Eastern Counties Regional players have had great success in the last National qualifier held in Crondall, Hampshire at the weekend. None more so than the ladies team of Viv Middleton-Sams, Wendy Ridehalgh, Clare Courtney and Tracey Austin who finished top and are seeded no.1 for the final top 8 play offs on 20th June. The team have been in top spot throughout the three qualifiers, having lost only 3 games overall. Their first game was against Kent who were in 2nd place on 7 wins. Tracey Austin was firing on all cylinders and her first points were spot on, backed up by Middleton-Sams shooting the team were untroubled. Next for Austin’s accuracy was West Midlands and again the ECR team triumphed. Chiltern, who were lying in 4th place before the start of play and had already beaten 3rd placed Northern, were the next victims and suffered the same fate. East Midlands were up next and the ECR team were up against one of their own with Kim Lachani playing, but they showed no mercy when Middleton-Sams shot for a five to move into an unassailable lead. Only the last game eluded them with a loss to another West Midlands team, when they relaxed their concentration after already qualifying, but they hope to keep up their consistent form for the final leg which will be held at the Rayne Swan on Sunday 20th June.

The team of Audrey Lucas, Pauline Taylor (Towers PC, Brentwood) and Marlene Kenneally and Mandy Cruden both from Victorians PC, Theydon Bois hopefully qualified for the top 8, with another 2 good wins. They opened with a 13-9 win over West Midlands, then had a poor display against Chiltern., but bounced back beating Southern 13-10. Unfortunately they faded and lost the last two, but considering they played without their recognised shooter it was a good display.

The third ladies team struggled to get going and lost their opening three games, which left them rather disheartened. But the other ECR players rallied round and with a lot of encouragement the team of Iris Sutton, Jill Thornton, Dawn Bourquin and Brenda Wilmot had a great win over the strong Kent team in a marathon game. They then followed it up with a win in their last game over team mates Lucas, Taylor and Kenneally.

There were some good performances from the men too with Keith Flack, Dean Little and Ritesh Lungut waiting to see if they have qualified along with Raj Tupsy, Seetahul Dinesh and Francois Bourquin.
Little, Flack and Lungut met the strong team from London of Mehdi Bira, Bruce Rowland & Bilal Quidan, and a two hour game, which was nip & tuck all the way, saw both teams have opportunities to win which were not taken. Despite having their noses in front for the majority of the match the ECR boys lost out 13-12.
A bye in the second round gave them their first win of the day but was followed by a comprehensive 13-0 win in 4 ends including an end of 6. Mike Sharratt, John Holbourn and Darren Frost from Kent were completely outplayed & never in the game. Then followed a disappointing 13-8 loss to another Kent team after being 8-4 up. Round 5 became a crucial must win game if they were to secure a place in the top 16. Playing a team from Southern region, they started very well picking up 10 answered points before the curse of erratic form re-appeared. But with Southern not capitalising on several good opportunities & the score at 10-6 in the ECR boys favour, they secured the 3 points required for a vital win & passage into the top 16 (we hope!).

Tupsy, Dinesh and Bourquin had an excellent days play as well with 4 wins and hopefully another team in the top 16 play offs.

Elsewhere Frank Britt, playing with Ben Treend (Southern) and Sean Prendergast (I.O.W) had mixed fortunes but still hope to have made the cut, and Kim Lachani who is playing with East Midlands, is a good bet for a top 8 place at Rayne.

Both teams make the top 16 play off finals which will be held at the Swan, Rayne on 20th June.