he Pairs Competition was held at Binton Social Club on Tuesday 19 March. Paul Onions and TJ Hooker together with Bill Gately and Chris Green were knocked out in preliminary rounds. Alison McMillan shot a mini possible in her preliminary and again in a quarter final match. She went through with her partner Steve Ray to the semi finals. Alan Crichton and James Wilby shot 48.4 in their preliminary match only to come up against the current holders of the trophy, Andy Smith and Will Cemis in a quarter final where they were knocked out by just one point. Lester Langford and Michelle Dale shot 46.3 and were narrowly defeated by Bill Fleming and Nick Williams who shot 46.4. Richard Groom and Karl McMillan went straight into the semi final round as their opponents did not put in an appearance.

McMillan and Ray shot 64.3 against Smith and Cemis who strongly defended their title when both shooters scored possibles 35.3 and 35.4 to put them in the final. Groom and McMillan were seen off by Fleming and Williams with Williams shooting maximum points for their place in the final.

Smith and Cemis only missed one bull each to score 69 points (34.6 and 34.4 respectively) Fleming and Williams were not quite as accurate and with scores of 32.2 and 34.3 they had to be satisfied with second place. Smith and Cemis won the trophy for the fourth time retaining it for the second year in succession.

Webley Shield League:-

Binton A 226 Avenue 225. Binton turned out in full force with eight shooters, determined to win back the 23 point handicap given to Avenue. Andy Smith and Will Cemis both shot 34s and Michelle Dale 33 to boost the score of the home team. The best Avenue could do was 33 from Alan Crichton and a season best from Dee Green who has only shot intermittently this season but in a nail biting finish it all came down to Binton’s final shooter, Neil Beningfield who managed a season best score of 32 to win the match for Binton by just one point.

Home Guard 223 Avon 220. Avon got off to a solid start with 32 from Bill Fleming but Home Guard’s first shooter Gareth Morris did better with maximum points, his tenth career possible but his first this season. Home Guard had only five shooters so had two par scores of 28 and a nine point handicap yet Avon kept the pressure on with 34 from team captain Nick Williams and 32s from Steve Ray and Alison McMillan. Avon finished on 220 but Home Guard’s last shooter Andy Morris shot 33 and with a total score of 223 they won the match against the odds.

MEB 208 Binton B 212. Binton led from the start when Bill Gately shot a season best of 31 with consistent shooting from the team including a 32 from Benn Chamberlain. MEB’s Rob Dipple had the highest score in the match 33. But overall they had fewer bulls than Binton and the final score saw Binton win the match by four points.

Report by Juana Everett, to be published on 28th March 2019