Week 17

Games played Wednesday 31st August

With one week to go seven of the ten sections are still to be decided. The Premier is going down to the wire after both The Swan A and Gladiators A recorded 3-0 victories. The Swan had an easy 3-0 away against a six man Six Bells A Quarry but struggled in the opening leg. Six Bells set 19 and in reply The Swan had to rely on their anchor man Keith Powell to knock the two dolls off to win the leg. Swan winning the next two legs 24-15, 21-13.
The Gladiators A came away from The Woodman with all three points in a close contest. The Gladiators won the first leg 24-22 with the second leg tied 25-25. The Glad’s winning it on three sticks with a set of fourteen. They wrapped up the win in the last leg 28-23.
The top dolls is also too tight to call as only two dolls separate the top three. The Swans Jon Townsend leads the way after his 11 dolls, while Roger Goodall (The New Club A) slipped down after a disappointing 9. The Gladiators Kevin Giles brought himself back into the hunt with a dozen dolls.

Only one point separate the top three in Section One and it was happy days for Garsington Sports A as they came away from The New Club A with all three points to move level top. They won the opening leg on three sticks after it was tied 23-23, the second 26-20 and finally securing the whitewash in the last leg 25-21.
Leaders Yarnton British Legion are on a decline and have got to try and turn it around after losing their third game on the bounce, this time away at The George A. It started off well for Yarnton as they hit an impressive 34 in the first leg after being set a score of 22 by The George. However The George turned on the style and won the next two legs 27-24, 29-25. Kevin Stuart was the starman for The George with fourteen dolls (5-5-4) while Mark Poulter was top dog for Yarnton with thirteen dolls (4-4-5).
The Bullnose A lost at home to The Black Prince 2-1 for whom Rob Bradford was in top form with thirteen dolls (3-6-4) in the leg scores of 14-19, 22-21,12-25

The top two in Section 2 clashed and it was The Swan B who came out on top against Six Bells D and take a two point advantage going into the final week. A good team performance saw them win all three legs 27-22, 28-25, 24-22. Simon King (5-4-4) and Mark Hewitson (5-3-5) threw well for The Swan while Pete Rampton (4-4-5) was top dog for The Six Bells.
After being in contention for most of the season The Crown have waved the white flag after their 2-1 win over Donnington Club D when maximum points was needed. The Crown won the opening leg 26-17, but faltered in the next leg losing it 21-17, before winning the last leg 25-18.
James Gilding-Brant was in impressive form as he clanged off fourteen dolls (5-4-5) for The New Club B in their 2-1 win at The Gladiators B in the leg scores of 22-20, 18-16, 19-20.

Four teams are still battling it out for the Section three title and joint leaders Vikings A almost came unstuck at The Masons Arms A who are propping up the table. Masons set and won the opening leg by the odd doll 20-19. Vikings steadied themselves and came back well to secure the next two legs 17-11, 22-20.
Chequers A could not take advantage of The Vikings slip as they also dropped a point at home to The Six Bells D Kidlington. The point lost was in the opening leg when they could only muster up a reply of 14 when set 17 by The Bells. Chequers set and won the next two legs 18-13, 20-12.
Florence Park A slip a point behind after they lost at home to The George B 2-1 in a tight contest. It wasn’t looking good for the club men after The George won the first leg 22-19, but they managed to draw level in the next leg on three sticks after it was tied 19-19.The George set the final and deciding leg with 19 and it proved to be enough as Florence Park fell one short with 18 to give The George the win.

The Blackbird secured the Section 4 crown by beating The Cricketers Arms 3-0. They won all three legs 16-14, 16-13, 16-11.
Masons Arms B move off the foot of the table with an impressive 3-0 win at Garsington Sports B. Hitting their best score of the season saw them win all three legs 15-10, 19-15, 17-16.

There was a thriller in Section 5 as four maximum sixes were hit in the game between Donnington Club C and Democrats Club A. Brian French, Sid Sidall & Peter Stroud were the maximum men for Democrats while Cliff Lewis was for Donnington . Democrats won 2-1 in the leg scores of 19-13, 12-20, 20-17.
There was some crazy scoring for The Prince Of Wales in their home clash against The Pheasant Inn. The Prince could only hit 7 in the opening leg which The Pheasant passed easily with 12. Prince redeemed themselves in the next leg winning it 18-10. Is not unusual for teams to have one bad leg but the Prince fell apart in the final leg only hitting a paltry 4. Pheasant made sure of the win hitting 12 in reply.
In Section 6 Ian Sharp was in tremendous form for The Fox & Goat as he bagged himself a six in his fourteen doll haul but it was to no avail as they lost at home to Vikings Sports C 2-1. It started off well for The Fox as they won the opening leg 18-13 but The Vikings responded well winning the next two legs 21-12, 17-16.
Vikings Sports D wrapped up the title by beating Chequers B 3-0 in the leg scores of 9-7, 20-16,17-16.

Northway Club A hold pole position in Section 7 despite losing away at Donnington Club B. They lost the first leg by the smallest of margins 16-15 but levelled in the next leg 15-12. Donnington secured the win in the final leg 16-14.
Green Road Club A threw away any chances they had in the opening leg at The Original Swan A. Needing all three points to keep their hopes alive, chasing a set of 16 they could only hit 13 in reply. They won the next two legs 19-14, 15-13 but it was not enough.

Only one point separate the top three in Section 8 and The Black Horse lead the chasing pack despite having a free week. The Golden Ball B took full advantage by whitewashing The White Hart Wytham on their own alley, although they got lucky in the first leg winning it on three sticks after it was tied 11-11. They went two up in the next leg 11-7 but once again had to rely on three sticks in the final leg after it was tied 10-10.
The Cricketers Arms dropped a leg at home to The Catherine Wheel. They stormed into a 2-0 lead winning both legs at a canter 17-14, 16-9. However The Catherine Wheel improved greatly and won the last leg 17-12.
Mick Griffin threw well for The Wheel hitting a dozen dolls (5-4-3).

The top two clashed in Section 9 and after winning their previous twelve games Golden Ball A lost their second game on the bounce to Bletchingdon Sports Club 3-0. It was a disastrous result for The Golden Ball as this has let in Bletchingdon who now need two points from their final game to secure the title. Bletchingdon won the first leg on a three stick shoot out after it was tied 8-8 and then went to secure the maximum win 16-7, 12-10.

SIXERS: N.Pratley (The Woodman) J.Morrison (The George A) N.King (Yarnton B.L.) R.Poore (Queens Head) C.Lewis (Donnington Club C)
B.French, S.Siddall, P.Stroud (Democrats Club A) I.Sharp (Fox & Goat)

BLOBBERS: B.Fell (Red Lion A Marston) R.Aston (Red Lion A Cassington) P.Prestdige (Kidlington F.C.) C.Gibbs (Democrats Club B)
C.Fisher (Bletchingdon Sports Club) R.Chambers (Gladiators C) D.Woodward (White Hart B)

TOP DOLL SCORERS:
14: K.Stuart (The George A) I.Sharp (Fox & Goat) J.Gilding (New Club B)
13: S.Buckingham (The Woodman) N.King (Yarnton B.L.) R.Townsend (North Oxford Con Club B) P.Rampton (Six Bells D)
S.King, M.Hewitson (The Swan B)

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