In division three of the UKDA National League, Shropshire had the long trek south across the water to take on Isle of Wight in what was their seventh fixture of the season. Prior to the fixture Shropshire were fourth in the division with 129 points and their host’s bottom of the division with seventy-two points.
The ladies ‘B’ began by winning the opening two games as Gemma Smith beat Fiona Pickin 3-0 and Dianne Newton won 3-0 against Hope Webster, Dianne taking the match award for her 17.28 average. Isle of Wight won the third game, Nicola Emery just getting the 3-2 verdict against Kirstie Millington, however that was to be their first and final winner as Lauren Kempson won 3-1 against Jules Inman and with 3-1 results Sara Jones and Tanya Dolman in turn won against Anne Grisedale and Georgia Davison to give Shropshire ladies ‘B’ a 5-1 win.
Shropshire’s men’s ‘B’ could not have wished for a better start as they stormed through the first half winning all six games. First on was Jon Blakemore who won 4-0 against Marc Plummer. Doubling the visitors lead was Justin Evans with another 4-0 whitewash against Paul Thomas and with a 27.08 average Evans clinched the man of the match award. 4-1 wins form Mitch Pickett and Simon Pritchard against Dan Inman and Dave Robinson took the score along to 4-0 and with a 4-3 win from Brian Dolman over Andy Willis plus a 4-2 success for Josh Pickett against Leo Hall, the first half rout was complete.
The second half began where the first had left off with Shropshire adding a further four wins as Brian Hickman beat Greg Hailes 4-1, Shane Passey and Eddie Austin, in turn won 4-3 against Eddie White and David Spragg and with a 4-1 success for Chris Hill over Dale Grove the away side were 10-0 up. The home side got two wins in the last two games as Darren Andrews won 4-1 against Mark Jones and Joe Hunt beat Paul Harrison 4-0 to put the final score at10-2 to Shropshire.
After a 5-1 win for Shropshire’s ladies ‘B’ the ‘A’ side went one better and had a clean sweep winning all six games. Deanna Sheldon was first on for Shropshire and although she was taken the full five legs distance by Lyn Marshall she was the 3-2 winner. Then came three 3-1 wins in a row as Sarah Williams won against Charlotte Collins, Nicola Ball beat Maddie Coe and Marie Riggs defeated Hannah Langridge and in the process Marie collected the team’s match award for her 18.09 average. Jenna-Louse Ball had a 3-0 win over Kelly Stroud and with a final 3-1 win for Michele Pritchard over Angie Cotton the 6-0 result was achieved.
As the ladies ‘A’ went one better than their ‘B’ team, so did the men’s ‘A’. A 4-1 with in the opening game for Andre Knox (Shropshire) against Tom McIness was quickly matched by the home side as Gordy Crews won 4-2 against Kye Simmonds, that however was to be the host’s one and only winner as Shropshire stormed through the remaining ten games. Mark Zambra beat Pete Collins 4-3 before two 4-0 wins from Andrew Jervis and Brett Cooper who beat respective opponents Simon Newland and Paul Grisedale. Andy Vellender ended the half with a 4-2 win against Darren Andrews to put the away team 5-1 up.
The second half began with Shropshire’s man of the match Richard Parker winning 4-0 against Jason Collins with a 29.04 average. Emulating Parker’s 4-0 win were Sam Aitkens and Adam Thackray who accounted for Mark Stocker and Chris Hebberd to take the score along to 8-1. Ben Johnson added his 4-2 win over Chris Hogg to Shropshire’s tally and with a 4-3 win for Kevin Harris against James Wills plus a 4-2 success for Chris Fox over Daryl Hunt the final score was 11-1 to Shropshire.
The overall huge 32-4 victory has seen Shropshire move two places up the table to second with 164 points, twenty-three short of leaders Norfolk who were 21-15 winners at Breconshire.
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