Successful Hard Bat Competition held at Instow
A great turnout of 27 competitors made their way to Instow on January 3rd for the annual Hard Bat competition. A busy evening proved to be a good social event but also raised £110 for the Children's Hospice in Fremington. Competitors enjoyed a buffet supper at the end of the group stages provided by the kind efforts of Doreen Dawe.
As usual, the hard bats proved to be a bit of a leveller – at least until the better players got used to it!
The competitors were split into 4 groups with the winner of each group going into the semi-finals.
In group A, Peter Dunstan emerged unbeaten to win the group, with Dave Salisbury second, just a point behind. The first game in the group – between those two – being the eventual decider.
Group B was won by Martyn Beer who was undefeated, with Gerard O'Boyle in second place. Chris Isaac very nearly created an upset - losing to Martyn only on 'sudden death'.
Marcus Berry was fairly untroubled in group C, winning each game. Peter Kneil was in second place beating Derek Preston into third by virtue of winning the game between them. It was good to see Derek back competing again.
Dave Gray won the final group - a very close call here as he was equal on points with Matthew Thomas but won their personal duel 11-10! There was a good win for Sue Johnson over Robin Gale, which she will surely remind him about on a regular basis.
In the semi-finals, Martyn Beer beat Peter Dunstan. The first game went to deuce but Martyn then got away in the second winning 11-5. The other semi was between Dave Gray and Marcus Berry. Dave won a close first game but Marcus took the next two, in the third getting an early lead which he held on to.
A very competitive final just went to Martyn Beer. Marcus won the first game 11-6 and the second game went to deuce with Martyn Beer taking the crucial point. The final game went to Martyn 11-9 – could not have been much closer!
Steve Richardson
