County Team | Carmarthen District Short Mat Bowls Association

County Team

The county team is selected and organised by our three County Selectors -

Aled Edwards (Pontargothi), Mark Beynon-Evans (Llanboidy) and Richard Palmer (Salem).

The three dates for the County Team to play are

• Saturday 1st November 2025 - Trial - Possibles v Probables - Bro Myrddin

• Saturday 6th December 2025 - Friendly v Cardigan - Bro Myrddin

• Saturday 7th & Sunday 8th February 2026 - County Championship - Llandrindod Wells

County Championship - Llandrindod Wells

We will be playing over 2 days against Brecon & Radnor, Cardigan, Montgomery, Pembrokeshire, Swansea, West Glamorgan and Wrexham. The format will be 5 rinks with the combined scores across all 5 mats being added to determine the overall shot difference.

The squad selected for the competition can be found below.

Rink 1

Lead: Jill Edwards (Llanpumsaint)

Second: Kieran Thomas (Llanpumsaint)

Third: Rhys Evans (Pontargothi)

Skip: Aled Edwards (Pontargothi)

Rink 2

Lead: Siwan James (Pontargothi)

Second: Osian Matthews (Salem)

Third: Ethan Jones (Salem)

Skip: Cennydd Howell (Pontargothi)

Rink 3

Lead: Lynda James (Pontargothi)

Second: Alun Jones (Bronwydd)

Third: Richard Palmer (Salem)

Skip: Mark Beynon-Evans (Llanboidy)

Rink 4

Lead: Debs Matthews (Salem)

Second: Elin Palmer (Salem)

Third: Andrew Williams (Llanpumsaint)

Skip: Gavin Matthews (Salem)

Rink 5

Lead: Alun James (Pontargothi)

Second: Dafydd Rees (Bronwydd)

Third: Gethin Edwards (Pontargothi)

Skip: Dafydd Howell (Pontargothi)

Reserve: Sylvia Jones (Bronwydd)

2026 County Championship Report

The 2026 County Championships started well for Carmarthenshire with all 5 rinks winning their matches to have an overall 79-16 win against Wrexham.

The second match of the day was against West Glamorgan. Who had just beaten the reigning champions Pembrokeshire in their opening match. With 3 wins, 1 draw and 1 loss against West Glamorgan, we registered our second win of the day 43-38.

After lunch, Carmarthenshire played Brecon & Radnor with 4 out of 5 rinks winning to have an overall win of 62-39.

The final game of the day was against reigning champions Pembrokeshire, who had already registered two losses during the day and were aiming for a strong finish to the day. Carmarthenshire won 3 rinks and lost 2, but with one heavy loss of 19-2, Pembrokeshire were the overall winners of the match winning by 6 shots, 47-41.

With other results going in Carmarthenshire’s favour on Saturday, we were in a strong position going into the final day of games.

The first game on Sunday was against Cardigan where 4 out of 5 rinks won to have an overall win of 57-28.

The second game of Sunday and the penultimate game of the competition was against Montgomery. With both counties vying for the overall win in the competition, it was a tense match. Carmarthenshire only winning 1 rink, meant that Montgomery won 44-35. Montgomery now clear at the top of the standings with only Brecon & Radnor to play were effectively guaranteed the title.

The final game of the competition was another important one as Swansea who were sitting comfortable at the top of the table had just lost against West Glamorgan meaning that Carmarthenshire v Swansea would be for the runner-up spot in the table. Carmarthenshire won two out of the five of the rinks against Swansea, with a huge 24-5 win for Cennydd Howell’s rink meant that Carmarthenshire won 53-43 overall to take second place in the table.

The final standings were

Montgomery 12 Points +169 Shots
Carmarthenshire 10 Points +115 Shots
West Glamorgan 10 Points +104 Shots
Swansea 10 Points +44 Shots
Pembrokeshire 8 Points +120 Shots
Cardigan 4 Points -87 Shots
Brecon & Radnor 2 Points -205 Shots
Wrexham 0 Points -260 Shots

2025 County Championship Report

The County Team had a very strong weekend at Llandrindod with the 4 new caps intergrating well with the experienced players in the team.

As there were 7 counties entered each county would have a bye round and Carmarthenshire's bye round happend to be the first round.

In the second round we faced Cardigan where 4 out of our 5 rinks won with a shot difference of +43.

In the third round we faced current champions Pembrokeshire, where a number of close games saw us win 2 rinks, draw 1 and loose 2 with a shot difference of +5 which was enough to secure victory.

The fourth and final round on Saturday was against West Glamorgan, where despite winning 4 out of 5 rinks, one heavy loss for one rink saw us lose overall with a final shot difference of -2.

The fifth round (first on Sunday) was against a strong Swansea side on paper, but saw us win 2 rinks, draw 2 rinks and lose 1 rink to have a shot difference of +8.

The sixth round we faced Brecon & Radnor, winning 4 out of 5 rinks with a shot difference of +35.

The final round of the event, had us with a strong chance of winning the event overall with victory over Montgomery enough to clinch the title for the first time.

Unfortunately, winning only 1 rink, drawing 2 and losing 2 rinks saw us fall agonisingly short with a final shot difference of -5 shots.

The final standings were

1st Pembrokeshire - 10 Points - +92 Shots

2nd West Glamorgan - 10 Points - +70 Shots

3rd Carmarthenshire - 8 Points - +84 Shots

The County Team at Llandrindod Wells in their new shirts.

Kindly sponsored by Davies & Davies Furniture and Castell Howell. Supplied by Bowls Kingdom.