National Championships review

The following report appeared in the Solihull Observer on 31st August 2017.

Solihull Municipal bowl their way to National semi-final

Solihull’s County Champions enjoyed more unexpected success as their journey continued to the semi-final stage of Bowls England’s National Championships at Leamington.

Having won the Warwickshire Fours title at Wolvey at the start of August, the Solihull Municipal team of John Bentien, Clive Burbage, Rob Wilson and Gary Langford joined the champions and runners-up from 36 counties at the start of the third week of the Championships to contest the Men’s National Fours.

Starting and finishing well in their opening match against the Kent champions, they came away with a deserved 21-14 win. The second round match against Suffolk showed the team’s trademark resilience, coming back from 12-3 down to win on the extra end, 17-16.

The second day started with a match against a strong Oxfordshire team who had a convincing win against Cambridgeshire on Monday afternoon. In another topsy-turvy match, the Solihull rink again finished well to complete their third win, 21-17. This meant they went into the afternoon’s quarter-final against an Essex four featuring an England international and former National singles champion.

This looked a match too far for the Warwickshire quartet. Trailing 19-10 with five ends to play, they then collected six shots over the next four, to leave them with a slender hope for a three on the last to take them to an extra end. The right shots at the right time, together with an uncharacteristic wayward final bowl from the Essex skip, gave the shocked Solihull team a four to take the lead for the first time in the match and victory in what Bowls England reported as an ‘exceptional finish’.

Wednesday morning’s semi-final against the second Kent team again provided excellent bowling for the capacity crowd around the green. In another close match, the four from St. Lawrence held off another late fightback to win 24-22. In the final, they were runners up to the Herefordshire team from Ledbury.

The four were justifiably pleased with their performance over the three days. “From being one of 30 matches on the Monday morning, through to being introduced onto the green by Tony Allcock for the semi-final, and then playing in a great semi-final, it’s been a fantastic experience. To be able to do so well representing Warwickshire, and to get messages of support from other bowlers across the county, made it a brilliant few days.”

To find out more about the Solihull club, who play at Solihull Sports & Social Club, you can visit their website at www.solihullbowls.club, or email solihullbowls@gmail.com.