North Shropshire gearing up for crunch clash

Shrugging off bad weather, they powered to the top of qualifying group B with a fine 133-shot home and away win over Warwickshire that earned them a 25-6 points haul.

And that was enough to lift them above North Staffordshire, who they face in the crunch clash on July 16 when a place in the semi-finals will be at stake.

North Shropshire chairman Phil Scott said: “The team enjoyed a fantastic win in round two of the county championship.

“Warwickshire have proved to be among the weaker sides in the competition, but they still have some very good players, as was seen in both legs on Sunday.

“At a largely sunny Bridgewater BC in Whitchurch, Warwickshire actually started pretty well, before the home team’s front four accelerated away.

“Hanmer duo Jack Hewitt (21-11) and Dave Ellison (21-10) were especially dominant after the first few ends of their games.

“Away at Goldieslie, the large heavy green suited our front four perfectly, with North Shropshire picking up all four points and a healthy aggregate start, Paul Latham best with a 21-8 card.

“In the middle there the impending storm was not a problem as Scott Thomas added another 21-8 and Martin Lloyd, ever dependable, a 21-10 card.

“Thunder and lightning meant a break ensued as a torrential downpour flooded the green and suspended play for around 45 minutes.

“In the meantime, North Shropshire wrapped up an 11-3 (+76 chalks) home leg victory, with four wins at the back, Mike Gilpin best with 21-2 while Will Childs came back from 12-1 down to win 21-16.

“Over in Sutton Coldfield, play finally resumed with the last four games shared, Wayne Rogers our best on 21-7, resulting in another 11-3 (+57 chalks) score and fine 25-6 victory overall.

“Given the group standings this was a very important win, and we now look forward to a ‘winner takes all’ game versus last year’s runners-up North Staffordshire in July, with a semi-final spot on the line.”