A Pembrokeshire quartet has recently been crowned as new Welsh Short Mat Bowls champions in the fours competition after beating off strong opposition from other Welsh regions and their home county in the finals at Llandrindod Wells.

Mark Thorpe (lead), Simon Lewis (second), Marley Hughes (third) and Sean Hughes (skip) fended off the challenge of fours from Montgomery in both the semi-final and final – and will now go on to represent their country in the British Isles Finals.

It was very much a family occasion, Mark excepted, because Marley is the father of Sean, whilst Simon is his son-in-law, having married Marley’s daughter Kate!

The four were all the more delighted because they went into the tournament as underdogs qualified in third place from Pembrokeshire behind other fours skipped by Andrew Hudson and Andrew Evans but they used their wealth of experience to good effect since Marley is a former Welsh captain and regular for many years, Sean is also currently involved, Mark has represented Wales’ B’ and Simon is just back on the scene after playing for Wales a few years ago!

They joined three other teams in their round-robin format for the early rounds and qualified for the quarter finals, despite losing out to a Swansea team comprising three ladies and one man, because of their excellent shots differential which saw them win their other games 21-4 and 12-1.

They beat another Swansea-based four in the quarter-finals and eased through a very tight semi-final by dint of the fact that with the teams level Marley produced a terrific shot that saw the jack end in the ditch with his wood resting it, making any attempt to beat it impossible!

The final was a tense affair but the hours of practice put in on Friday evenings at The Meads Leisure Centre in Milford Haven paid off and Mark, Simon, Marley and Sean are worthy Welsh Short mat Bowls champions in the fours for 2016!

** Further news comes with the announcement that the four champs are now to establish a new short mat team at The Meads for the next season and are looking for new recruits to join them.

“We have been made very welcome by James Walters at The Meads,” explained Marley, “and since there are currently no short mat bowls teams in Milford Haven it would be nice to get the game under way there.

“Anyone else who would like to join us, with or without experience, is guaranteed a warm welcome before we set out in the league in September!” **