THE South Pembrokeshire Short Mat Bowls Association successfully hosted its annual ‘Pick a Team’ competition on Saturday, 3 October, delivering a day of friendly and competitive bowling at the Heatherton World of Activities.

The unique format of the open-draw tournament brought together players from various local clubs, forming 11 mixed triples teams.

This setup guaranteed that every trio consisted of competitors from different clubs within the league, fostering a unique blend of camaraderie and fierce competition.

Hotshots, the losing finalists
Hotshots, the losing finalists (South Pembrokeshire Short Mat Bowls Association)

The 11 triples were split into two round-robin qualifying groups—one of six teams and one of five.

Following the group stage, the top two teams from each group went onto play in the knockout semi-finals.

Ultimately, the championship match came down to a battle between the Hotshots and the Woodpeckers.

In a nail-biting final that went down to the wire the Woodpeckers held their nerve to secure the title by a single point, winning by 7 shots to 6.

The champions representing the Woodpeckers were Richard Walker (Hundleton), Andrew McClean (East Williamston and Steve Davies (St Twynnells).

The losing finalists representing the Hotshots were Norman Hogg (St Johns), Mark Awcock (Badgers) and Peggy Prout (St Twynnells).

The South Pembrokeshire Short Mat Bowls Association extends its congratulations to the winners, final opponents, and all league competitors who contributed to making this year's Pick a Team’ event a great success.

Short Mat Bowls is very similar to the long mat or outdoor versions of the game, however, as you may notice from the name, the mats are considerably shorter, they have a 'Block' in the centre of the mat and other rules to make this game more skilful.