England bowlers dominated the World Championships winning three of the four events against top class opposition from around the short mat bowls world. Jack Pye and AJ Pye of Wymondham and Norfolk with Adam Smith at skip successfully defended their World Triples title on a glorious final day in Norway winning an all England triples final. Their opponents were Jason McLean and Michael Doorey who were skipped by Bob Carter and Norfolk star Jason Woods who went down by just 12-10 in an excellent final. Pye, Pye & Smith defeated Paul Duff’s Irish triple in the quarter-finals and went on to win their semi-final game by 14-5 against Cennydd Howell’s Welsh triple to reach the final. Jason Woods’ triple reached the final after beating Ferdinand Frantzen’s Norway triple 13-10 in the quarter-finals followed by a 12-11 semi-final win against Nick Evans’ Welsh triple in the semi-finals. This semi-final match was mired in controversy and suffered a long, long delay before its conclusion. Bowlers will see this incident in various ways but one lesson to be learned by ruling bodies is that if rules are brought in for events they should be carefully worded to avoid any possible manipulation, otherwise the integrity of the sport could be damaged.
The World Pairs also produced an all England final with Adam Easthope and Nathan Caines winning by 13-10 against James Trott & Sam Harvey. Easthope and Caines won their quarter-final game by 19-10 against Sandy McDonald’s Scottish pairing before winning their semi-final game by 13-12 against the top quality Irish pair Alan Paul & John Quinn. Trott & Harvey won by 14-11 against Belgium’s Payne pairing in the quarter-finals and then won 13-12 against Sweden’s Joel Hager & Magnus Nordin Aronsson in the semi-finals.
The coveted World Singles title was won by England’s Matty Worden who will be delighted to have overcome the brilliant Irish bowler Colum McHugh 12-7 in the final. Worden won his quarter-final game against Sweden’s Jonas Hager by 15-13 before winning 14-8 in the semi-finals against Sibe Laureys of Belgium. McHugh’s journey to the final was via a 13-11 win against defending champion Gary McNabb, also of Ireland, in the quarters and a 15-10 win in the semi-finals against Welsh bowler Andrew Hudson. Matty Worden is no stranger to success in Norway, he beat Gary McNabb in the final of the Tom Holte Norwegian Open last year.
The only title to elude England was the World Fours Championship which was retained by Mikey John of Wales with Jonno Gladstone, Alan Evans & Andrew Evans. They won by 11-3 against the Scottish four of Duncan Farmer, Stuart John Anderson, Robert Lenza & Lawrence Moffat. In the quarter-finals Mikey John’s four beat Chris McWhinnie’s four 7-6 before winning by 8-2 against England’s Morgan Warnes, Danny Hogben, Gary Best & Jody Frampton in the semi-finals. Many people will have fancied Norfolk’s Morgan and Gary for this title but I am sure they will be back to fight for it another day. Moffat’s four won 11-10 against Scott White’s Scottish four in the quarter-finals and by 12-5 against Jamie Glackin’s Irish four in the semi-finals. The odds would have been massively against it but the Quarter-Finals produced an all Scottish game, an all Irish game, an all England game and an all Welsh game guaranteeing each country a semi-finalist. The NCSMBA would like to send its congratulations to England manager Chris Willies and all the England players for a hugely successful World Championship weekend in Norway. I guess the planning will start now for the long trip to Canada who will be hosting the World Championships next time around.
It was another brilliant weekend for Chris Willies' England players