In the L-Style Division One fixture between Worcestershire and Black Country it was a weekend for the Black Country ladies to quickly forget as both the ‘A’ and ’B’ finished on the wrong side of a 5-1 result.
For the ‘B’ team Sarah Tromans 3-2 win over Kim Jones was the only shing light, Sarah averaging 13.52 to take the match award, The home team had wins from Maggie Deakin, Jenny Jones, Chloe Luscott, Lynne Arnold and Jackie Mackenzie who in turn defeated Demi Bradley (3-2), Lacey Hughes (3-1), Stella Sims (3-1), Grace Angell (3-0) and Sarah-Jane Parker (3-2).
The only winner for ladies ‘A’ was Chez Allcock, who in the penultimate encounter beat Claire Dicken 3-0. Giving Worcestershire ladies ‘A’ a 4-0 lead were Steph Konya who won 3-0 against Doreen Hunt, Mandy Morgan who had a 3-1 success against Abbey Hunt, Sophie Hadley then won 3-0 aainst Kirsty Shaughnessy and Jenny Shail who won 3-1 over Heather Wright. Last on for the hosts, Zoe Jones, beat Tammy Chance 3-1 to take the score to 5-1.
The men’s ‘B’ opened up a 3-0 lead, all begun by man of the match Ian Townsend, who accounted for Matthew Heath with a 4-2 result and 28.61 average. Rhys Butler and Danny Chiswell followed up Townsend’s win by winning 4-2 and 4-1 in turn against Stewart Doughty and Roger Scrivens. Fourth on for Worcestershire was Ian Oliver, who got their first win when he beat Jake Shipley 4-0, only to see Black Country take the last two games of the half thanks to Matthew Lloyd beating Phil Rooney and Connor Whitehouse winning 4-0 against Harry Martin to put the visitors 5-1 up at the halfway stage.
The host’s second winner came in the first game of the second half, Matt Hildebrandt winning 4-0 against Mark Jones, however the win was secured as early as the ninth game for the Black Country after Rich Bowen had beaten Mark Smith 4-3 and Al Smith chalked up the winning seventh game when he won 4-3 against Paul Fackrell. Martin Greenwood took the score along to 7-3 with his 4-1 win over Alan Futcher, the last two games going to Worcestershire as Peter Wright won 4-2 against Wayne Hobday and Andy Pullen beat Sam Bissell 4-3 to put the final score at 8-4 to the Black Country.
Trailing overall 14-10 The men’s ‘A’ needed an 8-4 to secure just a draw and that was made more of a pipe-dream as the match got underway with the home side winning the first two games, Simon Power beating Aaron Colley 4-2 and Tom Garfield winning by the same margin against Alfie Busby. Michael Powell stopped the rot with his 4-3 win over Phil Whitlock and began a run of three further wins from Trev Brennan, Tom Bissell and Harry Williams. Brennan won 4-0against Lee Furneaux, Bissell beat Luke Smith 4-1 and Williams not only won 4-2 against Ant Butler but also won the man of the match award for his 29.17 average.
From 4-2 up, Black Country then went into an unassailable 6-2 lead with further wins from Steve Jones, who won 4-2 against Terence Webster and George Willetts, who had a 4-3 success against Matt Hildebrandt. A result was then not achieved until the very last game of the day as Worcestershire won three in a row, Kev Mason winning 4-0 against Dan Homer before both Dave Redding and Ian Mackenzie won 4-3 in turn against Reece Colley and Kieron Bridgwater.
A win or draw was now down to anchor men Jamie Rollinson (Black Country) and Peter Hughes, the outcome, a 7-5 win for the Black Country as Rollinson went on to win 4-1 against Hughes.
The weekend’s result was a very close 19-17 win for Worcestershire, Black Country holding on to their fifth place in the promotional table with thirty-nine points, their opponents lying in sixth position just one point behind them on thirty-eight.
—–ENDS—–
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