We are delighted to confirm the following fixtures to be played on our Show Mat at next Saturday’s opening day of the 2019 Power Porsgrunn Norwegian Open. As well as our usual Facebook Live coverage we’ll be bringing you four matches covered by the professional production company Huldra Film. This includes multi camera action, replays, live commentary and interviews. We’ll be showing four matches on Saturday (see below) and another four on Sunday as we bring you the concluding action from Skien which of course will incorporate the Final. We will, as usual, still bring you live, end by end scores of every show mat game and updates on all matches via our dedicated live feed page on our website. Sunday morning’s Show Mat line up will be announced on Saturday evening via our Facebook page.
You can access all tournament information over the weekend by visiting our website www.shortmatplayerstour.com and then click on the Norwegian Open Live page.
All live streamed matches will be shown via our Facebook Live channel. To access this service, simply search Short Mat Players Tour on Facebook and ‘Like’ our page. To make sure you don’t miss out on the live action, make sure you enable notifications for our page and then you will be notified immediately when we go LIVE!
As an added bonus, everyone who shares any of our live streamed broadcasts over the weekend will be placed in to a draw to win their very own SMPT Raptor bowls top courtesy of our clothing partner BowlsTrader.co.uk
Let’s take a look at the fixtures for Saturday.
09.00 | (7) Stephen Proctor (Eng) vs (21) Pauline Beattie (Ire) | Head-to-head
We kick off the event with an absolute cracker! Former World No 1 Stephen will be looking to repeat his group victory over Pauline from 12 months ago. Both have plenty of experience playing on the show mat and we expect Pauline to fight hard to make the head to head score 1-1. We can’t wait for this one!
09.50 | (108) Ian Ford (Eng) vs (194) Lars Hansen (Swe) | Head-to-head
An intriguing match here as we see England’s Ian Ford face off against former European Masters Semi-Finalist and recent Swedish Singles winner at the event in Borgholm. Lars is back from a recent layoff from bowls and will be keen to get back to the form that saw him almost break in to the World’s top 25. A tough match however if Ian shows the form he’s very capable of.
10.40 | (256) Bill Burn (Eng) vs (194) Kjetil Grønseth (Nor) | Head-to-head
Our third match of the day sees current English National Pairs Champion, Bill, take on 2-time Norwegian National Champion Kjetil. Both players are keen to improve their ranking and this vital match could be pivotal in deciding an evenly contested group 23.
11.30 | (227) Gary Moore (Ire) vs (5) Joel Häger (Swe) | Head-to-head
This is the second meeting between these two players and the first for 4 years. Joel prevailed on the previous occasion with a 14-5 win over Gary in the 2015 European Masters Final. Gary, who has been as high as 14 in the rankings, will want to exact revenge this time around but will find it tough against the machine from Sweden.
12.20 | (44) Elise Daniell (Eng) vs (353) Anne Lene Nilsen (Nor) | Head-to-head
Our second England v Norway clash of the day sees World No44 Elise take on Anne Lene who makes her 5th tournament appearance. Elise will be favourite to top group 13 and Anne Lene will be buoyed by notable victories in this tournament last year over Lars Hansen and Christer Nordin. Another match to look forward to for sure.
13.10 | (11) Jack Pye (Eng) vs (24) Jonas Häger (Swe) | Head-to-head
Battle of the young guns takes centre stage in the pairs’ third meeting. It’s a 2-0 lead to Jack at this point but Jonas will be brimming with confidence following his impressive run to the Silver medal at the season opening UK Open. Jack will take heart from his impressive appearance on the show mat here 12 months ago, so another match to tight to call.
14.00 | (1) Edward Sawbridge (Eng) vs (66) Tom Erik Johnsen (Swe) | Head-to-head
World No1 Ed, is playing some great stuff at the moment and will want to be on the podium at this event. A tough match awaits though, and Tom Erik will provide stiff opposition. He has won the Grenland Bowls singles title twice so is no stranger to top singles play. Both will want to have a good chance of Cup qualification in a testing group 2.
14.50 | (10) Stephen Gale (IOM) vs (2) James Trott (Eng) | Head-to-head *LIVE STREAMING*
The first of our Live commentary matches sees World No2 and last seasons’ beaten finalist James take on World No10 Stephen. This is the 4th meeting between the two of them with Stephen edging it 2-1. Both will want to put the surprise poor performances at the last event behind them and will look to showcase their talent that has seen them consistently make the World’s top ten.
15.40 | (118) Gunnar Frantzen (Nor) vs (141) Bent Nielsen (Den) | Head-to-head
Two very closely matched players on show here, with both having valuable experience in SMPT World Cup matches. Gunnar leads the head to head 1-0 with a 10-8 win in Sweden back in 2016. This will be another crucial match from group 22 with some close games anticipated.
16.30 | (6) Nigel Nicholls (Eng) vs (8) P.J Gallagher (Ire) | Head-to-head *LIVE STREAMING*
Our second live stream of the day has two more top ten players facing off. This is their third singles meeting and second time they’ve been drawn in the same group here in Norway. P.J won that match but Nigel won their last encounter in the knockouts at this seasons UK Open. Expect rapid action from these two positive players. This match will more than likely be for top spot honours in group 3.
17.20 | (4) Jonathan Payne (Bel) vs (119) Bente Dahlgren (Swe) | Head-to-head *LIVE STREAMING*
We welcome former SMPT World No1 and two times Singles Champion Jonathan to the show mat for our third livestream of the day. He faces the talented Bente Dahlgren from Sweden who has been as high as 26 in the rankings. Head to head matches are shared at one a piece and it will be interesting to see who copes best when the cameras are on them.
18.10 | (23) Tone Bøe (Nor) vs (3) Mark Beattie (Ire) | Head-to-head *LIVE STREAMING*
We end the day with our final live stream match and a great contest between Norway No1 Tone and five times SMPT Champion Mark. This is their first meeting in SMPT singles play and Tone will be looking for a big upset. Her will and determination that is always evident will help her in her battle against the most successful player on the Tour! Mark of course will be favourite to win the group, but with some tough matches in store, Tone will want to fight for every point!