Page 16 - Spring 2012

Page 16:Layout 1 15/05/2012 16:46 Page 1

16 DEVON WIN THE INTER-COUNTY “A” TEAM CHAMPIONSHIP

The Devon “A” team travelled to Northampton to face Buckinghamshire in the ICC “A” Team
Championship Final. The last and only time Devon won the title was back in the 1999/2000
season. Devon started off brightly in the first session of the day, and only lost one Singles
game. With the other Singles winning and the Pairs winning one and drawing one, Devon
picked up five points.
The second session set the scene for the rest of the day with the points being split evenly
between the two counties with Devon winning one of the Fours and one of the Triples but los-
ing the two remaining games. This ensured Devon had their noses in front at half time with
the score being 9-7.
In the third session the match points were split with Devon winning one Singles and one
Pairs game. However the two losing teams ensured that their shots loss was kept to a mini-
mum thus ensuring Devon picked up all the available bonus points. Devon went into the final
session knowing all they needed was four points. But Buckinghamshire responded and it
proved to be a tight session, which could have gone either way. The two Triples were the first
to finish, with one Triple winning and the other losing.
However Buckinghamshire also gained the bonus point and so Devon still needed two
points. With one of the Fours losing heavily it was left to Marie Toleman’s rink to secure the
win. They were 4-7 going into the last end, but with her last bowl Marie drew second wood,
and the Buckinghamshire four failed to take the bowl out. With Devon picking up the bonus
points in the Singles and Pairs the final score was Buckinghamshire 19 (179 shots) Devon 21
(181 shots). Congratulations to the team on bringing the trophy back to Devon after a long
absence. The “A” team have had a marvellous season in which they have won every single
game they have played in. Well done guys and gals.
In the other ICC finals, Cheshire completed their sixth ICC Premier title in a row when
they edged out Essex 24-16. Whilst Cornwall won the Premier Consolation 26-14 against
Dorset and the “A” Team Consolation 22-18 against Cambridgeshire. Previously, the Devon
Premier team travelled to Caroline Chisholm School in Northampton to take on Current ICC
champions Cheshire in the ICC Quarter Finals. Devon started of strongly and in the first ses-
sion picked up 6 points out of the 8 available and only lost one Singles game.