Green selection pivotal in county clash

COUNTY action took centre stage this weekend with the traditional group stage format replaced by a covid hit knockout event.

Cheshire faced Derbyshire over two legs with a mixed bag of weather sweeping through both venues.

The home leg at Castle Sports in Northwich provided Cheshire with seven winning jacks for a resounding 222-180 score overall. Tom Vickers (21-2) and Peter Illidge (21-7) took to the conditions to put a hammer blow into the Derbyshire camp. Over at the notorious Stretton in Burton Upon-Trent the home side caused severe damage to Cheshire’s hopes.

Five heavy Derbyshire winners put the away side on the back foot on an extremely tough green.

The final score of 422-393 to Derbyshire reflects mainly on the hosts choice of green which proved pivotal in the victory.

Greater Manchester did fare better in there match with Staffordshire seeing off their opponents over the two legs with some ease for a 468-393 victory. The latest round of qualifying in the Frank Beeley Trophy at

Houldsworth WMC was also heavily hampered by a crazy Sunday of weather. In round two the evergreen Gary Ellis won a close fought game against Paul Bradley securing a 21-17 victory.

Father and Son Yorkshire duo Chris and Josh Mordue were also going along nicely reaching the final qualifier.

The final match saw son Josh pull off a mini shock and elminate Gary Ellis by three chalks to win 21-18.

Chris didn’t miss out on his final night spot also winning by three against Oldham based player Dale Kenyon. In the Stockport and District league Grapes Hotel suffered a setback in their hunt for the league title with defeat at George and Dragon.

The Hyde derby was tilted by Colin Leishman (21-4) and Chris Haynes (21-6) who ensured the hosts never looked back to win the match 10-4.5.

Elsewhere, Poynton Sports continued there impressive start to the season with a polished 9-6 home victory against New Mills.

The league’s bottom two sides also met with Houldsworth (2) sweeping aside LMRCA with ease securing nine winners and the aggregate.