Hinckley edge the first round of the interleague competition

UNUSUALLY the Hinckley Air Rifle League’s week began on Tuesday night as eight of the league’s top shooters, led by their captain Glen Dainter, made the journey to Bedworth Ex Servicemen’s Club for the first round of this season’s Interleague competition.

For this fixture each member of the team are drawn against one from the opposition, shooting at the same time, with the intention of beating their opponent’s score in order to win points for their side; two for a win, one for a draw, and none for a loss. To even out any slight differences in target difficulty each pair shoots twice, swapping targets, so this gives a total point tally of 32 or a winning target of 17.

There was little to choose between the first four pairs on; Bedworth’s Tom Williams and Glen Dainter both scored 28s to share the first points; Andrew Cryer beat Phil Hood by 30-28 to give Bedworth the lead; Todd Astill maintained that lead as he and Paul Huddlestone both scored 29s; but Hinckley drew level in the match thanks to John Bray’s 29-28 defeat of Linda Metcalfe. However the complexion of the matched changed radically after this with Bedworth opening up a commanding lead thanks to Jon Storer beating Leigh Hall by 28-27; James Bend beating Pete Finney by 29-28; and Bill Bend outscoring Darren Hicks by 30-29. Hinckley pulled back a little thanks to a Chris Sills 28-27 win over Klaus Baker but this still left Bedworth with a 10-6 advantage over their guests.

Glen Dainter managed to reduce Hinckley’s deficit by beating Tom Williams by 30-28 but Andrew Cryer took Bedworth’s lead back to four thanks to his 30-28 win over Phil Hood. Todd Astill and Paul Huddlestone each scored 30s to leave the differential unchanged but John Bray brought Hinckley as he once again beat Linda Metcalfe by 29-28. Leigh Hall’s 30-29 defeat of Jon Storer brought the teams level for the first time since early in the first half but James Bend’s 30-27 win over Pete Finney nosed the home team ahead once more. Sadly for them Darren Hicks brought the teams level once again as he beat Bill Bend by 30-29 and Chris Sills closed out a tense match with a 29-27 defeat of Klaus Baker to take Hinckley ahead for the first time in the match, the final scores finishing on 17-15 in Hinckley’s favour.

Thursday night saw the Hinckley league return to its normal routine with the eleventh week of regular competition, with the closest finish of the coming at the Greyhound where the Hounds played host to Ashby Road. When these teams first met Ashby Road won by an embarrassingly large margin but that was almost exclusively due to the Hounds having just four; with a team of ten Hounds the story was very different. The visitors shot first and had a decent first half that started with Alison Finney’s 26 and went on to Innes Droomer’s 27 before Seamus Moore closed with his 29 but this was matched almost shot for shot by a Hounds first half that opened with the 27s of Lee Foskett and Callum Garner, and closed with Roy Pritchard’s 28. Ashby Road’s second half improved a little on the first with 26s from Chris Rose and Lorraine White; Bertie Bugden’s 28; and the 29s of David White and Pete Finney taking them to 194 in the regular match and 13 points in the Bernard Yates Trophy match. A trio of 27s from Richard Greene, Leanne Simpson and Chris Allen weren’t enough to give the Hounds’ final shooter the opportunity of winning the regular match but Paul Huddlestone went on knowing that a 30 would give his team a deserved win in the point competition. Fortunately his many years of experience stood him in good stead, each shot ringing the bell, to take the team’s scores to 193 and 14 points.

There were several good performances from Ashby Road ‘B’ in their match against the visiting Trojans, particularly the 29s of Martyn Wood and Jon Storer; Mike Sansome’s 28; and Neil Price’s 27 but unfortunately the supporting scores were much less satisfactory and they set their title-chasing guests inadequate targets of 181 and 7 points. Unsurprisingly the Trojans beat both of these comfortably, finishing on 200 and 13 points thanks to the 30s of Phil Hood and Chris Sills; the 29s of Leigh Hall and Mark Smith; Rob Forman’s 28; the 27s of Dave Brown and Will Chambers; and Rebecca Horsler’s 26.

Taylor & Ayre’s trip to the New Plough Inn demonstrated that, when at close to full strength, they are still a force to be reckoned with. Giles Headley and Darren Hicks were joint top scorers for them, scoring 30 apiece; Phil Steele and Paul Griffin contributed 29s; a 28 came from Alison Smith; and the notable scores were rounded out by the 27s of Alyson Steele, John Orton and Steve Vincent. The New Plough response to T&A’s totals of 200 and 13 points went reasonably well, but not well enough, their 190 and 8 point totals including Nigel Hill’s 30; the 28s of Darren Statham and John Bray; Steve Reynold’s 27; and the 26s of Daniel Lakin and Paul Barwell.

Neither team in the encounter between Smallshaws and Bedworth Ex Servicemen’s Club excelled in the point match, finishing as it did with both teams on 6 points, but the visitors did reasonably well in the regular match. The home side shot first but a mixed bag of scores topped by the 28s of Tom Williams and Jackie West supported by Bob West’s 27 and Bob Wainwright’s 26 took them to a meagre 183 total. The reply from Bedworth was much more consistent with the 29s of Mick Cryer, Andrew Cryer, James Bend and Bill Bend; Jackie Bend’s 28; and Klaus Baker’s 26 helping them to their 193 team score.

Lee Johnson’s 26 gave the Sporting Lions a relatively slow start to their match at Hinckley Phoenix but the team quickly improved as Todd Astill’s 30 was followed by a trio of 28s from Glen Dainter, Jeanette Mulkeirins and Karl Bunting, and whilst their second half couldn’t maintain this consistency a 29 from Melanie Jenkins and Mollie Harris’ closing 26 were enough for them to set their hosts challenging totals of 195 and 9 points. The first of these proved to be beyond Phoenix’s capabilities on this occasion as they finished five short with a 190 total that included the 29s of Barry Wright and Karen Bown; the 27s of Tony Overton, Luke Bown and Geoff Herbert; and the 26 of Samantha Haskins. However the Lions’ Yates Trophy total proved to be insufficient as Phoenix finished two ahead on 11 points.