Herefordshire pair win County Pairs Championship title

A BOWLS double act have become the most successful duo in a competition’s 25-year history.

John Mills & Joe Loveys (Woolhope/Gorsley Chapel) claimed victory at this year’s Herefordshire Bowls County Pairs Championship, surpassing Sandra & Anthony Rogers and Les Williams & James Zimmerman who both previously held the title on three occasions.

Eighteen pairs were split into two groups of four and two groups of five.

A compelling round robin stage saw Shirley Cox & Bryan Watkins (Woolhope), Richard Bemand & Anthony Chesterton (Gorsley Chapel), Mills & Loveys and Dave Andrews & Gary Peachey (Ross) progress as group winners, being joined by each of the group runners up.

The quarter finals saw Cox and Watkins just edge out the Fownhope pairing of Fran Jones and Nic Lloyd 9-7.

The second quarter-final saw another 9-7 result, this time in favour of Kim Wooden & Pete Goulding (St Martin’s).

In quarter final three, Mills and Loveys faced Loveys’ overcame Gorsley clubmates Clvie Matthews and Dean Rudman 13-3 win.

Finally, the most exciting of the quarter finals featured an all-Ross matchup as defending champions Dave Watkins & Ian Roe took on Dave Andrews and Garry Peachey, with the later pairing seeing off a fightback to book their place in the semi-finals.

The first of the semi finals saw Mills and Loveys this time facing Mills’ clubmates, Cox and Watkins, with the game finely balanced at 6-6 by the eighth end.

However, a two for Mills and Loveys on the ninth gave the experienced pair enough to book their place in the final.

The second semi-final was also closely fought at 6-6 by the eighth end. However, a three in the ninth consolidated by another three on the final end ended hopes of a first St Martin’s final appearance as Wooden and Goulding were just edged out by Andrews and Peachey.

A fifth straight final for Loveys and Mills saw them face Peachey and the incredibly consistent Andrews.

Mills and Loveys held a slender 5-3 lead following several unlucky shots for their opponents.

A strong end for Mills saw the duo two shots up following Peachey’s final bowl, leaving Loveys with a draw for the match to secure a record fourth County Pairs title with the final score 10-3.