Numbers thin on the ground leaving schedule decimated

WITH 10 teams competing there should be five matches every week in the Hinckley Air Rifle League - but this week Sporting Lions and Bedworth Ex Servicemen’s Club were critically short of numbers meaning that their scheduled matches with Trojans and Smallshaws respectively were postponed leaving only three matches.

The first of these saw the New Plough making the trip to Ashby Road hoping to improve on the previous week’s defeat but this looked unlikely following a first half in which Paul Barwell’s 28 was the only score of note. Ashby Road responded with a first half which started with Alison Finney’s 27, ended with David White’s 28, and contained Richard White’s 28 and Lorraine White’s 27 between. The Ploughmen improved in the second half with 26s from Nigel Hill and Mick Stocker, and 27s from John Bray and Tom Bray, but the resulting 183 total looked decidedly uncompetitive as Seamus Moore’s 27 and the closing 30 of Pete Finney took the home side’s score to 191.

Taylor & Ayre hosted Ashby Road B at Barwell Sports Bar and, having won the toss, elected to shoot first. Alyson Steele scored a 26, Dave Hollinshead found his form and the bull with all but one shot to score 29, and Giles Headley’s 28 was the only other counting score in their first half. ARB responded with a brace of 28s from Neil Price and Jon Storer, plus another of 27s from Kim Baker and Tom Middleton.

In the second half Jim Gibney’s 26, Alison Smith’s 28, Phil Steele’s 27 and Darren Hicks’ 29 gave T&A a final score of 193. For the visitors another pair of 27s, this time from Mike Sansome and Alf Shore, plus a 25 by Martyn Woods was insufficient to take the lead, leaving them four behind on 189.

The match between the Hounds and Hinckley Phoenix started well for the visitors thanks to a first half that included 29s from Barry Wright and Roxy Ratheram, Tony Overton’s 28 and the 27 of Michael Robinson.

The response from the home side start equally confidently with Andy Mitchell’s opening 29 preceding Andy Smith’s 28 but unfortunately nothing else went to plan as a target failure resulted in the match being abandoned.