It was disappointment for Norfolk Premier and Norfolk “A” yesterday as both teams suffered defeats in the semi-finals of the ESMBA Inter-County Championships. Norfolk Premier went down by 28-12 against Dorset Premier in Solihull after trailing 10-6 at the halfway stage. The pairs proved to be Norfolk's best discipline with Morgan Warnes & Gary Best winning their first game by 17-8 and Neil Davidson & Jack Pye also winning in their opening game by 14-12. Both Norfolk pairs lost in their second outing but held on to earn the two bonus points with better overall shots. In the singles Chris Willies 22-12 win in the second half was their only success while in the triples a 13-10 win for Owen Cranston, Simon Willies & Trevor Brown gained their only points in that discipline. The same applied in the fours where Norfolk won just one game of the four, a 14-12 victory for Jack Marshall, Ryan Fox, Robbie Lamb & Jason Woods.
Norfolk “A” lost by 32-8 against Kent “A” in Guildford after the first half saw them trail by 14-2. In the singles a 13-11 win for Jason Martin in the second half gained their only points in that disipline while all four pairs games were won by Kent "A". Norfolk did win two out of the four triples games with a first half 12-11 win for Billie Barker, David Blundell & George Hume and a 12-8 second half win for Tony Ottewell, Jill Townsend & Melvin Woods. Peter Harvey, Chloe Suffolk, Steve Hall & Ray Lamb delivered a 12-8 fours win in their second game.
Player-Manager Jack Pye said after the semi-finals that "they were both tough opposition" and indicated that it was a "big learning curve" in his first season as Manager but that there were "lots of positives to take" from the season.
Norfolk Player-Manager Jack Pye