Mon 5th June, Moira Manager: Rupert
After an all-Ashby event last year, it was good to see the visitors outnumbering the home players this year, with representatives from Branston, Darley Dale and Nottingham, however it was the Ashby players who dominated in the end.
Nine players took part (unfortunately the tenth player didn’t turn up) so we had a block of four and another of five, all playing all in each block, and the winners meeting in the final.
Ray Mounfield won all three of his group games, and fellow Ashby player John Picken finished runner-up with two wins.
Meanwhile, the other group went down to the wire, with Judy Crowe (Branston), Richard Sanville (Ashby) and Rupert Knapton (Ashby) all finishing on three wins, so overall hoop difference came into play. Judy was +1 but Richard and Rupert tied on +9 each! So it was decided on the result of the block game between them which Richard had won 7-4.
Richard played well in a quick final, defeating Ray 7-2. There was no trophy as it is still believed to be in the possession of last year’s winner Paul. Update: Richard now has the trophy!
In the third-place play-off, John won 7-6 against Rupert and earned a handicap reduction from 8 to 7.
The time limit for the block games was 45 minutes, with just one game timed out at 6-5.
Players:
Group 1: Ray Mounfield (Ashby, 4) 3 wins, John Picken (Ashby, 8) 2 wins, Tony Cross (Branston, 3) 1 win, Donna Hawkins (Darley Dale, 10) 0 wins
Group 2: Richard Sanville (Ashby, 6) 3 wins (+9), Rupert Knapton (Ashby, 3) 3 wins (+9), Judy Crowe (Branston, 8) 3 wins (+1), Kate Packham (Nottingham, 10) 1 win, Roy Jones (Darley Dale, 12) 0 wins
Final: Ray Mounfield 2-7 Richard Sanville