Week 8 Report

REPORT WEEK 8
Garry Bailey was in spectacular form has he clanged off sixteen dolls (6-5-5) to lead The Swan ‘B’ to a straightforward 3-0 home win against The Chequers ‘A’. A good team performance, where Jason Coates hit a six after starting off with a blob, saw them win all three legs 22-18, 30-20, 29-17.
Garsington Sports lead Section One after coming away from The George ‘A’ with all three points, however the game was much closer than the score line suggests. Garsington won the opener 23-19 and then set 27 in the next leg. In reply George fell agonizingly short by one with 26. Final leg George set 25, and in the chase leadoff man Phil Jackson got Garsington off to the best possible start with a six and they ended up winning the leg with 27. James Morrison (4-5-5) and Kevin Stuart (5-4-5) both hit fourteen dolls and were unlucky to end up on the losing team for The George.
The chase for the Premier title is hotting up and The Woodman put themselves back in the hunt after beating The Gladiators ‘A’ 2-1. Glad’s could only muster up a set of 21 in the opening leg which The Woodman raced past that with a score 28. Glad’s set again in the next leg and were not much better hitting only 23. Woodman struggled in reply and left anchor man Mark Rollins needing four to win. This proved to be no problem as he whipped off five dolls to give the Woodman a 2-0 lead. Gladiators finally found form in the final leg hitting 33 to The Woodman’s 29 to give them a point.
Swan ‘A’ still lead the Premier Section after a 2-1 win at The New Club ‘A’. Winning the first two legs 30-24, 26-23 Swan, hoping to make it a maximum win, then set a strong 29 in the final leg. New club responded to the challenge and matched the 29 to take it to three sticks which they triumphed to give them a well warranted point.
Black Prince got their title ambitions back on track after a hard earned 3-0 win at home to Red Lion ‘A’ Yarnton. Racing into an early lead in the first leg 31-22, Black Prince were then set a formidable 32 in the next leg. A good start in reply from The Prince and with the team keeping up the rate needed, they managed to match the 32 and send the leg to three sticks which they won 10-9. Black Prince then completed the maximum win in the final leg by the smallest of margins 24-23. Rob Bradford with fourteen dolls (6-4-4) and Mick Phipps, thirteen dolls (4-6-3) were top dogs for The Prince.

Steve Greenough with fourteen dolls (5-4-5) got joint top Section 2 leaders Donnington Club ‘C’ off to the perfect start against Red Lion ‘A’ Kidlington. The club men won the first two legs 22-15, 23-21 before Red Lion hit back in the final leg 25-22. John Brown bagged himself a six in his thirteen dolls haul (6-5-2) for The Lion.
Joint leaders Six Bells ‘D’ Kidlington had a setback when they lost at home to Gladiators’ C’ 2-1. Glad’s won the opening leg 23-21 but fell apart in the next leg when chasing 24 they could only reply with a paltry 12. Final and deciding leg Glad’s set with a beatable 19 but The Bells struggled right from the start and fell two dolls short to give The Glad’s an unlikely win.
Six Bells’ E’ Kidlington hit and won an imposing 29 in the middle leg during their 2-1 win at The Ampleforth Arms ‘A’ in the leg scores of 19-18, 24-29, 16-17.

John Allnutt was in superb form for Section 3 leaders Gladiators ‘B’ hitting fourteen dolls (3-5-6) to lead them to a 3-0 win at Six Bells ‘A’ Kidlington. They won all three legs 19-17, 27-17, 19-18. Ady Cross for the Bells must count himself unlucky as he clanged off fourteen dolls (4-6-4) with no reward.
After three previous losses Queens Head have dragged themselves back in the title hunt after they demolished Six Bells ‘B’ 3-0 in the leg scores 18-12, 25-11, 18-12.
Richard Wyness hit a steady twelve dolls (4-4-4) for title chasers Seacourt Bridge in their 2-1 win against The George ‘B’ , 19-16, 19-20, 18-16.

The last remaining unbeaten record in the league went when Section 4 leaders Catherine Wheel ‘B’ crashed at home to Vikings Sports ‘A’ 2-1. It started off well for the Wheel when they coasted the opening leg 20-12. Set only 13 in the next leg by Vikings, Catherine Wheel struggled and fell short by one doll with 12. Final leg Vikings turned on the style and whacked in a set of 22 which proved too strong for the leaders who could only reply with thirteen to give Vikings an improbable win.
Despite Northway Club ‘B’ languishing near the foot of the table Jack Lane threw well for his baker’s dozen (5-4-4) to help them to a comfortable 3-0 win at Vikings Sports ‘B’ in the leg scores of 18-6, 19-19, 19-10.
It was unlucky thirteen for Cowley Workers Mark Burke as his thirteen doll haul (4-4-5) was to no avail in their 2-1 defeat to the hands of the Bullnose Morris ‘B, who won the first two legs 21-14, 22-19. Workers claimed a well-deserved point in the final leg 23-12.

It is so tight in Section 5 that only five points separate nine of the ten teams! The two Cricketers Arms teams (Littleworth & Cowley) lead the way with the Littleworth team winning at home to Donnington Club ‘B’ 2-1 while the Cowley team lost at home to Vikings Sports ‘C’ 2-1.
Littlemore British Legion ‘B’ failed to take advantage and fell to a 2-1 defeat to Ampleforth Arms ‘B’. It all looked good for the Legion after they won the first leg 18-16 but that was to be their only success as Ampleforth hit back to win the next two legs 14-12, 19-13.
Holding up everyone above them The Tandem, were unfortunate to fall to a 2-1 defeat at home to The Masons Arms ‘B’. Tandem struggled in the opening leg when they could only hit nine to the Masons set of fifteen. Tandem set the next leg with fifteen but it was not quite enough as Masons just sneaked past that with sixteen. Tandem got the point they deserved in the final leg 16-12.

Section 6 leaders Red Lion ‘B’ Kidlington had a scare at home to Catherine Wheel ‘A’ when despite winning all three legs, only four dolls separated the teams overall. Lion took an early lead winning the first leg 16-13. Catherine Wheel set fifteen in the next leg and a four from anchor man Scott Wiggins saved the leg for the Lion who matched the score. Lion winning the leg on three sticks. Lion set the last leg with eighteen and Catherine Wheel were unlucky in reply falling just one short with seventeen.
Golden Ball, the only team without a win all season almost tasted victory at Prince Of Wales but were denied in a close game. They lost the first leg 12-11, won the next 12-9 but a score of nine was never going to be enough to give them that evasive win as POW hit fourteen to take the leg and game 2-1.

In Section 7, Red Lion Cassington’s season is going from bad to worse. After winning four of their first five games they have now lost three on the bounce, this time to the hands of leaders Headington Con Club. After a close first leg which the Lion lost 11-10, Con Club took full advantage and completed the whitewash in the next two legs 11-6, 13-9.
League newcomers East Oxford Con Club claimed their second win of the season when they beat visitors Kidlington F.C. ‘B’ 2-1 in the leg scores of 12-12, (three sticks) 8-16, 12-8.

SIXERS : R.Bradford , M.Phipps (Black Prince) J.Brown (Red Lion ‘A’ Kidlington) S.Tooke (Catherine Wheel ‘B’) K.Baker (Gladiators ‘A’)P.Jackson (Garsington Sports) S.Walton (Donnington Club ‘A’0) G.Baily, J.Coates (Swan ‘B’) J.Allnutt (Gladiators ‘A’) A.Cross (Six Bells ‘A’)

BLOBBERS : D.Filer (Cricketers Cowley) E.Barnett (White Horse) J.Bustin (Kidlington F.C. ‘B’) A.Cox (Donnington Club ‘A’) L.Cadoret (Yarnton B.L.) G.Arundel (Headington Con Club) D.Claque (Red Lion Cassington)

TOP DOLL SCORERS:
16: G.Bailey (Swan ‘B’)
14: R.Bradford (Black Prince) S.Greenough (Donnington Club ‘C’) J.Morrison, K.Stuart (George ‘A’) K.Powell (Swan ‘A’) J.Allnutt (Gladiators ‘A’)A.Cross (Six Bells ‘A’)
13: M.Phipps (Black Prince) J.Brown (Red Lion ‘A’ Kidlington) J.Lane (Northway Club ‘C’) M.Burke (Cowley Workers) M.Rollins (The Woodman) J.Brown (Red Lion ‘A’ Kidlington) J.Townsend (Swan ‘A’)

HIGHEST LEG SCORE
Gladiators 'A' 33

Back to reports page