IT’S still very tight at the top of the Premier Section and second-placed The White House had to come from behind to beat visitors Catherine Wheel ‘A’, writes Andy Beal.
With a four-doll handicap, Catherine Wheel easily won the opening leg 30-22. A set of 21 in the next leg was never going to trouble The White House as they eased past that with 27 to level.
In the final leg, Wheel set with 25, however this posed no problem for The White House as they hit 29 in reply.
The Wheel’s Derrick Slater was in sensational form and hit a double sixer in his 14-doll haul (6-2-6).
Leaders The Gladiators dropped a vital point at Garsington Sports, hitting their lowest score of the season in the opening leg.
The leaders could only set 13 and in reply Garsington, with a four-doll handicap, struggled to hit 15, however it was enough to give them an early lead.
With the weather improving, the scores recovered and Gladiators set and won the next two legs 23-15, 26-18 to maintain their one-point lead.
Kevin Baker for The Gladiators was the only player to hit double figures with 13 (3-5-5).
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Littlemore British Legion opened up an eight-point lead in Section One after a close-fought home win against North Leigh FC, who sneaked the opening leg by the odd doll 18-17.
North Leigh then set 21 in the next leg and in reply it was looking very bleak for The Legion when their first two players blobbed out, however the rest of the team rallied to leave anchorman Kevin Stuart to whip off the three dolls needed to win the leg with 22.
A set of 16 in the final leg by North Leigh was never going to be enough to trouble the Legion and they passed that with 20.
Section Two leaders Catherine Wheel ‘C’ are three points clear after they beat The Seacourt 2-1.
They set and won the opening leg 16-11, and Seacourt responded well to level in the next leg 16-13.
In the third leg, The Wheel set and after half the team had thrown, things were looking gloomy as they could only muster up three between them, however the tail wagged to clang off 15 dolls between them to give a total of 18.
In reply, a good five from Ian Sharp gave The Seacourt hope, however the rest of the team struggled, and they fell two short with 16 to give the Wheel the leg and game.
SIXERS: D Slater (2) (Catherine Wheel), C Webb (Masons ‘A’), D Reading (The Swan).
BLOBBERS: G Moss (Duke Of Monmouth), A Breivik (Headington Con Club), D Finney (The Blackbird).
TOP DOLL SCORERS: 14: D Slater (Catherine Wheel), R Goodall (White House); 13: C Webb (Masons ‘A’), K Baker (Gladiators ‘A’), M Hewitson (The Swan).
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