Karl beats Klaus to seal victory for visiting Hinckley side over Bedworth
THE Hinckley Air Rifle League’s matches are typically held on Thursday nights so for the week’s action to start on Tuesday could only mean that something slightly unusual was occurring.
On this occasion that “something slightly unusual” was the second leg of the annual Interleague competition, held over three legs between representative teams of the Hinckley and Bedworth leagues.
A four point win for Bedworth in the first leg meant that Hinckley’s captain, Glen Dainter, took his team to the Bedworth Ex Servicemen’s Club knowing that a positive result was needed if Hinckley were to have any chance of regaining the trophy that
Bedworth took last season. Glen took the lead for his side and got them off to a good start with a 29-28 win over Bedworth’s Jon Storer but the advantage was short lived as Bedworth’s captain, Andrew Cryer, brought the teams level with a 30-29 defeat of Giles Headley.
Jeanette Mulkeirins’ 30-29 defeat of Todd Astill re-established Hinckley’s lead and this was extended thanks to Paul Huddlestone’s 29-26 win over Linda Metcalfe and John Bray’s 29-28 defeat of Rikki Hammersley. Bedworth’s hopes were strengthened thanks to Bill Bend beating Leigh Hall by 29-28, taking them to within four points of their guests, a margin that held up to the half time break as James
Bend drew with Chris Sill, and Klaus Baker tied with Karl Bunting, all four shooters scoring 28 apiece.
Sadly, for Bedworth they were never to come that close again. Glen again beat Jon, this time by 29-27, and Giles beat Andrew by 29-28 to open up an eight point lead. Todd’s 29-29 tie with Jeanette kept Bedworth’s faint hopes alive but these were immediately dashed by Paul’s 29-26 win over Linda, the win taking them to an unassailable 17 points. Successive 29-28 wins, for John over Rikki and Leigh over Bill, took Hinckley’s score into the 20s, and whilst Bedworth stopped the rot to some extent thanks to a 29-29 tie between James and Chris, Hinckley emphasised their dominance on the night with a 28-27 victory for Karl over Klaus which took the score on the night to 24-8 in Hinckley’s favour, to set up a winner-takes-all third leg in May.
The arrival of Thursday night had Glen Dainter captaining in another important match as his Sporting Lions team faced the visiting New Plough, knowing that a win would confirm the league title. The visitors won the toss and decided to shoot first but if they’d hoped that this would enable them to pressurise the home side then those hopes were soon dashed as their first half struggled badly, their best scores being a couple of 25s. The Lions had no such problems as back-to-back 30s from Glen Dainter and Todd Astill were followed by a trio of 27s from Karl Bunting, Jeanette Mulkeirins and Peter Dainter. The Plough made a better showing after the break, their second half including John Bray’s 30, Nigel Hill’s 27, and John Orton’s 26, but neither of their totals, the 182 in the regular match or the 6 points in the Yates Trophy match, were enough as the Lions moved onto 197 and 10 points thanks to a second half consisting of Alison Smith’s 29, the 27s of Taryn Cockerill and Darren Hicks, and Melanie Jenkins’ 26.
Whilst the Sporting Lions victory may have denied the Trojans the chance of retaining their league title, they still went into their match at the home of Ashby Road ‘B’ with a very real chance of holding onto the Bernard Yates Trophy for another year. The home side’s first half seemed intent on denying them even this consolation as four of their number scored Yates Trophy points; Neil Price’s 27, Rikki Hammersley’s 28, Andrew Cryer’s 29, and Jon Storer’s 30 helping them to accumulate 5 points; but the visitors did still did slightly better as Mark Horsler’s 25, Richard Sanders’ 26, the 27s of Nigel Jackson and Rebecca Horsler, and Phil Hood’s 28 gave them 6 points.
The home side struggled after the break, adding just one more point, thanks to John Palk’s 24, and just one more noteworthy score, that being Mike Sansome’s 27, meaning that they finished on disappointing totals of 189 and 6 points. These left the way clear for comfortable wins for the visitors in both competitions, moving onto 193 in the regular match and, more importantly, 12 points in the Yates Trophy, thanks to a 30 from Chris Sills, Leigh Hall’s 29, and the 26s of Rob Forman, Mark Smith, Will Chambers and Roger Sills.
The closest match of the night was contested between Smallshaws and their guests from Hinckley Phoenix. The home side did reasonably well in the first half, thanks to Rob Wainwright’s 27, and the 26s of Chris Slimm and Michael Stephens, but the visitors did slightly better as Karen Bown scored 29, Luke Bown 28, and Samantha Haskins 26.
The situation was somewhat reversed after the break as Smallshaws outscored their guests, with Tom Williams’ 29, Simon Grewcock’s 28, and Bob West’s 27 against Barry Robinson’s 28, and the 27s of Mick Edwards and Ian Ratheram, but this wasn’t enough of an improvement to give them the win in the regular match, which finished 190-188 in Phoenix’s favour. However, there was some consolation in the Yates Trophy which finished all square, the teams scoring 12 points apiece.
The match at the Greyhound, between the Hounds and the visiting Ashby Road, was very nearly as close. The two first halves were evenly matched with the Hounds scoring an Adam Padamsey 28 and a Leanne Simpson 27, to which Ashby Road responded with Lorraine White’s 28 and Bertie Bugden’s 27.
The Hounds improved after the break with the 27s of Richard Green and Paul Griffin preceding Giles Headley’s 30 and Paul Huddlestone’s 28, and whilst Ashby Road also did better, thanks to Seamus Moore’s 29, the 28s of Alison Finney and Pete Finney, and Richard White’s 26, it wasn’t quite enough to deprive their hosts of either win as they finished one behind in the regular match, which finished 192-191, and two points short in the 12-10 Yates Trophy score line.