Polegrove aces reach national final

Lorraine Hume, Mary Williams and Denise Hodd were runners-up in the Bowls England Women’s National Triples Championship at Royal Leamington Spa.

The Polegrove triple started off by beating Derbyshire 28-7 and went on to defeat Durham 22-12 later the same day to progress to the next round the following morning.

Polegrove were expecting a tough game against a strong Buckinghamshire team, but they all played well and had a great 20-8 win to set up a quarter-final against a Worcestershire outfit containing two internationals.

That proved to be a much tougher game which went right to the wire. The scores were level after 18 ends, but Polegrove won the extra end to put them into the semi-finals the next day.

The semi-final was against Suffolk, who were skipped by junior international and indoor bowls world champion Katherine Rednall, but the Polegrove ladies kept their cool and picked up seven shots over the last few ends to earn an 18-14 victory.

That put them through to the first ever all-Sussex final against the Worthing-based Homefield Park Bowls Club team of Helen Jones, international Lorraine Kuhler and Commonwealth Games gold medallist Sian Honnor, and what a final it was.

Polegrove got off to a shaky start and found themselves 7-0 down after three ends, but they kept plugging away to narrow the deficit and picked up four shots to lead 16-14 after 16 ends.

A one gave Polegrove a three-shot lead going into the last end, but with one wood to be bowled, Polegrove were a likely three shots down. The experienced Honnor drew her wood in to give the West Sussex team a one-shot victory.

The Polegrove ladies were presented with the runners-up cup and cheque, and were extremely proud of their achievements.