CHESHAM HERE WE COME

Middlesex   32     Sussex    22

Played in an excellent spirit by both teams the 10 shot winning margin does not begin to tell the whole story. Once again the players and the game play havoc with the team managers and the supporters nerves.

After what could only be called a very good team bonding evening in Crawley which consisted of a few light beverages followed by a curry the lads, all turned up in good heart the following morning to take on a strong Sussex side containing 2 current England U25 Internationals. The team was changed 30 minutes before the game with Ashley Tanner replacing Paul Reynolds who was not feeling well. I hasten to add this had nothing to do with either the beverage or curry, as Paul had an early night   

In future maybe I should tell Ashley that he is playing only 30 mins before every game, he and the other lead, Nick Edwards, both had outstanding games, ably supported by the two's. Tom Rose and Richard Southgate. Craig Hill and Lee Barber the three's both played some very telling shots at crucial times, with the two skips, Adam Richardson and Jamie Gibbs also bowling well. The team responded well to all the various situations throughout the game, again the same as the week before it was good to see them drawing themselves out of trouble rather than playing through the head.

After 5 ends Middlesex were down by 4, this was reduced to 2 after 10 ends, it was not until the 12^th end when Middlesex edged ahead for the 1^st time to lead by 3, mainly due to the 4 shots picked up by Adam Richardson’s rink. Middlesex managed to keep there noses in front over the next 6 ends, increasing the lead to 6 shots after 18 ends. The 19th end for both rinks seemed to change with every wood, with Jamie's rink picking up 1 shot and Adam's rink picking up 2, increasing the lead to 9, maybe the lads thought, "game over", but  the two Sussex England Internationals thought different, and with only one wood left each on the 20th end, Adam was 5 down and Jamie 2 down. Adam drew shot, last year he would have fired. Jamie played a yard on and tickled the jack to one of our woods, a huge sigh of relief, 11 up with two too play, both rinks played all the correct shots ensuring no big drop of shots and saw the game out. 

                                                               Rink Scores      

N. Edwards. R. Southgate. L. Barber. A. Richardson. 15-----12

A. Tanner.   T.  Rose.         C. Hill.     J. Gibbs.           17------10

The area finals will be held at Chesham on the 20th June

Teams in the play off’s are, Middlesex. I. O. W. Kent and Surrey

YOUR SUPPORT WOULD BE WELCOMED

Ray Fortune.

Under 25’s Team Manager.