League Report - Matches shot on the 18th October 2007

MEB vs Binton A:- Binton A maintained their well deserved position at the top of the league when they met an undefeated MEB team at Wilmcote Sports & Social Club last Thursday. Both teams have fielded strong teams this season and individuals have consistently been getting good scores over 30 to contribute to both teams high average scores. Mark Oakey was first off for league leaders Binton A and shot 30. Paul Clingan shot a steady 34 to give the home team an early lead. Simon Dale for Binton A shot 32. Ray Warnock for MEB slipped two fours to get 33pts. Alan Dyer, with his 31 pulled back one point off MEB's Kath Williams . He was followed by Michelle Dale who pulled another point back for Binton A when she shot 32 to Sheila Clarke's 31. Gary Hooper was next for Binton A. He shot 32 which took his team into the lead by just one point after Ray Hodgkins dropped a couple of threes and had to settle for 28 points. Binton continued to forge ahead with 32's from John Parrot and Andy Smith. Jeff Smith was the only Binton shooter who could not find the bull but his score took his team to a grand total of 248 points. MEB's Fred Williams slipped a three but with four bulls totalled 31 points and his team mate and new shooter Dave Cross shot 29, as did Gordon Spencer to give the home team a total of 245 points. Each side dropped its lowest score but it made no difference to the result and Binton kept their place at the top of the league.

Binton B vs Wilmcote:- Binton B were at home to Wilmcote who were without their stalwart Andy Morris but who brought along a new shooter, T Skinner. John Maycock was first to the line for the visitors and with three bulls, shot 31. Roy Clarke for Binton B found the bull twice but with a three totalled 29 points. Gareth Morris shot a consistent 30 but Mike Perry for the home side brought the score level with his score of 32. Alan Brookes took his team into the lead when with four bulls he shot 32 compared with Jim Ushers unbroken string of seven fours. Tom Morris again shot 32 for Wilmcote and another new shooter, Bill Flemming for Binton A shot 29. Tim Stephens shot a respectable 30 but with three threes and two bulls, Gordon O'nions for Binton B had to settle for 27. Paul Boazman and Brian Portman both shot 28. Wilmcote had two more shooters, new boy T Skinner shot 27 as did Lynn Brookes who is struggling to find consistency this season. With the benefit of A N Other, Binton B finished on 200 points and after dropping their lowest score, Wilmcote finished on 210. This win takes them into second place in the league table with a team average of 217.75 points and 8 points from five matches.

Avenue-RBL vs Knights:- Fran Westwood, captain of the Knights team was first up for the visitors. She shot 28 which was matched by Paul Nixon-Barron for the home team when he disappointingly dropped his first three of the season. Ruth Dampier dropped two threes and shot 27. Steve Everett didn't feel too comfortable when he started with a three but he was able to pull it back with a five to finish on 28 which put Avenue-RBL in the lead by a single point. Doug Dampier mirrored his wife's score of 27. Steve Ray next on for Avenue-RBL started with two bulls but then slipped two pellets into the fours before finishing on three bulls and 33 points. Paul Green for the Knights shot a steady 30. Jo Everett seemed to be doing well and looked on for a score of 30+ until she threw away her two bulls when her last two pellets hit the threes. She also shot 28. Chris Green shot 29 followed by Dee Green for Avenue with another 28. The home team were in front by 4 points when they ran out of shooters. The Knights pressed on. Lisa Edwards struggled with her shots and could only manage 24. She was followed by Will Troth who kept out of the threes to shoot 30 and finally Jon Packard who began his turn with Fran's Walther rifle but after getting a three on his second shot changed back to his own gun to go on to shoot a four and then four bulls to give him 31 points. Avenue-RBL had to stand by and see their lead chiselled away by the Knights helpless for the want of shooters. They were given two A N Other scores of 27 by the Knights but they lost the game by 4 points 199 to 202. If only their shooters had been able to keep out of the threes it might have been a different story.

As we reach the half way point the league stands like this: Binton A 10 points from 6 games. Wilmcote and MEB both have 8 points from 5 games. Home Guard have 4 points from 5 games. Binton B, Avenue-RBL and Knights all have 2 points from 5 games.

Matches this week (25 Oct) Binton B vs Avenue-RBL: Knights vs MEB: Wilmcote vs Home Guard. Binton A have a bye.

If you think you may be interested in bell target shooting? Try this web site which tells you a bit about the history of the sport. It really is quite interesting. Want to try bell target shooting, then contact Simon Dale, the match secretary at sagmatchsec@ntlworld.com or ring Roy Clarke on 01789 720340 and check out our website www.sagl.co.uk


Report by Juana Everett (to be published 25th October 2007)