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Suffolk
Triples |
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25 teams entered this year’s
Triples. They played across 5 groups, with the winners going
straight through to the Quarter Finals, where they would be joined
by the winners from the Preliminary Round, which would consist
of the 5 group runners-up, and the best 3rd placed team.
Group 1 was won by Barking/Gt Blakenham,
who got a maximum 4 wins, with second going to Knodishall
A, who lost just one game.
Group 2 was the closest fought, with 3 teams
winning 3 and losing once. Belstead finished top, on 39
shots, Claydon A were second on 35 shots, leaving Withersfield
A in 3rd, on 30 shots, which was enough to see them through
as the final qualifiers.
Group 3 was dominated by Brockley,
who won all 4 games, runners-up, with 4 points, and by just 3
shots, were last year’s champions Claydon B.
Group 4 was closer, with Knodishall B
finishing on top, with 3 wins out of 4, and Elmsett C
winning their final game against Knodishall to take second on
5 points.
Group 5 saw the other clear group winner,
Barking, who won all their games, while the best of the
rest was Hundon, on 4 points, and making it through on
shots.
Claydon A started strong against Knodishall A,
5-0 up after 2, 9-2 up after 4, and going on to a comfortable
14-3 win.
Claydon B, having stuttered in their group games,
were back to their best, beating Withersfield A 9-0, with
an end to spare.
The final game was a bit different
though, Elmsett C saw themselves 6-1 up against Hundon
with 2 ends to go, and might have thought themselves safe, but
for an extraordinary turn around, which saw Hundon take all 6
on the next end, followed by a 4, to win 11-6.
It took 6 ends for Brockley
to get in front against Claydon A, only for Claydon to
snatch the game back away from them with 2 on the last, to win
8-7.
Barking never looked in trouble against Knodishall
B, stretching their lead to 8-1, and finally winning 8-3.
Claydon B, having put their faltering start
to the day behind them, roared away to a decisive 15-1 victory
over Barking/Gt. Blakenham, with an end to spare.
There was never much between
Belstead and Hundon, and the two teams went into
the last end all square at 5-5, but it was Belstead that came
through to take the win 7-5.
Belstead took the first end against Claydon
B, and held on to that lead all the way through, as the two
teams alternated winning ends, with the team bowling last winning
each time, it meant that Belstead crucially won 4 ends to Claydon’s
3. Belstead took the win 9-5.
Watch on YouTube
It must be said that Claydon
A had the better of their game against Barking, winning
5 of the 7 ends, but it was those other 2 ends that really made
the difference. The 6th was make or break as Barking held 4 and
had to take a gamble with defending it, which they did, to go
from 2-4 down to 6-4 up, and dropping just a single on the last
end to make it through to the final 6-5.
Watch on YouTube
Barking (Neil Jolly and Sue & Andy Gilder)
v Belstead (Oscar Mew, Paul Daniels and Tony Stevenson)
Barking opened proceedings with a 2, Belstead fought back with
a 3, and then Barking took another 2 to lead 4-3 after 3 ends.
Belstead levelled, and then got a shot ahead with a crucial final
wood to save the end, and led 5-4 with 2 ends to go.
However, it was the 6th end
which was pivotal, Belstead were in there, crowding the jack
which had been pushed off centre and had protection in the front,
leaving nothing much for the opposition. They took 3, and went
into the last end 4 up. It was much the same on the last end,
with one wood to go, Belstead had the jack surrounded, and Barking
had no possible way to score the 4 they needed to take the game
further. Another 3 to Belstead, and a final score of 11-4.
This was Tony’s first
Triples title, adding to his Pairs win from last season, also
Oscar’s first Triples, adding to a Pairs (from 20 years
ago), and a Fours, and Paul’s 5th Triples win.
Watch on YouTube
Winners
Belstead |
Runners-Up
Barking |
You can find all the day's
results here. |
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Suffolk
Fours |
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This year’s Fours saw
one extra entry over last year, with 27 teams playing across
5 groups. The winners, runners-up and the best 3rd placed team
would make it through to the knockout stages.
For several groups it
was a very similar story, one team dominating, and winning all
their games, while second place was two or more teams winning
only half their games, with shots being the deciding factor.
That was the case for Groups
1, 2, and 5 were won by teams who took maximum points (Barking
B, Barking A, and Stutton B), with the runners-up
having won just 2 games, and getting through by virtue of a higher
shot count (Brockley, Hundon/Kelsale, and Stanningfield
C).
Group 3 was little different,
with Burstall taking the group with 3 wins, with runners-up
Claydon B being one of 2 teams on 4 points.
The big exception was the 6
team Group 4, and was won by Elmsett A, who finished on
a maximum 8 points, with runners-up Barrow were just a
point behind. The group also produced the best 3rd placed team,
Chelmondiston A, who finished on 5 points.
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First Round
(runners-up
and best third, playing off to join the group winners in the
Quarter Finals) |
Hundon/Kelsale v Barrow was close all the
way through, all square on the 6th end, and decided in Hundon/Kelsale’s
favour on the last end, as they won 6-4.
Brockley’s game against Claydon B was
settled thanks to Brockley picking up a 4 on the 4th end, as
they took the game 8-4.
Stanningfield C took 3 on the first end against Chelmondiston
A, but 3 ends later were 7-3 down, Chelmo going on to win
9-6.
Brockley won the first end against Stutton
B, and just about kept their noses in front for the whole
game, hanging on to win 5-4.
There was never much between
Barking A and Hundon/Kelsale, which needed to go
to an extra end to settle the match, Barking taking it to win
6-4.
Elmsett A overcame a 4 shot deficit after 2 ends
to force an extra end against Barking B, but just lost
out 6-5.
The one game which wasn’t
close saw Chelmondiston A pick up a 6 on the second end
against Burstall, going on to a convincing 13-2 victory.
Chelmondiston A got their noses in front early on
against Barking B, leading 5-0 after 2 ends. Another 2
ends later it was back to 5-4, but the comeback ended there,
as Chelmo took a couple of singles to win 7-4. Watch
on YouTube
After a tight start, Barking
A moved into a 5-1 lead over Brockley, and never relinquished
it, taking the game 7-3. Watch
on YouTube
Barking (Tom, Pete & Rita Runnacles and
Mick Watkins) v Chelmondiston (Adam & Karen Hubbard,
Frank Wilkin and Bruce Miller)
Two teams who had taken a very
different route to the final, with Barking not having dropped
a point, while Chelmondiston had to come through as the final
qualifier, having finished 3rd in their group.
And it was Chelmo who were
off to the better start, opening with a 3, but Barking came back
at them, levelling after 3 ends, and taking a 5-3 lead after
4.
Chelmo brought the deficit
back down to just a shot on the next, but Barking took what looked
like a decisive 3 shots on the penultimate end to lead 8-4.
However, there was a glimmer
of hope for Chelmondiston as the jack was driven back, and while
no woods were very close, Barking’s were now short, and
so were their subsequent ones, leaving them 4, maybe 5 down.
And the fact that the jack
was out in the open, was the key, it was begging to be whipped
off the mat. Tom took his shot, but his wood went under, and
with nothing for it to run up against, sailed off the end. Adam’s
first was short to try and disrupt a second attempt, and he did
that, getting on the line, and being far enough away to offer
no help to Tom.
Tom could not afford to be
short. He ran under the blocker, and just a touch less weight
or a very slightly narrower line, could have run up against one
of the oppositions counting woods, but it just kept on running,
didn’t touch a thing, and was off.
Adam’s last should have
made sure of a 5th, but managed to be shorter than his blocker.
Still, it was a definite 4, and a measure, which went the way
of Chelmo for 5, and an unlikely looking 9-8 victory.
A first Suffolk Championship
for Chelmondiston, while Frank becomes the first player to retain
a title, while playing for different clubs.
Watch on YouTube
Winners
Chelmondiston |
Runners-Up
Barking |
You can find all the day's
results here. |
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