Last Wednesday saw 28 matches played to round off the halfway point in our league season. 2 scheduled games didn’t take place last week, one being forfeited due to unavailability of players and the other mutually postponed because of a sad bereavement.
Of the 28 played on another fine Wednesday evening 12 ended in 4-2 wins, 8 of these being in the 10 games played in the Prem/A and B sections so quite tight contests, only one match ended in a share of the points and that was in the D section, there were 2x 5-1 results and unfortunately 12 teams were on the wrong end of a 6-0 scoreline, or put another way 12 teams secured maximum points last week!!
There were some very good individual performances and the highest accolades go to Andy Shipman playing for Harwellian B in the B section and Steve Taylor playing for the Fox Denchworth. Andy recorded the only maximum leg of the night, but his 15 dolls together with 8 from Ryan Cload couldn’t prevent Harwellian B losing 5-1 at home to the Bear and Ragged Staff as unfortunately the other 6 Harwellian players could only muster another 9 dolls between them! Steve Taylor’s 15 dolls came with 3 legs of 5 so a great effort and perhaps the closest anyone has come to a maximum for a long time and at least Steve’s contribution helped his side to a 6-0 win against the Brewery Tap.
Lots of other excellent individual and team performances to report last week. Double digit scores from Barry Townsend (12) and Chris Jenkins (11) for Croft Nomads in their 4-2 victory over Berinsfield SC A for whom Richard Jones top scored with 12 and Jack Hawkins hit his best of the season landing 9 dolls.
League leaders Abingdon Con Club were also 4-2 victors over the College Oak and both Phil Adams and Dave Dix contributed 12 apiece and Alex Chamberlain weighed with 10. For the Oak Matty Belcher top scored with 10 dolls.
Steventon Sports A beat Abingdon United A 4-2 and the Brind brothers led the way with 10 dolls for Colin and 9 for Graham.
Other results in the Premier/A section saw wins for both The Vine, their first 6-0 of the season and the Red Lion with a 4-2 result against Plum Pudding.
In the B section notable scores were recorded by Derrick Brown with 9 dolls in the WADs bar 4-2 win against The Bell A for whom Trevor Hetherington’s 3 leg scores were blob, 5, blob!
Skipper Dave Sapey top scored with 9 dolls for Abingdon Legion in their 4-2 win over the Royal Oak.
Croft Bar had their best result of the season and their captain Andy Hallett contribution of 11 dolls was a personal best as they beat Abingdon United B 6-0.
Although Fleur de Lys A went down 4-2 against The Earl of Abingdon Tim Payne’s 10 dolls were also his best of the season so far.
The C section leaders The Wheatsheaf maintained their unbeaten run, their 9th successive win and James Harvey top scored with 9. The 6-0 win for the Wheatsheaf did have some comfort for the Midget with both Harry Fryett and Simon Hamblin hitting 5 doll legs. There were 6-0 wins for the Bell B and the Earl of Abingdon B against the Boundary House and the Red Lion B respectively with Jack Wrigglesworth’s 9 dolls for the Bell and Shaun Gilsenen with 8 for the Earl top scoring.
Brewery Tap were on the wrong end of Steve Taylor’s 15 for The Fox and it means that the Tap after winning their opening 2 games of the season have now suffered 7 straight defeats!
Richard Selby led the way for College Oak B , 6-0 winners at RAL and the Prince of Wales came away from Hagbourne 4-2 winners with Helen Harris topping the scoring for the Prince outscoring and earning bragging rights over her “old man” and captain Dave for the second successive week!
In the E section there was also some good individual scoring with Paul Brewerton, Gareth Thomas, Nick Hill and Richard Bunce all hitting 9 dolls for their teams but Richard and Gareth were both on the losing side for Black Horse and Berinsfield B whilst Nick and Paul saw their sides, Crown A and Waggon & Horses returning 4-2 wins.
in the F section Ladygrove recorded their 5th successive victory, but it is still Grove RFC with another 6 point haul against Marcham Centre B who retain their place at the top of the table.
SUNDAY 6th JULY – COMPETITIONS
Sunday saw many of our individual and pairs championships take place at Abingdon United and apart from a brief, but torrential shower the weather was very kind to us on what proved to be quite a long afternoon of Aunt Sally held on two pitches. With 35 entrants for the Singles, 8 for the Captains and 8 for the Secretaries we got underway with the Pairs Competition which had 18 entries. Entries were primarily drawn from sides in the Premier and A sections, but there was also entrants from the B section and thanks to Steve Fernback and his teammates at the Fox, Boars Hill, a first with 4 players from the F section who certainly did themselves proud on the day!
We are pleased to say that of the entries there were only 2 “no shows” on the day and 2 withdrawals in advance because of holidays and self inflicted injury!
There was some excellent performances throughout the afternoon and none other than Alex Chamberlain’s superb double maximum in the pairs which left his partner Paul Barrett not needing to throw!
The Captains and Secretaries had a limited entry and a number of nominated reserves were forced into action, but the finalists on the day were David Sapey, Captain of Abingdon RBL and Scott Humphries, of Abingdon Conservative Club SC A and they will meet in the final on Wednesday September 10th, when all of the finals other than the Singles and Pairs will be played.
The Secretaries final to be played on the same night will be between Geoff Lee of Berinsfield SC A and Colin Brind of Steventon Sports SC A.
The Pairs and the Singles were played down to the semi finals and they, together with the finals, will as is the practice be played on Presentation Night which is due to take place on Friday October 10th.
The successful pairs who progressed on Sunday are Paul Barrett and Alex Chamberlain, Ken Fisher and Phil Adams both representing Abingdon Conservative Club, Paul Longford and Terry Downes, Plum Pudding and John Pownceby and Matt Dingle from The Vine.
The singles 4 players who reached the semi finals after a long afternoon were Stuart Wilson, (Berinsfield SC A), David Sapey, (Abingdon RBL), Phil Adams, (Abingdon Conservative Club) and Matt Dingle (The Vine).
The draws for the semi finals will take place on the Presentation Night.
Congratulations to all those winners on the day and particularly to those who have progressed to the final stage of the Competitions. Furthermore thank you to all of those who took part, winners and losers alike, and to all of the teams who provided the participants!!
These Competitions are an important part of our season and it was very encouraging to have sufficient numbers to make all of them competitive.
Thanks to Claire, Paul, Tosh and Brian Clapton for all of their commitment help before, during and afterwards and to Mick James (Moffy) who prepared all of the dolls used.
Thanks also to Abingdon United and to the bar staff for supporting the day and for providing both liquid and food sustinence throughout the afternoon, early evening well at least until the pumps ran dry which luckily co-incided with the end of play!
The next round of Competitions involve the Team 3’s and 4’s which will be held on Thursday July 17th at the Croft Bar details of registration and start times will be sent to all entrants in the next couple of days.
[If you have any feedback on Sunday’s competitions please email Team Support.]
