on to collect four consecutive threes to eventually run out 16-11 winners.  The other triple of Sharon Bradbury, Roger Messenger & Chris Hewitt started slowly winning only one of the first 5 ends and found themselves 3-10 down.  However they went on a winning spree picking up 6 of the last seven ends, (along with one tied end), and, taking the lead in the twelfth end they eventually won 12-10, bonus points were also secured.  In the fours, Colin Sansom. Jeff Hannell, Mark Berry & Trevor Holmes started their second match how they finished the first with some great drawing and Jeff Hannell at two ditching the jack on at least two occasions, they stormed into a 10-1 lead after 7 ends, although the opposition came back at them in the final few ends they managed to hold onto the win and won 12-8. The other four comprising of Russ Reeves, Chris Hardman, Lorraine Shorney & Andrew Shorney started well and moved into a 5-0 lead after three ends. However, the opposition fought back well and by the seventh end the Hampshire four found themselves 7-8 down. The last four ends saw both sides win twice but Hampshire, defending a three shot lead on the final end, managed to win 12-11. This also secured the bonus points.

thus the Final score for the team was a very good win by 35-5 (shots 232 to161) and qualifying for the semi final of the competition.


home to Kent 8/01/23  

won:   23 (193 shots) -17 (178 shots)  report courtesy of PLAYER/MANAGER, ANDREW SHORNEY:
Our third match of the season saw us again playing at Atherley IBC, Southampton.  it was a wet January day, and it had not started well with two players breaking down on the M27 on the way to the venue!  Having dispatched two players to go and retrieve them the match started with Singles regular, Tony Wall, starting the day slowly finding himself 4-7 down at the half way stage.  However, a great fight back commenced and Tony earnt 8 shots in the next four ends transforming the score to read 12-7 after twelve ends.  He held onto this lead eventually winning 13-9. Billy Ray playing in his third match as an A Team singles player also started slowly and found himself 0-7 down after 5 ends. However, another fightback ensured winning 5 consecutive ends he was leading 9-7 after 9 ends. Then disaster struck and Billy dropped a four on the 10th end, he never recovered from this and eventually lost 11-16.

in the pairs, experienced players David Sperry & David Stallibrass stormed into an 9-3 lead at the half and only dropping 2 of the first 8 eight ends. Some high scoring ends in the second half saw them run out 17-7 winners. The other pair comprising of Jan Sansom leading & Shane Davison had a more difficult time and after 9 ends the score was level at 6-6. But then they stepped up the pressure winning 4 of the last 6 ends to take the match 12-8. 
this meant at the end of the first session Hampshire were winning 6-2.

The second session saw the triples & fours playing with Anita Bucknall, Dave Jelley & Brian Brown starting their match well with two threes in the first two ends. However, they followed this up by dropping a 2 & then a 5 to be losing 6-7 after 4 ends. They dropped another 5 in the seventh end and ending up losing their match 11-16. The other triple comprising Mark Berry, Roger Messenger & Chris Hewitt stormed into a commanding 7-0 lead after 4 ends, then the game evened out and the game settled down with both teams matching ends, they eventually won 11-8. In the Fours, debutant Russ Reeves played at lead with Chris Hardman playing at two, Lorraine Shorney at three and player manager Andrew Shorney at skip & playing against the opposition’s player manager. They found themselves 5-8 down after 9 ends but then got a 4 and a 1 in the final two ends to take the match 10-8. In the other four with Jim Ward leading, Sharon Bradbury at two, June Messenger at three and Trevor Holmes at skip did not start well, they found themselves 2-13 down at the half way stage, they tried to rally but found it difficult and eventually lost 6-20.

so at the end of the second session & the half way stage Hampshire were winning 10-2.
In the third session Kent were looking to fight back.  Tony Wall struggled to find his form of the first match although leading 3-2 going into the fourth he dropped a two and never retook the lead, the match was close and went to the final shot but Tony lost 11-12. In the other match, Billy Ray was determined not to lose but found it difficult against a strong opponent, after 5 ends he was 1-5 down but after 8 ends he had pulled this back to 5-5, it was 8-8 after 12 ends with Billy winning 4 shots on the 13th end, unfortunately he could not hold onto this and in an effort to win his match and the bonus points he dropped 4 shots over the final two ends and the match was drawn 12-12. Kent took the bonus points with the shots 47-49 in their favour.

In the pairs, Janice Sansom & Shane Davison continued their winning form and started with two fours and were leading 9-0 after 3 ends. This prompted the Kent players to swap positions and then an interesting high scoring match entailed with the Hampshire pair eventually winning 24-14. The other pair of David Stallibrass & David Sperry had a far more difficult game, but they battled throughout their match winning the final two ends to draw the match 11-11. Their efforts did not go unrewarded as the Pairs bonus points were won, with the shots 64-40 in Hampshire's favour which meant that at the end of the third session Hampshire were ahead, 16-12.

The fourth session started with Hampshire needing 5 points to win the match but it proved to be a close match. The triples started well with Anita Bucknall, Dave Jelley & Brian Brown storming into a 9-0 lead after 5 ends, they maintained this lead and eventually won 14-4. The other triple of mark berry, Roger Messenger & Chris Hewitt played in a topsy turvey game, starting well they found themselves 6-0 up after 3 ends but by the ninth end they were 6-11 down, then then had a great fight back and the match finished 13-13. The triples also won the bonus points with the shots 49-41 in Hampshire favour. In the fours, Russ Reeves started to show his skills at lead, with 15 year old Chris Hardman playing some great shots at two, backed up by Lorraine Shorney meant that skip Andrew Shorney was bowling blockers, the team went into a 6-1 lead after 6 ends and although Kent came back at them they were three up on the final end, with Andrew Shorney facing two down and holding the last wood he opted not to bowl to take the match 9-8. In the other four, the team who had discussed with the manager changing the order of the team started with June Messenger at lead, with Sharon Bradbury at two, Jim Ward at three and Trevor Holmes at skip, they found themselves 1-11 down after 7 ends and although they responded with a late rally the final score was 8-12. This meant the fours bonus points went to Kent with shots of 33-48.

the Final score for the team was a good win for Hampshire against tough opponents, of 23-17.  Shots were Hampshire 193, Kent 178.

The team are well placed with one match remaining, a draw in the final game against Surrey on 21st January resulting in 20 points will be enough to take top spot in the table by one point which will mean qualification for the semi final.

3RD DECEMBER 2022.  AWAY TO KENT
LOST:  19 POINTS (166 SHOTS) TO 21 POINTS (217 SHOTS)
'A' TEAM MATCH REPORT FOR KENT SUPPLIED BY ANDREW SHORNEY (PLAYER/MANAGER).  OUR SECOND MATCH OF THE SEASON SAW US AWAY AT MAIDSTONE IN KENT ON A COLD DECEMBER MORNING.
SINGLES REGULAR TONY WALL STARTING THE DAY WELL WINNING THE FIRST 3 ENDS AND TAKING A 6-0 LEAD. HOWEVER, HIS OPPONENT STARTED TO FIGHT BACK AND AFTER 6 ENDS THE SCORE WAS 6-4. TONY THEN WENT ON TO WIN 8 OF THE REMAINING ENDS TO WIN COMFORTABLY 23-5. MEANWHILE, BILLY RAY WAS HAVING A SIMILAR COMFORTABLE WIN, SHOOTING INTO A 6-1 LEAD AFTER 5 ENDS AND EVENTUALLY WINNING 19-7.
IN THE PAIRS, EXPERIENCED PLAYERS DAVID SPERRY & DAVID STALLIBRASS STORMED INTO AN 11-2 LEAD AT THE HALF WAY STAGE AND ONLY DROPPING TWO SINGLES. THE SECOND HALF WAS SIMILAR AND THEY WON 16-8. THE OTHER PAIR COMPRISING OF JAN SANSOM LEADING & ROGER MESSENGER HAD A MORE DIFFICULT TIME AND ALTHOUGH LEADING 7-6 AFTER 6 ENDS EVENTUALLY LOST 12-19.
THIS MEANT AT THE END OF THE FIRST SESSION HAMPSHIRE WERE WINNING 6-2.
THE SECOND SESSION SAW THE TRIPLES & FOURS PLAYING WITH ANITA BUCKNALL, DAVE JELLEY & FAYE RAY PLAYING IN VERY TIGHT MATCH, WITH THE SCORE 6-6 AFTER 6 ENDS THEY WERE LEADING GOING INTO THE LAST END BUT HAD TO SETTLE FOR A 12-12 DRAW. THE OTHER TRIPLE COMPRISING OF LES RICKETTS, JEFF HANNELL & CHRIS HEWITT STRUGGLED AGAINST TOUGH OPPOSITION EVENTUALLY LOSING 8-18.
IN THE FOURS, DEBUTANT MARK BERRY REPLACED THE INJURED LORRAINE SHORNEY AND PLAYED AT LEAD WITH CHRIS HARDMAN PLAYING AT TWO AND BRIAN BROWN MOVING TO THREE AND PLAYER MANAGER ANDREW SHORNEY AT SKIP & PLAYING AGAINST THE OPPOSITIONS PLAYER MANAGER. THEY FOUND THEMSELVES 3-6 DOWN AFTER 5 ENDS BUT THEN GOT A 5, A 2 AND A 1 IN CONSECUTIVE ENDS TO TAKE THE LEAD AND END UP 13-7 WINNERS. IN THE OTHER FOUR WITH JIM WARD LEADING, COLIN SANSOM AT TWO, SHARON BRADBURY AT THREE AND TREVOR HOLMES AT SKIP SAW THEM START WELL AND AFTER 8 ENDS WERE WINNING 8-2 AND DOING WELL, THEN DISASTER STRUCK THEY LOST THE LAST THREE ENDS AND DROPPED 10 SHOTS AND LOST THE RUBBER 8-12
THAT MEANT AT THE END OF THE SECOND SESSION & THE HALF WAY STAGE HAMPSHIRE WERE WINNING 9-7.
IN THE THIRD SESSION, TONY WALL STRUGGLED TO FIND HIS FORM OF THE FIRST MATCH ALTHOUGH LEADING 9-8 GOING INTO THE FOURTEENTH END DROPPED A FOUR AND EVENTUALLY LOST 11-12. BILLY RAY, HAD WHAT CAN ONLY BE DESCRIBED AS THE MOST UNUSUAL MATCH WITNESSED BY THE WRITER. RIGHT FROM THE START BILLY SURROUNDED THE JACK AND IN SUCH A WAY HIS OPPONENT COULDN’T SEEM TO STOP. HE WON 14 OF THE 15 ENDS PLAYED AND ACCUMULATED TWO FOURS AND FOUR THREES TO WIN 34-1.
IN THE PAIRS, DAVID STALLIBRASS & DAVID SPERRY CONTINUED THEIR FINE FORM WINNING THEIR GAME COMFORTABLY 13 - 6 WHILST JANICE SANSOM & ROGER MESSENGER HAD A MUCH BETTER GAME, AND ALTHOUGH ALWAYS LOSING KEPT IT TIGHT EVENTUALLY LOSING 12-14. THEIR EFFORTS DID NOT GO UNREWARDED AS THE PAIRS BONUS POINTS WERE WON.
THAT MEANT THAT AT THE END OF THE THIRD SESSION HAMPSHIRE WERE WINNING 17-11.
THE FOURTH SESSION STARTED WITH HAMPSHIRE NEEDING 4 POINTS TO WIN THE MATCH BUT IT PROVED TO BE A DIFFICULT TASK.
THE TRIPLES STARTED WELL WITH ANITA BUCKNALL, DAVE JELLEY & FAYE RAY PLAYING IN A TIGHT MATCH AND WITH TWO ENDS REMAINING THEY FOUND THEMSELVES 8-9 DOWN. HOWEVER, THEY WON THE LAST TWO ENDS TO END UP WINNING 13-9. THE OTHER TRIPLE STRUGGLED THROUGHOUT THEIR MATCH AND EVENTUALLY LOST 10-17. IN THE FOURS, MARK BERRY CONTINUED TO HAVE A GREAT DEBUT ALTHOUGH THE TEAM STRUGGLED WITH THE OPPOSITION SKIP WHO WAS HAVING AN INSPIRED GAME, EVENTUALLY LOSING 6-11. THIS MEANT THE OTHER FOUR OF JIM WARD, COLIN SANSOM, SHARON BRADBURY & TREVOR HOLMES NEEDED TO WIN THEIR GAME. THE MATCH WAS VERY TIGHT AND GOING INTO THE LAST END HAMPSHIRE WERE LEADING 7-5 WITH KENT HAVING THE LAST WOOD OF THE MATCH AS THE OTHER FOUR HAD ALREADY FINISHED MEANING EVERYONE KNEW WHAT WAS NEEDED. HAVING PLAYED HIS LAST WOOD TREVOR COULD DO NO MORE AND HAMPSHIRE WERE LYING MATCH. THE SURREY SKIP FOUND HIMSELF HOLDING ONE, NEEDING THREE TO WIN HE PLAYED A SHOT TO HIT ONE OF HIS OWN WOODS TOWARDS THE JACK AND HIS WOOD CONTINUED TO FOLLOW AND AFTER THE DUST HAD SETTLED SURREY WERE HOLDING THREE.
FINAL SCORE FOR THE TEAM WAS A NARROW LOSS AT 19-21 BUT GIVES US A CHANCE TO DO WELL IN THE COMPETITION WITH TWO MATCHES REMAINING.

​30th October:  home to surrey
won:  32 points (204 shots) to 8 points (148 shots)
match report supplied by andrew shorney
The first match back after Covid produced a very different A Team compared to the last team Hampshire put out.
not only did new 'a' team player/ manager field 5 debutants there were additionally a few players that had only played one or two previous matches, in this Home game against Surrey. also, The match was played at Atherley Indoor Bowling Club, a new venue for the team.

Playing on slow mats Hampshire won the toss and allowed Surrey to start.   In the first session in the singles Tony Wall went off to a storming lead which he held all through the match eventually winning 16-8. Billy Ray, playing his first singles match for the A Team got off to a slow start which he never recovered from, eventually losing 10-16.
In the pairs, experienced players David Sperry & David Stallibrass played a tight match with the lead changing hands no less than three times before narrowly winning 14-11. The other pair comprising of Jan Sansom leading & Shane Davison skipping his first A team Pairs match got a six shot lead early and held this all the way through the match to win 15-9.
this meant at the end of the first session Hampshire were winning 6-2.

The second session saw the triples & fours playing with debutant Jeff Hannell leading a triple with experienced Roger Messenger at two and Chris Hewiit at skip. They stormed into an early lead which they held throughout and eventually won 17-4. The other triple comprised Anita Bucknall, Dave Jelley & first time A Team skip Faye Ray, they started slowly and couldn’t recover eventually losing 6-12.
In the Fours, debutants Jim Ward at lead and Sharon Bradbury at two played with experienced June Messenger at three and skip Trevor Holmes. They were losing throughout the match and found themselves five down on the last end. However, some great bowling and a little piece of luck saw them take a six on the last end to win the match 10-9. In the other four, debutant Chris Hardman who is aged 13 started nervously but soon settled in playing with Octogenarian Brian Brown at two and Lorraine Shorney at three and player manager Andrew Shorney at skip. They started slowly and soon found themselves 0-4 down after three ends. Following a team talk, it was agreed to swap Brian Brown to one and Chris Hardman at two. The result was amazing with Chris Hardman being asked to play a number of weighted shots to ditch the jack, the four went from 0-4 down to 9-4 to win the game.
so at the end of the second session Hampshire was winning 12-4.

In the third session, the singles matches were very tight, with Tony wall winning 13-12 and Billy ray getting his first ATeam singles win winning 14-11.
The Pairs saw another strong win for Janice Sanson & Shane Davison winning 19-5 but unfortunately David Sperry & David Stallibrass had a rare loss losing 11-14 in a close match. That meant that at the end of the third session Hampshire were winning 22-6.

In the fourth session, the triple with Jeff Hannell, Roger messenger & Chris Hewitt came out on top with a 11-7 win in a tightly fought match. In the other triple skipped by Faye Ray, the team really gelled well, went into an early comfortable lead and went on to win 22-4.
The fours had mixed fortune with the fours skipped by Trevor Holmes and with two DEBUTANTS couldn’t hold Surrey and lost 8-14. The other four with involved the two player managers playing against each other. Again, they found themselves down at the HALFWAY stage but managed to stop the Surrey player/manager winning the game with his last shot to end up winning 10-9. Taking the bonus points in the Fours by one shot despite winning three matches.
Final score for the team was a great win of 32-8.
​

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a team match reports -  11th January 2020 away to surrey

Hampshire A Team score high but lose away to Surrey in the final game of the round robin stage of the Inter County Championship, on Saturday 11th January 2020.
 
It was the last game of the league stages, and whatever the result Hampshire could not be caught by the other teams in the league.  No-one in the team had gone to Surrey thinking it would be easy game, although Surrey had only won two matches up until then, one home, one away.  Everyone had hoped to replicate their home success against them, but despite scoring two more shots across the board,  Hampshire lost the match 21-19.
 
It had all started well, with Tony Wall always having the better of his opponent running out 17-7 and  Dave Sperry winning 17-8, with a strong middle-section of his game picking up 8 shots in four ends to go 12-2 up.  Dropping a four on the 10th end followed by two singles brought the two players closer (12-8) but then the Hampshire man picked up 5 shots over the remaining three ends.
 
It seemed the pairs unfortunately could not get to grips with their respective mats. Although Dave Jelley & Dave Stallibrass started well with a 2, it was then end 8 before they scored again by which time they were 2-9 down.   However they kept their composure and at the completion of end 11 they were level at 9-9.  Unfortunately they conceded two shots on each of the remaining four ends to finally lose 17-9. The other pair of Roger Messenger and David Wood didn’t start well.  They dropped a 3 on the first end and a 4 on the 3rd end and were really on the back foot after that only winning five ends in total in a 6-21 defeat
 
In the second session the travellers won three mats out of four.  Anita Bucknall, Matthew Hardman and Chris Hewitt were slow getting out of the blocks and indeed were 3-11 down by the halfway stage, but dug in and scored on all but one end from there to win 17-12. Jan Sansom, Paul Wheatley and Brian Brown were also slow starters although they had kept pace with their opposition and were level at five ends 3-3.  From end 7 however, they found a higher gear and scored on every remaining end but one in a 16-7 win.  There were mixed fortunes in the fours though, and Ray Wheatley, Jan Bunker, team manager Glo Fowler and Alex Tymon struggled to get on the board, and ultimately lost 7-13.  Trevor Holmes, John Bucknall, Trevor Tymon and Colin Dickinson scored on all but four ends in a fairly convincing 14-8 win. 
 
Hampshire was a slender 10 shots up overall (103-93).  10 points to 6.
 
Tony Wall suffered a rare defeat in his second game of 13-14, but he had been 3-10 down at the halfway stage so it had been a good comeback.  Indeed he had drawn level on end 13 (11-11) to then drop a 3 on the penultimate end, and only managing to pick up a 2 on the final end.  Dave Sperry also fell to an uncharacteristic loss, and a rather heavier one at that of 9-18.  Nevertheless, Hampshire still won the bonus points courtesy of the good first session. 
 
Jelley & Stallibrass played cat and mouse for the first part of their game but then took control and ran out 14-10 winners. Messenger & Wood went into the 10th end a shot down, (6-7) but rallied from there and registered a 15-9 win.  However it wasn’t enough to take the bonus points and the discipline was lost by 13 shots.
 
Hewitt’s triple struggled to get ahead of their opponents but by the completion of end 5 they were 6-1 up.  Unfortunately dropping a 4 at this stage proved critical and gave the home players a foothold, enforced by a single and a two on successive ends.  Although the Hampshire triple dug in and picked up three single shots in the remaining ends, it was not enough and the travellers lost 9-11. 
 
On the adjacent mat Brown’s three-some seemed to be in control of their destiny and were 5-1 up at 3 ends.  Their opponents chipped away at this however and by the completion of the 8th end, the teams were level 6-6.  The ensuing cat and mouse game finished in a 9-9 draw - a close fought match.  But it had been enough to net the Hampshire side the valuable bonus points.
 
Alex Tymon’s four were also having close encounters and at 6 ends the score were level at 5-5, although it had taken the concession of a 4 on the 5th end to let the home side back into the game, followed by a single shot.  What Tymon’s rink didn’t need, then, was to drop a 4 on the very next end to go 5-9 down.  They pulled back to level again 9-9 going into the final end to concede a shot to lose 9-10.  Dickinson’s foursome were also having a  tough game and were 2-8 down at the completion of the 4th end.  Rallying a little they actually got their noses back in front 9-8 with three ends to play.... but on each of those three ends they dropped two shots and lost 9-14.  Overall the discipline had only lost by 6 shots, but losing the bonus points was disappointing, especially as the final score was so close. 
 
It was the first defeat for Hampshire albeit by only 2 shots (190-188) and 2 points (19-21). 
 
The A Team sits on top of their League clear of second place (Surrey) by 58 points. 
 
They will now play the winners of the Prelim match between Hereford & Suffolk in the Quarter Finals at Solihull on 23rd February. 
 
Hampshire A Team do the double on East Sussex 24th November 2019

Buoyed by their success away from home against East Sussex, the A team welcomed their opponents to the Riverside Indoor venue in Winchester in expectation of another good game.   
 
Tony Wall however, seemed stuck on the number two until the 8th end, by which point he was 2-12 down but he finally got back into the game, winning five of the remaining seven ends to make the score a more respectable 9-14 loss.  However, team colleague Andrew Shorney had much the better of his game, scoring on all but four of the available 15 ends in a 20-8 demolition.  His tally included two full house scores.   In the pairs, David Stallibrass and Dave Sperry scored consistently and on nearly every end running out with a 17-6 win, although at the completion of four ends the teams had been level on 3-3.  Jan Sansom and Brian Brown were having a closer match on their mat, and indeed at 10 ends found themselves 5-13 down.  But having got to 13, that is where the East Sussex pairing stayed as Hampshire pushed past them to win 17-13. 
 
The second session took to the mats and Anita Bucknall, Dave Jelley and Billy Ray were 6-1 up at 5 ends, trading singles over the next four ends, they then eased away to an 11-8 victory.  June & Roger Messenger, along with Martin Grange, achieved the same score 11-8, but whilst they had been 8-1 up at 6 ends they had somehow allowed their opponents to draw level on the 11th end, to be 8-8.  Winning the final two ends was essential, which they did with a single and a pair.  Phew!   In the fours, Jan Bunker, Linda Stiles, Team Manager Glo Fowler and Alex Tymon picked up a three on the first end and from then on seemed to be in total charge of the game, winning 13-7.  They had dropped a four on the 7th end, but redressed the balance with a 3 on the next end and looked comfortable after that.  Trevor Holmes, Julie Grange, Lorraine Shorney and Colin Dickinson only failed to score on two ends in a 17-3 win, even picking up a 5 on the fifth end.
 
At the halfway point then, the home side were comfortably ahead, by 14 points to 2 and some 48 shots separated the two teams, but Hampshire needed to keep concentrating.
 
In his second match, Tony Wall had a tentative start but then clicked into gear and from then on scored consistently running out 19-6.  His opponent had only scored on four ends.  Andrew Shorney was showing his class as well as he only dropped five shots in four ends and won in storming fashion, 23-5.  Singles bonus points therefore in the bag.  The pairs were slightly less convincing however, and whilst Stallibrass & Sperry drew 9-9, Sansom & Brown lost 10-13 having been level on 8-8 at nine ends. However the scores from the first session had been sufficient to carry them through and the bonus points for the pairs were also in the bag.   
 
When the final session of matches finished it must have looked to a neutral that the travelling triples players had gone home early, as Ray’s triple won in romping style 25-2 and Grange’s threesome stormed to a 27-4 victory.   However, there had been some feisty play by the East Sussex team and the matches had not been a walkover.  Bonus points for the triples in the bag.
 
The fours had another good session with Tymon’s all female rink dropping three singles only in a hard fought 9-3 victory, whilst Dickinson’s foursome achieved a creditable 11-11 winning one less end than their opponents.  They were four down going into the final end, but picked up a four on the last end to seal the game.
 
It was a good final home match for the team – and they now look forward to their trip to Surrey in early January. 
 
Result : Hampshire 34 – 6 East Sussex, (248 shots to 120)  The team tops their group, having won all their matches and are 60 points ahead of their closest rivals – Surrey - and so cannot be beaten.

Hampshire A Team win away at West Sussex on Sunday 10th November 2019
 
It is getting to be a very good season for the A team under the continuing manager-ship of Glo Fowler, with the travellers mastering the very much faster mats at West Sussex
 
In the singles Tony Wall started slowly but picked up a full house of 4 on the 3rd end and scored consistently thereafter.   By the completion of eight ends he was 10-2 up, and whilst he only scored on three ends after that he kept his opponent’s score down to run out a 15-9 winner. Team colleague Andrew Shorney, having picked up a single on the first end, proceeded to drop a four on the second end, but then got to grips with the mat and his opponent and collected 7 shots over the next three ends which brought the score to 8-4 to the Hampshire man.  By the time the game had reached 12 ends, Shorney had doubled his score to 16.  He took his foot off the pedal for the remaining three ends and conceeded four shots but still ran out a 16-12 winner. 
 
In the pairs, David Stallibrass and Dave Sperry had a close game, but always seemed to be on the back foot although they had won the first two ends and were 3-0 up.  Although they scored consistently throughout the game, it was the 12 shots they dropped in the middle that made the difference as they lost 10-15.  The other pairing, Jan Sansom and Brian Brown, were also having a hard fought game, although they had picked up a three on the first end. They only won five of the available ends in total, including picking up a two on the final end which made the overall score quite competitive only losing 10-12.
 
The second session saw June & Roger Messenger, skipped by Martin Grange contest a close game and a five ends the score was 5-3 to Hampshire.  A three and a five conceded in the next two ends saw them go 5-11 down, but scoring on all but one of the remaining six ends, saw them achieve a 15-12 win.  Anita Bucknall, Dave Jelley and Billy Ray, seemed to be having a difficult game as well, as at six ends they were 3-7 down.  However, they pulled back and won all but one of the remaining ends to bring the score to 18-8.  The final two ends had been a real bonus as they scored a four and a five.
 
John Bucknall, Linda Stiles, team manager Glo Fowler and Alex Tymon got off to a winning start picking up a 2 on the first end, but let the advantage slip, going behind on the fifth end by dropping a three. (5-6). Trading shots over the next two ends brought them to 7-7 at 7 ends, but from there they dug in again and pulled away to win 11-7. Trevor Holmes, Julie Grange, Lorraine Shorney and Colin Dickinson contended another close game and were 9-4 up at seven ends.  However, they let the advantage slip and dropped a four on the next end, followed by four shots over the next three ends to lose 9-12.  
 
It was a close match at the halfway stage, with the Hampshire travelers struggling to gain an advantage overall.  Indeed they were 87 shots to 104 down although ahead on points 10-6.  It was all to do in the second half of the match and they dug in.
 
Tony Wall fought hard but found himself 3-8 down at 6 ends.  A flurry of action then saw him pick up 7 shots in three ends and he went 10-8 up…. only to drop a two and a one to go behind again.  However a three and a two accrued to the loss of only two singles over the final four ends saw him run out 15-13 up.  It had been a good game.  Shorney, however had no such scares, although conceding two shots on the first end was aggravating. Taking a storming command of the game, he proceeded to score consistently on all but four ends thereafter and ran out 22-8 up.  The singles bonus points safely in the bag. 
 
Sperry & Stallibrass were also in no mood for concession and scored on all but three ends in a creditable 18-5 win. Unfortunately the reverse was happening on the adjacent mat as Samson & Brown were 0-14 down at the completion of the fifth end. They had a better second half of the game, but were still inconsistent and eventually lost 7-21.  Unfortunately this meant that the bonus points for the pairs were lost.
 
At this point it was beginning to look a little bleak but Martin Grange’s triple pulled back from being 1-6 down to being only three behind but then dropped a three on the next end …..  However this seemed to restart their motor and from there they had a much better second half, eventually winning 15-14.  Unfortunately the other triple fell from being 7-1 up at 4 ends to lose 11-15 scoring on only two further ends, with a consolation single shot on the final end.  Nevertheless, the good work in this discipline had been done in the first session and the bonus points were retained by Hampshire.
 
The fours had mixed fortunes as well, and Tymon’s rink started well with a five on the first end.  They seemed to have much the better of the game and scored on nearly every end in a 17-5 demolition of their home opponents.  However, Dickinson’s foursome fell to the second defeat of the day 11-4, although they had a good end 4 where they had picked up a 5 to get them right back in the game at 5-5.   A two on the next end put them ahead, but a two conceded on the next brought the teams even again.  A three collected on the next was then off-set  by a four dropped immediately and although they picked up a further single to get level again (11-11) they lost the two final ends and thereby the game, by three shots  - 11-14.  However the bonus points were safely in Hampshire’s tally.
 
The final score was Hampshire 220 shots (26 points) to West Sussex 182 shots (14 points).
 

Hampshire A Team home to West Sussex.  20th October 2019
 
It was another stunning win for Glo Fowler’s Hampshire A team, against a West Sussex side that had seemed to have been in control in their previous two matches of the campaign with two wins out of two matches played.
 
It started a little tentatively for Hampshire as in the Singles, Tony Wall was always playing catch up until at the completion of the 10th end he was 6-10 down.  However, those 10 shots were all his opponent achieved as Tony scored on every remaining end to win 14-10.  Team mate Andrew Shorney was having a similar struggle but managed to get ahead at last on the 10th end going 9-8 up.  A three accrued on the next end put a little distance between the two players but the West Sussex man wasn’t going away and Andrew dropped a two to let his opponent back in to the match.  On the 13th end Andrew picked up a two but then dropped a two and a single over the remaining two ends to only win by 1 shot.  But a win was still a win.   
 
The Pairs were having similar battles as the travelling West Sussex team fought hard.  David Stallibrass & Dave Sperry conceded a four on the first end but then picked up a four on the next.  Then it became a nip and tuck game with neither side really gaining an advantage until the Hampshire pair scored a three to go one shot ahead.... only to drop a three on the next end to be 9-11 down.  However, they dug in and with the loss of only another two single shots picked up 7 shots to run out 16-13 winners.  It was only the pairing of Jan Sansom and Brian Brown that seemed to be in charge of their mat, but even they had let a 9-4 scoreline slip away until they were only two up (11-9) at the completion of the 11th end.  However, a stronger finish saw them run out 16-10 winners.
 
The second session saw Anita Bucknall, Dave Jelley and Billy Ray let a 6-1 score be whittled away to find themselves level on 8-all at the completion of the 11th end.  Single shots traded over the remaining two ends kept the score level, and a draw of 9-9 resulted for the triple. June & Roger Messenger along with Martin Grange had a cat and mouse game, but two counts of 5 got them well ahead at 14-5 at the start of the 9th end.  Although they only scored on one further end, they still ran out winners 18-13.  John Bucknall, Linda Stiles, Team Manager Glo Fowler and Alex Tymon had a very low scoring game by comparison but had the better of the affair winning 8-5.  The other foursome of Trevor Holmes, Julie Grange, Lorraine Shorney and Colin Dickinson were a stunning 10-1 up by halfway and only allowed their opponents the luxury of scoring on a further two ends in a 15-6 win.
 
It was going well at the half way stage, and after lunch the reverse games took to the mats. Hampshire needed to concentrate as West Sussex was sure to fight back.
 
Tony Wall dropped a single shot on the first end but then only dropped four further singles in the remainder of the game, scoring consistently, mostly twos and threes, in a sound 23-5 annihilation.  Similarly, Andrew Shorney stormed away to a 20-0 scoreline at 10 ends conceding only five shots in the remaining third of the game, winning 24-5.  Needless to say the bonus points for this discipline were well and truly in the bag.  Stallibrass & Sperry were virtually unplayable as well as they romped away to a 26-7 victory.  Dropping a four on the final end was almost an anticlimax!  Sansom & Brown had a slightly tighter match and were only 2 shots up at 10 ends (9-7) but pulled away to a 17-8 win.  The bonus points firmly lodged in Hampshire’s tally.
 
West Sussex probably felt they might just as well have gone home at the lunch break, but put up a good fight nevertheless.  Bill Ray’s triple were level on 9 all at the completion of the 11th end have conceded a four on that end, but then picked up a three on the penultimate end and dropped a two on the final end to win by the smallest of margins, 12-11. Grange’s trio were shocked into recovery mode on the 4th end of their match, as, having been 5-0 up, they dropped a five.  And then a single! However from then on the away side saw their few remaining ends and hopes disappear as the Hampshire trio pulled away to a 14-8 victory.  More bonus points in the bag.
 
Tymon’s foursome never really seemed to be in trouble, picking up a five on the 7th end to go 11-4 up.  However, dropping a five on the very next end was not quite in the script and from then they pulled away to a 15-10 win.  Indeed the only disappointment of the day was Dickinson’s rink who never really got into this rubber and only scored on four of the available 11 ends, losing 6-12.  However, all the other scores in the discipline were more than enough to collect the bonus points and therefore a full house of bonuses. 
 
The final score was Hampshire 247 shots to West Sussex 145, and a colossal points victory of 37 to 3.
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13th October 2019 A Team travel to East Sussex and leave the hosts fuming.

It is not an easy journey, travelling to East Sussex, and indeed it is a long time since the A Team last went there.  The 2014/15 season to be exact.  However, the scenario was much the same as before since the Hampshire team returned with a storming win of 34 points to 6.  For the home side it was even greater insult to injury as the Hampshire Premier team had played there on the previous day, and had come away with a similar result.
 
In the singles, Tony Wall picked up a three on the first end but then ends were traded until the score at 8 ends was 6-all, but then he got to grips with the mat properly and accrued two counts of three, followed by one of two and one of four over the remaining 7 ends to run out 18-10 ahead.  His fellow singles player, Andrew Shorney had stormed into a 9-0 lead at 4 ends, and continued his dominance throughout the match only allowing 7 shots over six ends to be conceded. 
 
In the pairs, David Stallibrass and Dave Sperry were 7-1 up at 6 ends, but allowed their opponents to claw their way back into proceedings until at the 11th end the Hampshire duo were only 1 shot up (9-8).  Some edgy play saw a slight resurgence by the away team as they went 12-8 up with two ends to play.  It was scary then to drop a two on the penultimate end and a closely measured single on the final end to only win by 12-11.  The other pairing of Jan Sansom and Brian Brown however, seemed to have a much easier time of it scoring consistently on nine of the available 15 ends in a 16-9 win. 
 
In the second session Colin Sansom, Les Ricketts and Martin Grange were 2-3 down at the completion of the third end, but picked up 6 shots over the next two ends to go ahead 8-3.  From then on they seemed to be always in charge of the game and were comfortable 17-8 winners.  On the adjacent mat, Anita Bucknall, Dave Jelley and Billy Ray were having a barn-storming match and by 6 ends they were 16-1 up.  The home team only scored on two more ends – a single and a three, as the Hampshire trio demolished them 27-5, collecting three fours and a five within that total. 
 
 Jan Bunker, Linda Stiles, Team Manager Glo Fowler and Alex Tymon scored consistently throughout only dropping three singles in a 14-3 winning scoreline.  The only adverse score in the whole of the pre-lunch session was in the foursome of Julie Grange, Trevor Holmes, Lorraine Shorney and Colin Dickinson who were 3-12 down at the 9th end, but picked up six shots over the two remaining ends to only lose 9-12.
 
The home side were fuming at their losses, so the travellers needed to be on their mettle for the reverse matches after the lunchtime break. 
 
Tony Wall started badly and found himself 0-6 down at 3 ends, and although he only managed to win 6 of the remaining 12 ends in an uncharacteristic 8-16 defeat, he had pulled back into the game at the halfway stage to be only 3 shots adrift.  However Andrew Shorney was in fighting form and crushed his opponent 28-3.  Stallibrass and Sperry found the contrary mat 1 not particularly to their liking and although they kept the scoring tight, they still lost 9-13.  At 13 ends they had only been one shot adrift. (9-10) so it was a little disappointing to have dropped shots on the last two ends.  Sansom & Brown were in feisty mood in their second game of the match, and were convincing 21-7 winners. 
 
The final session of games saw the travelling Hampshire side well up and fully in charge of the game, but still could not be complacent. 
 
Martin Grange’s trio set off as they meant to continue and were 9-0 going into the 6th end.  Three singles conceded may have given the home side a little hope, but this was dashed as the Hampshire team picked up the pace again and ran out 15-8 winners.  Billy Ray’s triple had a closer game however and were 10-5 down at the halfway stage, but had a better ending and picking up a 5 on the 11th end got them right back into the fight, only 1 shot behind.  A count of 2 collected on the penultimate end saw them one shot in front and a further single on the final end gave them the game 14-12.  It had been a massive fight back. 
 
Dickinson’s foursome was nip and tuck all the way through and had got in front by three shots (7-5) by the 7th end.  Then four shots conceded on the next two ends saw the lead overturned (7-8).  They dug in however and picking up two counts of 2 on the final two ends gave them the win 11-8.  However, the piéce de résistance was Alex Tymon’s all-female Hampshire rink which had stormed into a 19-2 lead by the 7th end.  Three ends conceded took the score to 19-4 but the Hampshire rink were never really in any danger, and a three collected on the final end saw the score got to 22-4.
 
The final result was Hampshire 259 shots to East Sussex 136, and 34 points to 6.  A great win for an away match.    
 
The next match will be a double header at home to West Sussex, on 20th October.  



15TH SEPTEMBER 2019 Home to Surrey

​At their new venue of Riverside Indoor Bowling Club in Winchester, the County’s A team racked up a stunning 217 shots to 149 (32 points to 8) victory over Surrey.
 
Tony Wall in the singles always had the better of his opponent running out with a 16-9 victory, although dropping a score of 4 on the 13th end made the last two ends a little more intense.  Team colleague, Dave Sperry on the other hand, had a cat and mouse game against his opponent and dropped a four on the 11th end to go 3 shots behind.  This was followed by a single shot conceded and Sperry had to dig in.   Rallying with five shots over the remaining three ends gained him a slender one shot victory however, 12-11. 

​In the pairs, there were some good woods played, but unfortunately Jan Bunker & Dave Jelley lost 11-18 only scoring on 5 of the available 15 ends, whilst Trevor Tymon and Jan Sansom came from being 4-10 down at 9 ends to only lose 11-12, picking up a three on the final end. 
 
The second session however gave much more consistency and hope to the team.  Roger & June Messenger, skipped by David Wood lost their way a little in the second half of the game from being 9-3 up and their opponents got very close at 9-8 at the completion of the 11th end.  However Hampshire then picked up 2 shots on the penultimate end so whilst the concession of one shot on the final end was disappointing they still earned a narrow victory of 2 shots, 11-9. On the adjacent mat, fellow triples players Anita Bucknall, Matthew Hardman and Billy Ray stormed into an early lead and by the completion of the 8th end they were 12-2 up.  Unfortunately they conceded five shots over the next three ends, to be 12-7 ahead, but a three on the penultimate end raised spirits again and it was not a problem to drop a single shot on the final end to run out 15-8 winners.  In the fours there were two exciting games going on.  Lee Graham, Gail Evans, team manager Glo Fowler and Alex Tymon only allowed their opponents to score three single shots in an 11-3 victory, whilst Ray & Paul Wheatley, Linda Stiles and Colin Dickinson had a storming game winning 7 of the available 11 ends in a 15-6 win.
 
At half way the Hampshire team led 112 shots to 66 and by 12 points to 4.
 
After the lunch break, Tony Wall completed his winning day with a demolition score of 23-3.  He was obviously quite unplayable. Unfortunately Dave Sperry couldn’t quite get to grips with his opponent and although the scores had been pretty even until the 8th end, where Sperry had picked up a two to go one shot in front, his opponent then dug in and pulled away scoring 8 shots in three ends to go ahead.  Two singles and two threes traded over the final four ends saw the Hampshire man from Bellinger lose 12-19.   Nevertheless the bonus points for the Singles were safely in the bag. The pairs steadied the ship in this session with Bunker & Jelley  pulling away to a  victory of  11-8, having been level on 6-all at 9 ends, and Tymon & Sansom strode to a 15-9 victory, having always been in front from the start.  Pairs bonus points likewise safely stowed in Hampshire’s locker.
 
The final session was very positive for the triples, with Ray’s triple storming to a 19-8 victory and Wood’s threesome in similarly positive mood won 12-5.   The triples bonus points added to the tally.  There were tight games going on in the fours, with Tymon’s rink just losing 11-12 having picked up a three on the final end. Dickinson’s foursome had a poor patch in the middle of their game where they allowed their opposition to get level at 8-8 and then go one up.  However, they got back into gear, and picking up four shots in three ends they ran out 12-9 winners.  This completed the full house of bonus points.
 
The final score therefore was 217 shots to 149 and 32 points to 8. 
 
The team’s next opponents will be East Sussex – away – on Saturday 12th October.

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