our
teams competed in the first round of the Thompson Cup last Thursday. Binton A
were at gnome to Avenue-RBL; Home Guard were at Tiddington against Binton B and
MEB and Wilmcote had byes to the semi finals.Both Binton and Avenue-RBL had seven shooters for this match in which the visitors felt unlucky to have been drawn against the team with the highest average score in the League and their shooting suggested they did not hold out much hope for success. Binton took an early lead which they built on throughout the match. Will Cemis shot five bulls but his last two pellets went into the four and he was personally disappointed that he scored 33 on his gnome target. Andy Smith also shot 33 but his fives were interspersed with his fours. Paul Clingan shot a respectable 32 but he does not seem to have found the same degree of accuracy he had when he was shooting for MEB. Simon Dale, Gary Hooper and John Parrott all shot 31 and Alan Dyer shot 29. With a total of 220 points Binton left Avenue-RBL in the shade. The visitors on the whole managed to centre their shots better with only a couple of stray threes but there weren’t enough bulls about to lift their scores. Steve Ray shot bulls and fours for 33, Steve Everett fours and bulls for 31 and Paul Nixon-Barron 30. Guy Ganderton and Jo Everett kept their pellets tight and were unlucky to have only one bull from their seven pellets for 29. Peter Mole and Paul Seabury both had a disappointing night. Binton go through to meet old rivals Wilmcote in the semi final round.
Home Guard were without their stalwart shooter Irene Parsons who is hoping for the speedy recovery of her husband who is in hospital but were still able to field eight shooters. Colin Fulford had the highest score with a 32 then Steve Hodges with 31. Sam Goodman who is still nursing his shoulder back to full strength managed 29. Richard and Jackie Mills and Joshua Bridge all scored 28 and neither Bill Gately nor Haydn Taplin shot as well as they can do. Binton B saw the return of both Ben Chamberlain and Jon Packard who have been absent of recent weeks. The team showed their metal with steady scoring from Mike Perry 32, and Ben Chamberlain and Bill Fleming who scored 31 as did Joe Powell which was a personal best for him. Jon Packard and Chris Green both shot 30. With a few stray threes Gordon O’nions and Sam Powell could both have done better. After dropping the lowest of their eight scores, Binton came out winners with 212pts to Home Guard’s 201 and go forward to meet MEB when the competition resumes on March 24th.
Teams return for round 2 of the Centenary Competition tonight (24 Feb) with Avenue-RBL vs Home Guard; Binton A vs Wilmcote and MEB vs Binton B.