Warwickshire brought back down to earth

FOLLOWING their brilliant start in the UKDA National League Premier Division season, when they won 25-11 away to Cornwall putting them top of the table, Warwickshire were brought back down to earth in their second fixture with a narrow 19-17 home defeat to Lancashire to see them drop to fourth place on 45 points, but only six short of new leaders Suffolk.

- By ALAN TOWE

The weekend got off to a good start with the ladies ‘B’ chalking up a convincing 5-1 win with Kacie O'Connor their top player with a 22.77 average in her straight 3-0 win over Jenny Nuttall. The men’s ‘B’ finished on the wrong side of the narrow 7-5 result with Mark Carter their top player beating Martin Lomas 4-3 with a 26.43 average.

With a 10-8 lead it was not the start Warwickshire would have wished for as Sunday's games got underway, the ladies ‘A’ going down 6-0 to put Lancashire 14-10 up and although the men’s ‘A’ recorded a 7-5 win it was not enough to avoid an overall 19-17 defeat. Man of the match for the men’s ‘A’ was newcomer Dom Taylor who in his 4-3 win over Lancashire's Steve Green recorded a superb 32.09 average, this being Taylor's second consecutive men’s ‘A’ award winner.

West Midlands, newly promoted to the Andy Wheeler Fisheries Championship Division, followed up their opening day 20-16 home win over Kent with another 20-16 win at Hampshire.

There were mixed fortunes for the ladies as the ‘B’ side won 5-1 and the ‘A’ team lost by the same margin. Topping the averages for the ‘B’ was Katherine Jenkins, who in her 3-0 win over Laura Kedge averaged 16.52. The sole winner for the ladies ‘A’ was Evonne Taylor, who had a 22.06 average as she accounted for Tracy North with a 3-2 result.

In the men’s games the ‘B’ side handed out a 9-3 defeat to their counterparts, Will Beaden their award winner with a 29.56 average in his 4-3 win over Steve Lawrence while Jack Aldridge took the man of the match award for the ‘A’ side, beating Sam Rooney 4-0 with a 30.36 average as his team lost 7-5.

The overall win for the West Midlands saw them move two places up the table to second with 46 points, just one short of leaders Cheshire.