The last matches for Norfolk’s county teams in the I.C.C Group stages were played at Hingham on Sunday and it proved to be another good day for County Manager Jack Pye and his players. The Norfolk Premier team continue to fly high as they destroyed Cambridgeshire 40-0 on points winning all sixteen games. Chris Mann of Wymondham made a welcome return to action winning his singles games by 15-7 & 15-11 while Hempnall’s Neil Davidson won his games 16-8 & 12-9. With a perfect result it is difficult to highlight anyone in particular of course as all the team were in tremendous form. A special mention though must be made of Elaine Willies, Chloe Suffolk, Karl Newby & Gary Best in the rinks who won their games by 27-5 & 22-6. Another high scoring result was provided by Kacy Suffolk, Morgan Warnes & AJ Brown who romped to a 23-4 win in their second game. A tremendous run of success in the group stages will have given Norfolk Premier huge confidence that this year they could go all the way. Norfolk “A” went into their match against West Mids “A” needing at least sixteen points to earn second place in their group and guarantee their progress into the knock-out rounds. It was never going to be easy against the talented West Mids “A” side but a superb performance by the rinks earned Norfolk “A” a 20-20 draw. West Mids made life difficult for Norfolk in the singles as N Bailey and S Bailey won all ten points to put Norfolk "A" under pressure. In the pairs discipline both teams won two games apiece but a 21-7 win for Mike Smail & Melvyn Barker in their second game, and a 13-5 win for Jenny Walker & Robin Amos in their first game, was enough to earn them the two bonus points. The triples were also shared with two wins apiece but West Mids edged it on shots to earn the bonus points. The Norfolk heroes of the day were the rinks who collected all ten points with four wins from four games and this proved vital to clinch Norfolk the runner-up spot in their group. Donna Lamb, Gavin Gray, Steve Hall & Ray Lamb won by 12-6 & 15-5 while Jan Smail, Joy Townsend, Jason Martin & Steven Lamb won their games by 14-11 & 16-5. A very good weekend for Norfolk with both teams going through to the knock-outs.
A great day for Norfolk Manager Jack Pye.