The prose stylings of Peter Florence :
Snitterfield entertained fellow title hopefuls Colebridge Pasties and gained a narrow 6-4 victory. The hosts gave a debut to their new signing Steve Cull who marked the occasion with a brace. John Price and Clive Irwin also recorded two successes, although the latter had to put aside an early deficit to overcome Mahroof Hussain in the decider. However, despite some hard fought contests, none of the Snitterfield trio were able to get the better of Nathaniel Saunders. Irwin took a two set lead before eventually being defeated over the full distance, whilst Cull levelled after loss of the first two ends only to fall at the final hurdle. The excellent Saunders was also involved in his team's fourth victory by partnering Hussain in the doubles.
Shottery A maintained their quest for honours with a 9-1 win over Tanworth Taipans. Gary Stewart and Stephen Foster were both untroubled, with Graham Poole adding a brace but he lost out to Mick Welsh who thereby gained Taipans' only consolation.
Ashorne won 8-2 at Henley although the teams were more evenly matched than the result suggests with five games going to a decider. Ashorne were given the perfect start by debutant Len Coonan who, despite going to a decisive fifth end with Nigel Payne, notched a treble before making an early departure. Roger Pye and Mark Bridgeman contributed braces for Ashorne, as well as combining to clinch the doubles, whilst Payne put aside his initial defeat to earn both Henley's points.
In the first game of their match at Colebridge Bulldogs, Stratford C captain Rob Bartkowski overcame loss of the first end to defeat Dean Hicks. However his team were unable to add further successes as Andy Rowland and John Swinburne posted trebles and Hicks a brace.
Stratford D lost 10-0 to the Shottery B team of Tim Fell, Gareth Hepworth and Tony Remes but can take great comfort from their performance with Ian and Harry Nash and Ollie Rowlands all earning sets against their experienced opponents.
Blazing Paddles also inflicted the whitewash upon Veterans following perfect displays from Nello Mauri, Chris Dickens and Wilf Chan.
In a keenly contested cup contest Henley gained a narrow win at Stratford B. The hosts were represented by a mixture of youth and experience with the very promising Ollie Peake joining Kevin Taylor and Harry Azima. However their opponents team of Nigel Payne, Dave Hatcher and Peter Quince edged home by a margin of just 26 points after application of the handicap adjustment. Henley are now through to the semifinals where they will take on Colebridge Bulldogs.
