There were national champions battles for one bowls club.

Sam Andrews of Baldock Town was representing Hertfordshire in the junior singles at Leamington Spa and had two victories, knocking out the champions of Hampshire (21-8), Sussex (21-15) and Surrey (21-20) before losing 21-16 to the Essex champ.

He then joined dad Paul and Steve Budge in the triples but they were beaten 16-15 by Northamptonshire.

Back home Baldock played Whitethorn in the SML Knockout Cup final and got a 102-38 win, their third win the last three years.

In the league itself, they beat Holwell 57-38 and on all three rinks to stay top.

Also in the SML there was a close home win for Letchworth Garden City over St  Ippolytts.

They won 51-49 and on two of the three rinks, the best of them being a 28-9 success for Sue Sinclair, Paolo Biasioli, Alan Sparkes and Haidee Castle.

Datchworth Bowls club were involved in plenty of tough battles in another busy week.

There were three Welwyn Hatfield League Division Two matches played, starting with a trip to leaders North Mymms.

That ended in a fantastic 29-22 victory with successes on both rinks.

Rachel Jones, Julian Hales and Terry Metcalf were 13-2 ahead after nine ends and despite losing the final four ends, took a 16-11 win.

Andy Short, Chris Hills and Richard Harper led 8-2 after eight ends and despite losing six of the remaining 10 ends, they hung on to win 13-11.

They continued that momentum at home to Parkside Woods, winning 51-22.

They only won on one rink though, Maureen Blunt, Keith Smith and Ian Williams doing no wrong as they romped to a 40-6 success.

They couldn't make it a clean sweep though with a 43-28 loss away to Hertford Jesters.

There was one winning rink again though, Pauline Whybrow, Ian Green and Richard Harper with a 23-12 success.

Datchworth also had two Stevenage Mixed League matches.

The first of them was a 58-35 loss at Whitethorn.

Two of the three rinks went the way of the Letchworth Garden City hosts but the third, competed on by Chris Hills, Keith Smith, Graham Akers and Steve Arnold was victorious.

They were just 13-12 in front with three ends to play but picked up a five on the 16th to eventually lose out a 19-13 success.

A home game against Stevenage Town though ended with a 51-39 win.

Again they only managed to win one rink but it was hugely significant, a 25-5 success for Maureen Blunt, Jack Harper, Keith Smith and Graham Akers.

The only other game of the week saw the ladies play St Ippolyts at home in the North Herts Women’s Bowling Association League, losing 38-30.

Both rinks lost, the closest match coming for Barbara Williams, Janet Akers and Ann Edwards

They had held a 10-4 lead after nine ends and although they picked up three wins over the last four, they still lost 17-15.

Pauline Whybrow, Jenny Holzbauer and Jan Smith built up a 14-9 lead after 13 ends but dropped six hots on the 14th, eventually losing 21-15.

The first match of the week for North Herts was away to Stevenage but resulted in a 57-46 loss.

That was despite the rink of Jeff Tebbutt, Tony Glenn and Chin Tory winning 26-15.

They were back on the road with a trip to Stotfold and although this was much closer, it still ended in defeat, a 53-52 reverse.

The top rink for North Herts was the team of Tory, John Atkinson and Malcolm Summerville, the latter skipping the trio excellently and keeping the pressure on the opposition to the very end to claim a 20-11 win.