CORNWALL COUNTY SHORT MAT BOWLING ASSOCIATIONNEWS RELEASE 4th June 2023
Summer League
The Summer League competition is under way with 5 teams in each area this year.
Results to date are
West Area Results
West Area Table
East Area Results
Inter County Championship
The English Short Mat Bowling Association has announced changes to the format of the Inter County Championship for the 2023/2024 season with the Premier Team competition reverting to groups put together on a geographic basis for the round robin stage and a revised format for the knockout stages. Cornwall, Devon and Dorset are re-joined by Somerset in a South West group.
A statement on the ESMBA website sets out the reasons for change after just one year of the Premier 1 and Premier 2 format used last season. "Despite the new Premier I and Premier II being a success, the committee understands that the groups involve a lot of travelling and expenses for Counties, where in the present financial climate is probably not conclusive for a successful championship.
So for the coming season the management committee have decided to create a hybrid of what has been preserved as good in the past and the good of the Premier I and II. Therefore, for the coming season the Premier team will be reverting to more traditional geographical groups to minimise the travelling as best as possible. This will mean there will be 6 groups of 4 teams. The main difference from the past will be that the top two teams in each group will go into the Premier One knockouts and the third and fourth places will compete in the Premier Two knockouts."
Changes to the lineup of counties in the Premier competition see Shropshire moving up from the A Team competition with Worcestershire dropping down and Humberside coming into the competition.
The full lineup of counties in the Premier competition will be
Group One - Somerset, Devon, Dorset, Cornwall. Group Two - Gloucestershire, Wiltshire, Herefordshire, Avon. Group Three - Kent, Essex, Oxfordshire, Hertfordshire. Group Four - West Sussex, East Sussex, Surrey, Hampshire. Group Five - Cheshire, Humberside, Shropshire, West Midlands. Group Six - Norfolk, Suffolk, Northamptonshire, Cambridgeshire
The format of the knockout competitions will see the Premier One competition involve the top two teams in each group with eight teams going into a Preliminary round, the sixth 2nd placed teams plus two group winners. The winners of the Preliminary Round matches will join the other four group winners in the Quarter Finals. Similarly in the Premier Two eight teams will go into a Preliminary round, the sixth 4th placed teams plus two 3rd placed teams. The winners of the Preliminary Round matches will join the other four 3rd placed teams in the Quarter Finals.
The A Team competition will follow the same format as last season with Cornwall again in Group One with Devon and Dorset, Somerset have again not entered a team in A Team championship. The other groups will be made up of four teams, Group Two featuring West Midlands, Norfolk, Worcestershire and Essex. Group Three includes Kent, Surrey, Hampshire and West Sussex.
The knockout format will remain the same with the top three teams qualifying automatically for the semi finals with the second placed teams playing off for the remaining spot.
Fixtures and venues for away matches will be confirmed, together with the full county calendar in the coming weeks.
ENDS
Nicholas Truscott
Press and Promotions Officer
CCSMBA
