Norfolk Premier played their opening I.C.C fixture in Suffolk at Meadlands IBC where they played both their away and home games in a double fixture. This was due to Norfolk’s Hingham venue being unavailable. For Suffolk it was a step back to days gone by with the new I.C.C system moving them back up to the Inter-County Championship Premier section. I can remember back in the day, before Suffolk were placed in the “A” section, when games against Norfolk Premier often resulted in huge defeats. There was a definitely a feeling of deja vu as Suffolk, try as they may, could not handle the sheer power of Norfolk’s Premier team. Despite home advantage Suffolk slipped to a 34-6 points defeat in their home match with Norfolk collecting maximum points in all the singles, triples & fours games. Norfolk singles players Chris Mann & Trevor Brown of Wymondham collected a total of 82 shots against Suffolk’s 28. The four of Simon Warnes, Jack Gray, Simon Willies & David Lamb won by 22-4 & 24-5 while Ryan Fox, Robbie Lamb, Keith Cooke & Jason Woods won by 16-3 & 22-2. The triples were also flying as Jack Marshall, Morgan Warnes & AJ Brown won 19-5 & 28-7 and Kerry Greenacre, Chris Willies & Jon Sparham won 13-5 & 13-7. The only points picked up by Suffolk were in the pairs where Wymondham’s Debbie Sparham & Jack Pye slipped to two defeats but Neil Davidson & Gary Best won their games by 13-8 & 18-12. The Norfolk home match on Suffolk’s mats produced an even bigger win of 38-2 on points where once again Norfolk’s singles, triples & fours won all their games. Jason Woods’ rink won by 29-1 & 22-4 and David Lamb’s rink won by 12-6 & 11-8. AJ Brown’s triple won 18-3 & 24-3 and Jon Sparham’s triple won 14-11 & 18-6. In the singles Chris Mann won his games by 21-4 & 15-13 and Trevor Brown won both his games by 13-11. In the pairs Neil Davidson & Gary Best won by 17-4 & 14-9. Debbie Sparham & Jack Pye lost their opening game 13-7 but won their second game by 14-5. Norfolk Premier’s next game is against Cambridgeshire at Hingham on Sunday 5th November, Cambs also face the prospect of playing in the Premier section. Norfolk “A” play at home to West Mids “A” on the same day, this will be their first match of the season after Worcs pulled out of their planned fixture at Bridgmans IBC when they could not field enough players.
Four wins for Norfolk's singles ace Chris Mann in Suffolk