Week 9

Games played on Wednesday 28th June

There was some high individual scoring between Garsington Sports ‘A’ and The New Club ‘A’ in the Premier Section. Adrian Shepherd 15 dolls (5-5-5) & Roger Goodall 14 dolls (5-6-3) threw well for The New Club while Barry Ruffels with fifteen dolls (4-6-5) was top dog for Garsington. It was a close game with The New club snatching the opening leg by one doll 26-25. The second leg was tied 26-26 with The New club winning it on three sticks. New Club then wrapped up the maximum win in the final leg 25-22.

Seven Gladiator’s ‘A’ players hit double figures in their 2-1 home win against The Three Pigeons. The Glad’s could only set 22 in the opening leg and it looked like it would be enough as in reply The Pigeons left their last two players eight to win. However Eddie Edwards (5) and Neil Lyon (5) saw them over the line to go one up.
Gladiator’s set again in the next leg and hit an impressive 32 which was too much for The Pigeons who hit 20 in reply. The final leg Pigeons set 26. The Glad’s were up for the challenge and wacked in a score of 35 to win the leg and game. Kevin Baker (2-5-6) & Barry Townsend (4-4-5) both hit thirteen for the Glad’s.
The Black Prince came away from The Swan ‘B’ with and impressive 2-1 win. Even though they lost the opening leg 20-17 they responded well to come storming back and win the next two legs 30-24, 28-22.
Red Lion ‘A’ Yarnton shocked Premier Section holders The Swan ‘A’ by beating them 3-0.

The top two clashed in Section 2 and it was visitors Six Bells ‘E’ Kidlington who came out on top against The Chequers ‘C’ and closed the gap to one point. It started off well for The Chequers winning the opening leg 22-19, but they fell apart in the next leg losing it 19-13. In the final and deciding leg Six Bells went to town and hit 30 to the Chequers 24 to give them victory.
The Bullnose Morris ‘A’ are only two points behind after whitewashing the Gladiators ‘B’ at home. The result was never in doubt as they won all three legs 22-13, 23-19, 19-11.
John Brown with fourteen dolls (5-5-4) for The Black Horse ‘C’ led the way to a 2-1 win at The Crown. They won the first two legs 20-18, 20-16 with The Crown claiming a point in the last leg 24-19.
Six Bells ‘D’ Kidlington title hopes took a knock as they lost at home to Donnington Club ‘A’. They lost the opening two legs 15-16, 16-21 but rallied in the final leg to salvage a point 18-15.

Section 3 leaders Garsington Sports ‘B’ crashed away at The Blackbird 2-1. The opening leg was a tight affair with it being tied 18-18. Blackbird won the leg on three sticks. Garsington drew level in the next leg 19-14 and set 18 in the final and deciding leg. In reply a five from lead off man Garry Rees got them off to a good start and they never faltered after that winning the leg by two dolls with 20.
Vikings ‘B’ came away form The Queens Head with a good result despite playing with a player short. Queens won the first leg 18-15 but the next leg was tied 14-14 with Vikings taking it on three sticks. Final and deciding leg Queens set with fourteen and in reply Vikings left their anchor man Robin Charlton four to win and he did not disappoint as he clanged off the four needed to give the Vikings an unlikely result.
New Club ‘B’ and the King & Queen both stay one point off the top after New Club won 2-1 in the leg scores of 22-17, 18-16, 15-16.

Donnington Club ‘C’ share top spot in Section 4 after a close game against hosts Six Bells ‘B’ Kidlington. After a straight forward win in the opening leg by Donnington 17-12 the next two legs were as tight as they could be. Six Bells set 21 in the second leg and in reply Donnington fell just one short with 20. Final leg Bells set with 20. Donnington in reply left anchor man Marc Joines needing three to win and he did just that to give them the leg win and with it the game.
Masons Arms ‘A’ join Donnington at the top with a comfortable 3-0 win at Green Road Club ‘B’ as Masons set and won all three legs 21-17, 21-18, 17-13.

Bullnose Morris ‘B’ move to level top in Section 5 but how they came away from The Red Lion Marston winning is a mystery! The opening leg was tied 11-11 despite the first four Bullnose players all hitting a blob each. Bullnose redeeming themselves in the three stick shoot out to go one up. Red Lion drew level in the next leg 13-10. Bullnose then hit 17 in the final leg to the Lion’s 12 to give them victory.
Seacourt Bridge ‘A’ joined The Bullnose at the top after their 2-1 win at Littlemore British Legion ‘B’ 14-11, 13-11, 15-17.
Chequers ‘B’ title hopes took a massive hit as they lost at The Cricketers Arms 3-0. It was a close game as The Cricketers won the opening leg by the narrowest of margins 13-12. Cricketers went two up in the next leg 19-16 and with the final leg tied 16-16, Cricketers completed the whitewash on three sticks.

Section Six leaders Six Bells ‘B’ Quarry hit their best score of the season in their 2-1 home win over Northway Club ‘A’. They won the first two legs 19-14, 20-10 and then were set 18 in the final leg. In reply the Bell’s anchor man, Gavin Lovatt needing two to win failed to trouble the doll at all and left them one short with 17.
Florence Park Club and Vikings Sports ‘C’ scored the same number of dolls (39-39) but it was Florence Park who came out on top. They won the opening two legs 12-10, 14-12 with Vikings winning the final leg 17-13.
There was nothing to separate The Black Horse ‘B’ and Marston British Legion but the last leg three stick shoot out proved to be decisive. The Legion set fifteen in the first leg, but a four from anchor man Nick Edwards Snr snatched the leg for The Black Horse by one doll 16-15.Black Horse set the next leg with nineteen and this time it was the Legions anchor man, Dave Smith who came to their rescue hitting the four dolls to win the leg by one 20-19. The final and deciding leg was tied 15-15 and in the three stick shoot out Legion won it to give them victory in a tight game.

Halfway through the season and Red Lion ‘B’ Yarnton made it nine wins out of nine in Section 7 after they just beat close rivals Kidlington Football Club 3-0, although the game was a lot closer than the score reflects. Red Lion set and won the first leg at a canter 19-9 but had to rely on three sticks the next leg after it was tied 13-13. The final leg Lion set with sixteen and it turned out to be just enough as the football club fell agonisingly short by one doll with fifteen.
Nathan O’Donnell was in tremendous form as he bagged himself a six in his fourteen doll haul (6-4-4) to guide The Prince Of Wales to a 3-0 home win over Northway Club ‘C’. A good team performance saw them win the first two legs 17-13, 21-14 but they had to rely on three sticks in the final leg after it was tied 14-14.

In Section 8 The Golden Ball, the only other unbeaten team in the league almost came unstuck at The White Hart ‘B’ Wolvercote. They won the first leg 9-5 but just scrapped the next leg 9-8. Golden Ball made it a maximum win in the final leg 10-8.

SIXERS: D.Jacobs (Six Bells ‘A’ Quarry) P.Smith (Six Bells ‘E’ Kidlington) K.Baker (Gladiators ‘A’) B.Ruffels (Garsington Sports ‘A’)
R.Goodall (New Club ‘A’) ) N.O’Donnell (Prince Of Wales)


BLOBBERS: J.Wilkins (Vikings Sports ‘D’) M.Spence (White Hart ‘B’) P.Blackman (White Hart Wytham) K.Loveridge (Gladiators ‘C’)
W.Beavan (Northway Club ‘C’) G.Mazey (Red Lion Marston) K.Hayle (Seacourt Bridge ‘B’)


TOP DOLL SCORERS:
15: B.Ruffels (Garsington Sports ‘A’) A.Shepherd (New Club ‘A’)
14: J.Brown (Black Horse ‘C’) R.Goodall (New Club ‘A’) N.O’Donnell (Prince Of Wales)
13; B.Townsend, K.Baker (Gladiators ‘A’)

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