Halvergate made a great start to the first leg of their Norwich Cup semi-final clash with Wymondham. Mike Tate, Ray Lamb & Robbie Lamb (pictured) opened with a stunning 14-1 win against Billie Barker, Laura Hawksworth & Debbie Sparham while Mavis Squires, Jackie Smith & Keith Cooke beat Hayley Stratton, Melvyn Barker & Chris Mann by 8-6. In the pairs England Under 21 bowler Ryan Fox (pictured) was named as skip with the talented Josh Baxter making an all too rare appearance. Their first game saw them narrowly defeat the Wymondham pair of John Jeffery & Jon Sparham by 7-5. Halvergate’s other pairing of Donna & David Lamb were held to a 6-6 draw by Roger Steele & Jack Pye leaving Halvergate 7-1 up on points at the halfway stage. Wymondham hit back hard after the break with Chris Mann’s triple cruising to an 18-0 win against Robbie Lamb’s triple while a 9-6 win for Debbie Sparham’s triple against Keith Cooke’s triple cut the deficit to just 7-5 on points. This was a severe set-back for Halvergate who after their superb first half had dreamed of taking a huge lead to Wymondham for the second leg on Monday night. The final session of pairs though restored their six point lead as young Ryan Fox skipped his pair to an 8-4 win against Jack Pye’s pair while David Lamb’s pair beat Jon Sparham’s pairing by 7-5. Halvergate will want to make a good start on Monday night in the second leg at Wymondham and will hope that the 11-5 point’s lead they have established will prove to be enough. Wymondham’s home record since switching to the North Wymondham venue earlier in the season has been phenomenal, they have only dropped two points there, and this knowledge will fill the home side with confidence that they can collect the twelve points they require to reach another Norwich Cup Final.
