Warwickshire’s penultimate home fixture in the Premier Division of the UKDA National League was a tie against Hertfordshire and with both teams in the bottom half of the table points were badly required by both to lift them away from the relegation zone.
Warwickshire could not have wished for a better start to the weekend as the ladies ‘B’ romped to a 6-0 victory, all started by lady of the match Hannah Meek who won her game against Rachel Egleton 3-0 and averaged 23.86. Lucy Shepherd and Donna Pinch, in turn won 3-1 against Laura Camp and Josie Howard before the hosts last three players added their wins without dropping a single leg. Taking the final score along to a 6-0 whitewash were Kirsty Hinchliffe, Jodie Rigg and Macy Gibbons who defeated their respective opponents Tracy Banks, Laura Divall and Libby Page 3-0.
The men’s ‘B’ match was a game of two halves as Warwickshire won the first half 5-1 and Hertfordshire the second half, again 5-1. Dave Atkins opened up for the home side, winning 4-0 against Tony Cox, William Naylor doubling the lead with his 4-1 success over Luke Arber. The home team’s man of the match Dave Hill was on at number three, he had a 4-2 win over Paul Squirrell with a 28.35 average. With another 4-2 result, Jnr Joyce made it 4-0 when he defeated Lee Barrow, all before the visitors got their first stripe on the board when Jack Pledger beat Lee Miller 4-2. Rounding off the half with yet another 4-2 scoreline was Mark Carter whose win against Keith Arber gave Warwickshire their 5-1 lead.
As the second half got underway, Hertfordshire got their second winner when Sam Cook won 4-2 against Mark Martin but a 4-3 win from Karl Reynolds over Jack Divall guaranteed the home side of at the worst a share of the points. A share of the points is what Warwickshire men’s ‘B’ got as the last four games all went to Hertfordshire, Terry Andrews winning 4-2 against Mark Strong, Ricky Howard beat Keith Deeley 4-0 and with 4-2 wins for Daniel Wood and Liam Divall against Jason Meek and Jason Price the final score was all even at 6-6.
As were the ladies ‘B’, the ladies ‘A’ were also in top form storming to a winning 4-0 lead as Courtney Hine got the proceedings underway with her 3-0 win over Laura Camp and lady of the match Caroline Pike made it 2-0 when she won 3-1 against Jessica Page with a 22.16 average. Nina Bolt assured a draw with her 3-1 win over Jo Kitchen before Wendy Adams made sure of the win with her 3-0 success over Debs Jones. Rachel Egleton pulled one back for the away side when she won 3-1 against Kacie O’Connor but the final score was 5-1 to Warwickshire with captain Marian Conway winning the final game against Vicky Rannow 3-0.
Hertfordshire were quickest off the mark in the men’s ‘A’ match, Hayden Appleby winning 4-3 against Kevin Dowling. However the lead was soon reversed as Dave Hill won 4-1 against Luke Arber and Sam Price accounted for Matt Creed with a straight 4-0 result and super 32.32 average to earn himself the match award. Parity was restored in the fourth when Paul Squirrell beat Matty Washbrooke 4-2 before both Jack Wareing and Nigel Heydon added their 4-0 wins over respective opponents Rex Cole and Lloyd Wintle to give the home team a 4-2 lead at the midway point of the match.
Warwickshire men’s ‘A’ went further ahead as the second session got underway, Gareth Braham winning 4-0 against Jon Creed before Wayne Mynard made it 6-2 with his 4-2 win against Jack Pledger. The all-important seventh win came in the ninth game when Noel Grant added his straight 4-0 win over Daniel Varney to the home team’s tally and with a 4-3 success for Ryan Jackson against Steve Beasley the score was 8-2 to Warwickshire. The visitors got their third winner in the penultimate encounter, Matt Robinson just getting the 4-3 edge against Martin Tonks before the final score was taken to 9-3 when anchor-man Steve Hine won 4-1 against Bradley Clark.
The overall score for the weekend was a 26-10 for Warwickshire which saw them move up two places in the table to fifth with 158 points, while Hertfordshire dropped to the foot of the table on 121 points.
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