Norfolk began their pursuit of a third consecutive I.C.C title on Sunday with a 32-8 home win against Essex at Hingham Sports Centre. Even with a weakened team due to the unavailability of some regular team members Norfolk still proved far too strong for the visiting Essex side, now under new manager Anthony Fautley, to handle. The pairs led the way for Norfolk with Pat Saunders & Jack Pye winning their games by 27-4 & 16-7 and Jack Marshall & Chris Willies winning by 15-10 & 16-10 as Norfolk collected all ten points in that discipline. Will the success of Pat Saunders in the role give the manager a selection headache prior to their next match away to Hertfordshire on the 11th November? Eight points were gained in the singles with Wymondham’s Chris Mann beating Peter Fautley 20-7 and then beating Paul Bax 12-9 while Neil Davidson recovered from a first session 7-19 loss to Bax by beating Fautley 18-7. Gavin Gray, Simon Willies & Jason Woods were unbeaten with a win and a draw in the triples and a second half 16-9 win by Steve Easter, Morgan Warnes & AJ Pye enabled seven points to be earned in their discipline. The fours also picked up seven points. Billie Barker, Chloe Suffolk, Jack Gray & Gary Best won their games by 11-7 & 14-4. Kacy Suffolk, Melvyn Barker, George Hume & Keith Cooke added one more point with an 8-8 draw against Anthony Fautley’s four before suffering a tight 8-9 defeat in their second game.
Jack Pye & Pat Saunders won their games by 27-4 & 16-7
Norfolk in action at Hingham against Essex in their opening Inter-County C'ship match