Young guns are bloomin’ great in the White Rose
WARWICKSHIRE’S Juniors travelled down to Frampton on Severn to face Somerset in the preliminary round of the White Rose Trophy, the competition they were runners-up in last year.
A good performance saw the Bears win on both rinks to book their place in the regional finals.
Representing Warwickshire were Ewan Mason (Rugby), Aiden Maries (Avenue Leamington), Harry Smith (Nuneaton) and Jordan Ward (Rugby), while the other rink contained Tom Wheeler (Rugby), Sam Shuttleworth (Whitnash), Dan Ellicott and Mark Smith (both Avenue Leamington).
Smith and co recovered from dropping two doubles to lead by five with six ends played. Ward’s rink had a better start but were pegged back to a two shot lead after eight ends. A good spell for Somerset saw them clear their deficit against Smith and then build a three shot lead with twelve ends gone. Ward however built upon his advantage to lead by eight also on twelve ends, the bears up by five with just over half the game gone.
Both rinks finished strong – Ward’s rink ended up 21-13 winners, Smith and co reached 23-15 on 20 ends before Somerset conceded, the Bears through 44-28 to face Gloucestershire in the regional semi-final.
After a spell as a straight knockout competition the Middleton Cup returned to a round robin league and the Bears crossed the border to travel to
Hewell BC to face Worcestershire in their opening game. Unfortunately the hosts had the better of the day and the Bears lost 105-124, gaining only three points.
William Hemming (Welford), Harry Smith (Nuneaton), Jordan Ward (Rugby) and Dan Box (Welford) briefly held a double figure lead but a last end four from the hosts cut the lead back, final score 23-19. Martin Hammond (Three Spires), Tom Wheeler (Rugby), Keith Wooding and Mark Ireland (Avenue Coventry) trailed early on but fought back to parity after 13 ends. With two ends to play Ireland’s rink held a four shot lead but Worcestershire levelled the score 17-17. Andy Prickett, Rob Maries, Martin Timms and Andy Walters (all Welford) led by two with two ends to play. A six for the hosts swung the game heavily in their favour and all Walters’ rink could do was half the deficit, the Bears going down 20-22. The all Avenue Leamington rink of Mark Smith, Dan Ellicott, Luke Horne and Adam Smith were all square with two ends to play. A penultimate end treble helped the hosts leaving Smith and co with a 20-22 defeat.
Bill Claridge (Royal Leamington Spa), Andy Sparkes (Avenue Leamington), Phil Green (Welford) and Tom Millership (Whitnash) couldn’t fully recover from the bad start and finished with a 15-20 loss. Ian Billington (Whitnash), Andy Manning (Nuneaton), Harry Billington and Adam Shuttleworth (both Whitnash) sunk to a seven shot deficit at the halfway stage. The hosts opened up their lead to 17 which is how it finished, final score 10-27.
A good performance saw the Bears win on both rinks to book their place in the regional finals.