Struggling Cheshire sunk by rivals
THE latest round of county parks action paired Cheshire with Greater Manchester in a local derby.
The Cheshire home leg was played on a very rough surface at The Bungalow on Hardcastle Road.
The green is notorious for being one of the craziest in the town so the home side were slight favourites.
Ian Cranston was Cheshire’s only winner of the first wave with GM winning three tight matches.
The big win for Cheshire on the day was provided by Gary Timlin who coasted home 21-7. GM hit back hard though with Nigel Greenhalgh 21-11, Lee Fletcher 21-11 and the vastly improved Pete Smith 21-12.
Those scores tipped the balance well in favour of GM and the visitors would have been delighted with seven winners and the aggregate.
Greater Manchester’s chosen home venue was premier league green Tonge in Middleton, a very tricky surface.
It was no surprise then that GM romped to nine winners with Wayne Usher 21-8 and Nicky Brookes 21-9 boosting the aggregate scenario. Cheshire’s best winners were Neil Smith 21-7 and bang in form Mark Bennett who saw off Tottington’s Tony Mellor. The table is interesting with GM now well in touch of qualification playing group leaders Yorkshire in a thrilling finale.
Cheshire meanwhile are rooted to the bottom of the group despite showing signs of improvement.
It’s the final qualifying heats of the Navigation Open on Sunday which is always a good day out especially if the weather is fine.
The venue is on the main road in Woodley and has hot food and refreshments available.
Also starting up on Sunday 26th June is The Frank Beeley Trophy at Houldsworth Working Mens Club.
The latest qualifiers in the Master Tech sponsored Nursery Open were Dean Scarth from Sheffield and Chris Heyes from Hyde. It’s the final heat of action this Saturday and the draw is as follows: Lee Schofield v Glen Beeley, Gareth Lally v Lee Dale, Dave Read v Matt Hill, Alan Manuel v Ashley Daykin, Ged Smedley v Dave Jackson, John Brown v Gareth Gwilliam, C Hollinshead v Paul Dale, Lee Brown v Jack Dyson