DOUGLAS AND BOYER HEROICS SEE MENS TEAM THROUGH TO PROMOTION GROUP IN INTER-COUNTIES.
The mens and womens inter-county teams travelled for the first half matches to dtermine whether they play for promotion or to avoid relegation in the second half in March next year.
The mens team travelled to Boston in Lincolnshire to play the home county along with Staffordshire and Ulster. The team was Dave Barnett, Andrew Staley, Jamie Douglas, Chris Boyer and Dave Elsender.
First match was against Lincolnshire which proved to be a great start with a 4-1 win with only 16 year-old Dave Elsender losing out 3-2. Chris Boyer came back form 2-0 down to beat Richard Parsons at 4th string.
Staffordshire were the afternoon opponents, Jamie Douglas had an epic battle over 90 mins against Craig Chappell at number 3 eventually winning through 9/2 in the fifth. Dave Barnett was the only other to win beating Chris Truswell 3-0, the team eventually losing 3-2.
On Sunday it was Ulster who had won both ties comfortably on the saturday but were without there number 1 so with a win Northumbria could still sneak into the top 2 if they got 15 points from the match. This was where there were two huge comebacks from Jamie Douglas and Chris Boyer. First off was Jamie who was a little sore after his long match on the saturday. He played Ulster’s Jeremy Hastings and went 2-0 down 5/9, 7/9 , Jamie never dropped his head and rallied to win the next 2 9/3, 9/6. He now looked strong favourite to win the fifth but the Ulster man started the better and was soon at 8-4 match ball. Jamie must have saved 3 or 4 match balls on his way back to 8-8 and another when going 9-8 down but he held strong and won a great match 10/9 in the fifth.
On the other court Chris Boyer was making his own remarkable come back. He was 9/0, 9/2 and 8-2 match ball down before fighting back from this near impossible defecit to win the third 10/8. Chris then had the mental edge winning 9/7 in the fourth and an emphatic 9/0 in the fifth. These 2 comebacks meant after Dave Elsender’s 3-1 loss only one more win was needed from either Dave Barnett or Andrew Satley. Barnett got a 3-0 win over Graham Stewart at number 1 which meant 15 points and getting second place ahead of Staffs!
Great result and hopefully Northumbria mens can gain promotion next half!
| Northumbria | Vs | Lincolnshire | Vs | Staffordshire | Vs | Ulster | ||||
| 1 | Dave Barnett | bt | M.Hildred | 8/10 9/1 9/4 9/0 | bt | C.Truswell | 9/2 9/5 9/5 | bt | G.Stewart | 9/3 9/6 9/0 |
| 2 | Andrew Staley | bt | D.Hiatt | 3/9 9/3 9/1 9/3 | lt | R.Davies | 1/9 1/9 7/9 | lt | D.Ayerst | 3/9 6/9 6/9 |
| 3 | Jamie Douglas | bt | C.Martin | 9/1 9/0 9/0 | bt | C.Chappell | 4/9 9/1 9/3 6/9 9/2 | bt | J.Hastings | 5/9 7/9 9/3 9/6 10/9 |
| 4 | Chris Boyer | bt | R.Parsons | 6/9 9/10 9/4 9/4 9/2 | lt | I.Chappell | 1/9 1/9 1/9 | bt | C.O’Hare | 0/9 2/9 10/8 9/7 9/0 |
| 5 | Dave Elsender | lt | T.Smith | 10/8 9/6 4/9 5/9 4/9 | lt | R.Coska | 0/9 7/9 2/9 | lt | C.O’Kane | 5/9 9/7 3/9 5/9 |
| N bt L 4-1 (19-7) | N lt S 2-3 (6-16) | N bt U 3-2 (15-10) |
The Womens team travelled to Manchester to play Cheshire, Yorkshire and Durham & Cleveland. The team was Sarah Bowles, Emma Barnett, Kimberley Hay, Eleanor Bowles and Sara Potter.
After promotion last season it was always going to be a tough weekend for the women. The toughest match proved to be first up against Yorkshire with all players losing in a 5-0 loss. Sarah Bowles however came very close at number 1 losing despite having match points!
Second match was against Cheshire and it was a close call, the 2 juniors in the team Kim and Sara won their matches setting up a decider for Barnett at number 2 but she couldn’t manage the win and the team lost 3-2.
After the 2 losses on Saturday the team couldn’t make top 2 but still had a match against Durham & Cleveland. This also went down to the deciding tie after Sarah Bowles and Kim Hay had won their matches. Barnett this time won the decider 3-1 and the team came in 3rd in the group and will play to avoid relegation in March.
| Northumbria | Vs | Yorkshire | Vs | Cheshire | Vs | D & C | ||||
| 1 | Sarah Bowles | lt | D.Saffery | 9/2 9/0 6/9 9/10 5/9 | lt | S.Kippax | 2/9 0/9 0/9 | bt | S.Sinclair | 9/1 9/5 9/1 |
| 2 | Emma Barnett | lt | F.Moverley | 1/9 1/9 9/4 7/9 | lt | A.Clegg | 8/10 2/9 3/9 | bt | J.Gardner | 6/9 9/5 9/7 9/5 |
| 3 | Kim Hay | lt | C.Walker | 0/9 4/9 9/6 2/9 | bt | K.West | 9/3 4/9 9/2 9/5 | bt | S.Hirst | 6/9 9/7 9/6 9/1 |
| 4 | Eleanor Bowles | lt | J.Field | 2/9 4/9 3/9 | lt | R.Chadwick | 1/9 4/9 2/9 | lt | H.Sinclair | 1/9 7/9 0/9 |
| 5 | Sara Potter | lt | L.Shuttleworth | 5/9 6/9 0/9 | bt | H.Gregory | 10/8 4/ 6/9 10/9 9/0 | lt | F.Sinclair | 1/0 0/9 3/9 |
| N lt Y 0-5 | N lt C 2-3 | N bt D 3-2 |
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