Melton's Izzy wins county title while Short Mat champion Alex wins again

County Under 18s Singles finalists Izzy Pymm (left) and Tegan Grewal (Photo: Emma Pymm)

Isabelle Pymm (Izzy) and Tyler King won the County Under 18s Pairs title on Saturday morning. Playing against the Leicester Pairs team, they won both sets, each of nine ends, by 8-4, scoring steadily throughout the match and always being ahead of their opposition.

On Saturday afternoon, Izzy won the County Under 18s Singles title against Tegan Grewal, from Leicester. Izzy won the first set 10-1 and the second set 9-7.

Melton & District Indoor Bowls Club (M&DIBC) are hosting the English Short Mat Bowling Association (ESMBA) championships over two weekends, from Thursday 30th March to Sunday 2nd April and Sturday 15 April to Sunday 16 April.

Short Mat Bowls World Champion Alex Kley (Photo: Sue Fleckney)

The first weekend covered four disciplines - Singles on Thursday, Pairs on Friday, Fours on Saturday and Triples on Sunday. The second weekend will cover the Under 18s final (Saturday) and the Inter-County finals (Sunday). Later in the year, the inaugural British Isles Council Ladies International Chamionships will be held at M&DIBC.

Melton’s 8-rink arena was transformed into 24 short mat playing areas. There were 64 teams in each of the knock-out sections of the competitions, requiring three rounds of fully occupied mats.

This provided a very different atmosphere from a fully occupied green in long mat bowls - in the fours, for example, there were just under 200 people on the green at the same time. Even the singles had three people on each short mat rink - two players and a marker - a total of 72 on the green.

World champion Alex Kley retained his National title in the Singles. He is also British Isles Singles champion. At just 22, Alex is a great ambassador for the sport, helping to inspire new young bowlers through the England Under 21 Academy.

Brian Baker, Coaching Director and Under 21 Manager, says that Short Mat Bowls is to Lawn Bowls as 20-20 Cricket, 5-a-side football and 7-a-side rugby are to their respective sports, offering a much faster game with total involvement by all team members, making it attractive to younger people. It has now become a “full family” sport; where grandparents used to bring along their grandchildren, the children are now involving their parents.

The ESMBA has a pro-active Under 21 Academy in England; North Somerset is trialling a Short Mat League between 6 schools in the area as part of the ESMBA Youth Programme.