Warwickshire V Northamptonshire
May 20th
This was a game that Warwickshire’s Men's teams needed to win if they were to pose any serious threat of winning the regional title, but the side was slightly under strength due to the absence of Surinder Singh and “The Great” Chicken Randle.
Warwickshire A won the first section 6-5, but lost their way somewhat in the 2nd section losing 4-7 to give Northants a 12-10 lead.
Another close section saw Northants just nick it 6-5 to enter the final section 18-15 in front, but the match was still within Wark’s grasp ……. Until Northants won the first 5 frames to go 22-15 in front, The Mank pulled one back for Warks only to see Northants bag the match winner in the very next frame.
The final score was 18-26 to Northants.
Both Lee Steptoe and Paul Mason got 4 out of 4 with the Man of the Match trophy being awarded to MACE and there was a commendable 3 out of 4 from Knighty.
Team: Paul Willis, Martin Kirby, Mark Chapman, Ian Jones, Keith Garner, Karl Knight, Lee Steptoe, Nige Griffiths, Roger Hunt, Paul Mason, Baz Hinde and Scott Hislop.
Warwickshire B were missing a couple of players namely, Sam Mills, the Vard, Benji and Ponty, but they began well against Northants B by winning the first section 6-5. However, things started to go downhill from there on as the lost both the 2nd and 3rd sections 8-3 and 7-4 respectively to see Northants go into the final section with a 20 – 13 lead.
Warks rallied round and pulled it back to 17-20, Northants made it 17-21, Warks won the next 2 to make it 19-21 only to see Northants ensure themselves of a draw by making it 19 – 22.
The
England U21 duo of Rob Butterworth and Ben Gilbey pulled it back to 21-22, but
Andy West lost out in the final frame as Northants won 23-21.
Martin Tonks and Dave Easson both got 3 out of 4 with Dave being awarded the man of the match trophy.
Team: Mark Winham, Dave Easson, Russ Blinco, Martin Tonks, Aaron Easson, Jason Page, Dave Collins, John Martin, Rob Butterworth, Andy West and Ben Gilbey.
Warwickshire Ladies were still searching for that first win of the season and for the first time this century, they had reserves!
Wendy Forde won the first frame ….. and that was the only time the Girls were in front for the rest of the match!
They lost the first section 4 – 7 and lost the 2nd section 3 – 8 to give Northants a 7 – 15 advantage. At this stage Cat Jarvis, Lorna Kernaghan and Katie Taylor made way for Tor Andrews, Charlie Scarff and Trina Masterson. The changes seemed to make slight difference as Warks only lost that section 5 – 6, but this left Northants needing only 2 more frames from the last 11 to win the match, which they did with relative ease by winning the final section 4 – 7 to give them an overall score of 28 – 16.
Notable performances from Kirsty Campbell and Claire Quinney who both won 3 out of 4, Claire getting the player of the match trophy, and a special mention for Charlie Scarff who won 2 out of 2 on her debut.
Team: Wendy Forde, Liz Cheetham, Sheelagh Williams, Cat Jarvis, Lorna Kernaghan, Tor Andrews, Charlie Scarff, Trina Masterson, Kirsty Campbell, Claire Quinney, Sara Brennan, Ali Wilkins, Katie Bonham and Katie Taylor.
