Norfolk completed the Inter-County Championship group stage with another huge win. Norfolk’s team for the away match against Northants saw them travel without some key players due to unavailability but once again they proved far too strong for their opposition. The final score was 37-3 on points to Norfolk, 233-148 on shots, as Norfolk made it six wins from six games in the re-vamped I.C.C competition that has seen Premier and “A” sides all playing in one section in the group stages. That is an experiment that may well need revisiting. Norfolk’s run of success has seen them reel off wins of 32-8, 40-0, 32-8, 35-5, 38-2 & 37-3 as Northants, Cambridgeshire and West Mids Bears failed to stop Norfolk’s advance into the knock-out stages. Maximum points in the triples and fours against Northants left the home side reeling. Alfie Woods, Morgan Warnes & AJ Pye won by 18-5 & 18-7 while Gavin Gray, Simon Willies & Jason Woods won 21-6 & 13-7 to earn their ten points in that discipline. In the fours Kacy Suffolk, Ray Lamb, Simon Warnes & Jon Sparham won by 16-6 & 10-5 while Jack Gray, Chloe Suffolk, George Hume & Gary Best won by 16-8 & 11-10. Gary Best’s rink trailed 8-2 in their second game before picking up a six to level the game that they went on to win. The pairing of Debbie Sparham & Jack Pye won their games by 12-10 & 21-10. In their first game against Leigh Hall’s pair they fought back from 9-1 down to win the game. Melvin Woods & Jack Marshall drew their opening game 15-15 but won their second game by 13-12 after scoring three shots on the last end. Norfolk collected nine points from the ten on offer in this discipline. Chris Mann won both his singles games by 14-10 & 13-8 with the three shots scored by Mann on the last end earning the singles bonus points. Robin Amos won his first game 14-13 but lost 16-8 against Chris Weston in his second game.
Player-Manager Jack Pye - two wins in Northants