Norfolk Premier exited the I.C.C at Solihull IBC where they suffered a heavy defeat by Hampshire Premier in their quarter-final clash. The first session so often sets the tone for the rest of the match in knock-out I.C.C games, and in this instance it could not have gone much worse for Norfolk as they lost on all four mats to go 8-0 down. In the singles current Norfolk champion Jason Woods of Bob Carter lost 18-5 while fellow Carter bowler and England international Jamie Forster also went down by 18-7. The pairs games were less damaging shot wise but Norfolk were still unable to collect any points as Tony Ottewell & David Lamb lost by 16-9 and Kerry Greenacre & Keith Cooke lost by 17-11. The second session proved better for Norfolk as they held their ground in a shared session. Robin Amos, Robbie Lamb & Robert Howlett dominated their triples game winning by 18-5 and Donna Lamb, Mike Smail, Melvin Woods & player-manager Simon Willies won their fours game 15-11. Jean Woods, John Turner & Ryan Fox narrowly lost their triples game by 10-7 but Jenny Walker, George Hume, Jack Marshall & Bob Oatway were beaten 17-2 in the remaining fours game. The third session saw the singles and pairs back in action and needing to achieve much better results than in the first session if Norfolk were to stand any chance of progressing into the semi-finals. Unfortunately the singles again suffered two defeats as Jason Woods went down 19-10 and Jamie Forster lost by 23-7 on a day to forget for the two Bob Carter aces as Hampshire collected all ten points in that discipline. The Norfolk pairs though gained revenge for their earlier defeats as Kerry Greenacre & Keith Cooke won 13-11 and Tony Ottewell & David Lamb won by 19-8 leaving the shots level at 52-52 in their discipline and the points shared at 5 each. A minor miracle was needed in the final session if Norfolk were to save the match but any chance of gaining the maximum points, and shots needed, quickly faded away. Jean Woods, John Turner & Ryan Fox suffered a 17-5 defeat while Robin Amos, Robbie Lamb & Robert Howlett also lost by 12-10. Simon Willies' rink lost by 16-7 and it was left to Bob Oatway’s rink to collect the only points of the session for Norfolk with a 7-7 draw. The final result was 30-10 to Hampshire on points, 225-152 on shots. After the match Norfolk player-manager Simon Willies commented that there was “lots to ponder over for next season.” (please note that this article has now been amended three times following the information that the scoresheet was incorrectly filled in - could all sources supplying information to the NCSMBA Web Secretary or Assistant Web Secretary please ensure that the information is accurate)
Norfolk player-manager Simon Willies