Highlights
The Ladies County Championship and Presidents Trophy continued on Sunday 21st June with all teams either trying to cement their good start in May, or trying to get back into the group and give themselves a chance of main championship or Mavis Dearden Supplementary qualification in July.
Let’s see how it went down and who’s likely to extend their County season after the final group games in July.
From the outset Group.1. always looked likely to be a straight shoot out between two of the strongest Ladies Counties, and comfortable wins for Wales and Shropshire over South Staffordshire and Dudley & District respectively, has resulted in a mouth watering clash for July, with both on two wins each, the victor will undoubtedly be one of the favorites for the County Championship title and the loser a favorite for the supplementary.
The Welsh win by 199 chalks and 13 single figure wins across both venues has made me wonder just who holds the record for the largest ever County Match victory?
I didn’t need to look very far to beat 199. The 2024 fixture between Shropshire & Dudley & District resulted in a 206 win for Shropshire, so Sunday’s fixture between these two, where Dudley & District only lost by 68 must have almost felt like a victory for them.
Group.2 was an all round tighter affair, with the winners from May being drawn against each other in June, so both North Midlands and North Lancs & Fylde knew that a second win would put them in pole position.
A topsy-turvy match saw both away teams being victorious. Great wins for North Lancs’s Sarah Edmondson, Joan Beer and Clair Russell on Dunlop No.2. resulted in a 9 chalk win in the North Midlands and surely an overall victory. But no, the North Midlands away team on Singleton B.C. carded an impressive 35 point win which included a 21-3 win from Ros Taylor, and it’s them that take the advantage into the final match.
It’s Staffordshire who gave themselves an outside chance of a group win from the other game against Mid Warwickshire where they won by 39. This was predominantly due a strong home performance on Florence Tennis & Bowls club where Dawn Parkes, Sally Evans, Joan Lewis and Fay Carson all won to single figures.
Staffordshire have a final match against North Midlands and a 90 chalk win for them would see them sneak past their opponents on aggregate. But any win for Staffs could also open the door to North Lancs & Fylde if they give Mid Warwick a bit of a battering. All to play for in Group.2.
Group.3’s top spot seems to have already been decided as defending champions Yorkshire steamrollered Merseyside by 174. This gives the ‘white roses’ four from four and a huge 246 aggregate total. So even if they lost their final game, it would have to be the collapse of the century for them to not go through as group winners.
So Group.3. is all about second spot, and South Yorkshire’s win over Cheshire, while still leaving them third in the table, feels like a key victory due to the fixtures in July. A strong 60 point win on Meersbrook, despite some resistance from Cheshire’s Kathryn Gee with a 21-5 win, and a South Yorkshire win away thanks to strong cards from Sarah Fox, Vicki Walton & Jenny Wilby, I suspect we’ll end up with a Yorkshire one and two after the July matches.
Group.4, like Group.1. is now a straight shoot out between Warwick & Worcester and Mid Cheshire in July, as they both triumphed and made it two wins from two. However, both did it very different styles.
Mid Cheshire v Burton & District produced the tightest match of the round and the only one in June that was split by single figures. In fact both venues went to a single figure result and despite only having 10 winners in the match compared to Burton’s 14, Mid Cheshire nicked it by 6 shots. Plus 9 at home and minus 3 away.
To come out on top with only 10 winners there must have been some impressive cards, and Debbie Williams 21-3 away was exceptional (I can say that, I was there). Viv Raddy’s 21-4 at Nordley I didn’t see, so I won’t comment, but these two cards were key to the victory.
Warwick & Worcester’s was no close affair. A 122 shot win over Lancashire. Seven single figure wins at King George V and two at Tarleton in Lancashire from Steph Witherspoon & Joan Ingram made for a very comfortable day.
In the Presidents, Greater Manchester’s win over Cumbria makes them the only team with a 100% record, and with North Shropshire to come in July, who haven’t yet managed to put a point on the board, it’s unlikely that we’ll see a change at the top.
Greater Manchester dominated at their home venue, Springhead Sports & Social, with four single figure winners, while Pat Roscoe & Jade Beresford both won well away to keep it tight in Cumbria.
North Derbyshire took 15 from 24 cards against North Shropshire and despite a spirited rally from North Shropshire in the middle order at home where they had three 21-9 winners, the weight of the 21’s and a 21-6 win at home from Tracey De La Bertouche, resulted in a 57 chalk win for North Derbyshire.
Congratulations to all winning teams. See you all next month when the line up for the Main Championship and the Mavis Dearden will be decided.
Full results and team picture gallery can be found on the Ladies County Championship Competitions Page.
