SIX Cornish bowlers made the trip to Norway for the Short Mat Players Tour Norwegian Open earlier this month, writes Nicholas Truscott.

Nigel Nicholls (Newlyn Trinity) enjoyed a strong run the competition to reach the final. Finishing second in Group 22 with seven points after a 9-9 draw against Jonathan Payne (BEL), wins against Nigel Froud (ENG) 13-5 and Jörgen Sundberg (SWE) 15-7 and a 12-7 loss to England’s defending Norwegian Open champion Peter Roberts.

In the knockout stages Nigel put together a fine run with wins against David Bråthen (NOR) 18-6, Andrew Cockcroft (IRE) 13-4, John Lax (ENG) 11-8, Arwel Morgan (WAL) 10-9 and Alex Kley (ENG) 12-10 to reach the final. Sibe Laureys (BEL) took the decider 14-9 to claim his first title, but a successful weekend for Nigel who moves back into third in the world rankings and earned a net gain of 35.25 ranking points.

Peter Hore (Holmans) picked up 10 points in Group 16 to qualify for the cup competition.

A 9-9 draw against Nigel Charles (IRE) was followed up with three successive victories against Suzanne Ekstrand Almli (SWE) 16-5, Monika Borgö (SWE) 16-9 and Leo Algepeus (SWE) 17-7. In the first round of the knockouts, Peter came up against Stephen Gale (IOM) losing 11-5. Peter moved up four places in the world rankings with a net gain of 31.5 points.

Steve Smith (Holmans) was drawn in Group 15 where he lost his opening three games against Fredrik Larsson (SWE) 9-8, Stephen Gale (IOM) 15-7 and Nathan Haire (IRE) 15-4.

Saturday concluded with a 10-9 success against Gunnar Frantzen (NOR) and a big 21-5 win on Sunday morning against Håkan Karlsson (SWE) saw Steve through to the Plate competition. A win against Leo Algepeus (SWE) 13-5 was followed up by a 13-5 defeat to Shaun Morley (ENG). Steve drops nine places in the world rankings after a net five-point loss.

David Studden (Holmans) was drawn in Group 21 where he started the weekend with a 11-6 defeat to Thore Amundsen (NOR).

Wins followed against Christoffer Rugg-Hegg (NOR) 14-4, Øyvind Asdal Grindbakken (NOR) 12-9 and Anja Ehmke Jeremiassen (NOR) 9-8. On Sunday morning a 10-9 loss to David Bråthen (NOR) left David in the Plate competition. A win against Nigel Fround (ENG) 12-9) was followed by a 12-11 defeat to Sweden’s Mikael Larsson. David drops 13 places in the rankings after a net loss of 35.5 points.

Elise Daniell (Holmans) was in Group 23 and started with three losses to Anne Lene Nilsen (NOR) 14-3, Andrew Cockcroft (IRE) 13-6 and Tommi Carlsson (SWE) 15-8.

Saturday ended with an 11-8 win against Kerstin Eriksson (SWE) and a win against Mariann Kristoffersen (NOR) 15-3 were enough to take Elise through to the Plate competition. A win against Willy Fredriksson (SWE) 15-7 was followed by a 16-3 defeat to Peter Roberts. Elise drops three places in the rankings after a net loss of two points.

Ian Crossett (Saltash Kernow) was drawn in Group 25 where only one point came his way from the five games with losses to Eroll Morina (SWE) 15-7, Thomas Coles (ENG) 10-7, Tom Erik Johnsen (NOR) 18-5, James Pickthall (SCO) 15-6 on Saturday. A 11-11 draw on Sunday morning against Norway’s Robin Jensen left Ian in the Shield competition where he put together a run to the final.

Wins came against Katie Steele (BEL) 17-8, Nico Segers (BEL) 13-9, Åke Almli (SWE) 17-9, Conny Svensson (SWE) 10-9 and Sven Johansson (SWE) 12-4. In the final Ian met Kate Morgan (WAL) losing 12-4. Ian added 16 points to his total to move up 21 places overall.