Another chilly night last Wednesday welcomed the the 60 teams for week 2 of the “summer” season. Despite that the first sixers of the season were recorded, first up was “birthday Boy” Chris Jenkins whose second leg 6 against Steventon Sports SC A and his overall score of 10 dolls, a total shared by his teammate Ian Brook was not enough to secure any points for Croft Nomads who were defeated by an all round collective performance by the home side with captain Grahame Brind and Roy Everill sharing 9 dolls apiece leading the home side to their second successive win.
Also hitting 6 dolls in his third leg was Dean Bowler for the Red Lion A, Dean was the league’s top scorer on the night with 13 dolls as his team also secured their second successive win beating Abingdon United A 4-2 to share top spot in the A section with their neighbours from “down the road”.
There was some good scoring elsewhere and a welcome return to more familiar territory (double figures) ) for Dave Dix with 11 dolls, Paul Barrett outscored Dave on the night though with his 12 dolls, but their contribution alongside Leigh Clapton’s 11 dolls was not enough to stop last year’s Premier section Con Club falling to a second successive defeat at the Wheatsheaf. Hurry back Phil Adams I think they are saying and that can’t be soon enough for their much changed 2026 side! Despite losing 4-2 the ConClub did outscore the Wheatsheaf 56 – 54 over the 3 legs even with the newly promoted side’s 5 leg handicap advantage! In fact the game between the College Oak and Plum Pudding was only decided by a total of 4 dolls over the 3 legs, and Steventon Sports 6-0 win against the Croft was also a closer encounter than the scoreline suggests with only 7 dolls separating the sides. It does show that the handicap system does provide a basis for matches to be properly competitive and it expects us to score to our average over the season!
There were several double figure individual scores last week Berinsfield SC A maintained their impressive start to the season with an away win at Stanford in the Vale FC with 3 players for the visitors, Stuart Wilson, Richard Jones and Jack Hawkins all contributing 11 dolls apiece. The Soden’s father and son Phil playing for the College Oak A and son Steve playing in the B section for the Earl of Abingdon both hit double figures Phil with 12 dolls in a 5-1 victory against the Plum Pudding and Steve with 10 in the Earl’s, Paul Longford 10 doll contribution for the Plum Pudding. Nick Hill also scored 10 dolls for The Crown Marcham
Lots of other mentions this week from the other sections WADS B hit 49 dolls in their 6-0 defeat of the North Star in the D section, a section where The Fox, Boars Hill hit 2 legs of 19 doll in their win over The Bell A and in the E section The Crown Marcham also hit a 19 doll leg, but still went down 4-2 at home to Challow & Childrey CC. On the downside last week of the total legs played almost half of those resulted in single figure scores!
We also unfortunately had our first postponement due to one side being unable to raise a side so don’t forget you can still register additional players if you need to strengthen your side. We appreciate that some people agree to sign, but their enthusiasm sometimes falters so it’s OK to add more to try to ensure you have 8 players every week.
17 unbeaten sides across the sections some of whom have only played 1 game, but surprisingly only 2 of our 66 sides have still to register their first points of the season.
So onto week 3 and be prepared because the weather forecast is still not promising much in the way of sunshine or warmth on Wednesday!