Report by Trevor Blows - Photos by Jon Sellar
The Essex Petanque League representative team travelled to play the return match against the Chiltern league, who had won both A and B team matches at Bocking in November.
The match at Ickleford started in cold snowy conditions but with everyone wrapped up for the arctic conditions, both teams produced some great petanque
. A number of changes saw Trevor and Daniel Blows move into the A team. In the first triple, the Blows pairing joined their Onley Arms colleague, Tracey Austin, to play the strong Chiltern triple of Myra Huntley, Adrian Emson and Gill Howarth. The home side took a seven point lead but the Essex side dug deep to bring it back to 7-7. All three Onley players upped their game to take points and win 13-8.
Unfortunately, Lorne Gibson (Rayne Swan), Tom Winter (Feering Sun) and Viv Sams (Bird in Hand) could not make an impression against Jeremy Huntley, Rob Munday and Brian Howarth, losing 13-0 in just four ends.
In the pairs, Austin and Trevor Blows played Emson and Dave Blakey but could not repeat their triples form, losing 13-4.
Daniel Blows partnered Tom Winter and blew away the Chiltern pair of Rob Munday and Brian Howarth with some great pointing and shooting, producing a four end, 13-0 fanny.
The final pair saw Viv Sams and Lorne Gibson take a 7-0 lead but they let the opposition get it back to 7-7. They continued to share the points but just lost out 13-11 in a very close game against the Huntley pairing. At the lunch break, it was 3-2 to Chiltern.
In the afternoon triples, the Blows family teamed up with regional partner Lorne Gibson. Emson, Munday and Gill Howarth produced another close game. At 6-7, Essex failed to take full advantage of two ends, taking just four points when it could have been six for game. However, they stuck to the task to produce a solid 13-6 win.
So to the deciding game saw Clare Courtney, Viv Sams and Tom Winter facing Jeremy and Myra Huntley plus Blakey. It was an excellent game which could have gone either way. After a few ends, Austin took over from an injured Courtney. The home side fought back from six down but Essex just had the edge with great play from Winter and took three at the final end to produce a deserved 13-11 win. An excellent 4-3 for the A team against a very strong Chiltern side with Daniel Blows taking the man of the match with three excellent wins.
In the B match, Colin Sams (Bird in Hand), Beryl Gibson (Rayne Swan) and Ian Morgan (Bird in Hand) were outplayed by James Gentry, Bev Fordham and Eric Wilson, losing 13-0.
Wendy Ridehalgh (Bird in Hand), Jon Sellar (Thorley) and Andrew Winter (Feering Sun) put points on the board but lost out 13-5 to Neil Dilley, Neil Stevenson and Chris Wilson.
In the pairs, Sams and Ian Ruffle (Bocking) played well but lost out to Gentry and Dilley 13-5.
At 3-0 down in the match, Essex B needed a win and Ridehalgh teamed up with Morgan to beat Stevenson and Eric Wilson 13-10 in a close fought game.
Unfortunately Beryl Gibson and Andrew Winter took just six points off Peter Wright and Chris Wilson. A win that gave Chiltern B an unassailable 4-1 lead. With only pride to play for, the final two triples excelled to produce two wins for Essex and close the match score to 3-4.
Gibson, Winter and Sellar beat Wright, Fordham and Gentry 13-8 while Ruffle, Sams and Ridehalgh were always in front against Dilley, Wilson and Wilson, producing a 13-6 win.
A great day over in the Chiltern region and a competition that will only help the performance of Essex players in the future. Thanks go to the Ickleford club members who provided well needed hot refreshments on a very cold day.