Wymondham’s Jack Pye & AJ Brown are unbeaten after the first day of action in the SMPT European Open Pairs event in Herentals, Belgium. They top Group G with four wins and a draw and have just one remaining group game to play on Sunday at 9.45am. In their opening game they beat Belgium’s Roby Vannoppen & Nico Segers 16-2 followed by a 12-6 win against Paul Verstappen & Rita Meyers also of Belgium. They faced Welsh opposition in their third game and notched up a 15-4 win against Alan Braniff & Sioned Ann Owen-Braniff. In their fourth game they played Dutch pair Eric Boelens & Fea Boelens who they beat by 12-5. In their final game of the day they were held to an 11-11 draw by Belgium’s Ronny Haegens & Marc Verzee but by this time the Norfolk pair were in total control of Group G. Their last group game on Sunday morning will be against Belgium’s Herman De Rijcke & Herman Verheist. Another England pair in great form on the first day are Craig Burgess & Mitchell Young who head Group C with five straight wins. As always Irish bowlers are in contention and looking as dangerous as ever. Robert Kidd & Lawrence McCarten top Group E with five straight wins, Stevie McCall & Jim Hendren top Group F and Joe Beattie & Sam Moore are unbeaten in Group H.
AJ Brown & Jack Pye pictured after their recent success in the Memorial Pairs