A GOOD DAY FOR THE OLDIES

Today, Oakley were fighting on three fronts and It was only in the Basingstole and District Triples featuriing Terry Heath, Ric Newson and Ted Brown where we had success. Playing at Howard Park, against a Whitchurch Triple, skipped by Ian Hayward, they led by just 5-4 after 5 ends but by 10 ends had moved out to an 11-5 lead. 15-7 up at 15 ends Oaklety clinched the title by 17 ends with a 17-8 lead. This was some compenation for their defeat in last year's Final.

Meantime at Oakley, the Oakley Ladies were playing Cove in the semi final of the Gazette Cup. Oakley had to field a team that was very different from the one used in the previous rounds (there were 4 different players) and with Cove under strength it was difficult to decide who might win. Oakley, at ten ends led by 5 shots but between 10 and 15 ends Oakley fell apart, conceding a net 26 shots so that, by 15 ends, Oakley trailled by 21 shots. That sadly was it and once again Oakley had been beaten by Cove in a team competition. Oakley Scores; Laura Butler, Jo Holland and Val Ryan lost 12-28; Camila Kingshott, Sue Dixon and Ruth Bown lost 15-17; Sandra Lee, Angie Rowe and Janie Vickers won 20-18.

Later that day at Leamington, Nicole Rogers and Heather Statham started as underdogs, in the National Junior Pairs agaiinst Somerset's Rebecca Tremlett and Laura Holden. It was always going to be a hard task for our relatively inexperienced duo against a Junior and a Senior International but we began superbly and took an 11-0 lead. Losing the 6th end proved disasterous as Somerset took the mat up the green and from then on Laura showed just why she has been a full international for the last five years and eventually we lost 12-24. It was a disappointing end (Amy Rose still to come) for our players but they have asked that all those members who came to Leamington over the last two weeks be thanked for their support.