Below is a report on the 2019 Midland Alliance as written by selector Mark Shore, which I am very grateful for.
Shropshire played in the Midland Alliance yesterday at Florence Private in Stoke. There were two groups and Shropshire had in their group Potteries B North Mids and South Yorkshire. The first game was versus the Potteries B who had a fair bit of green knowledge which proved to be a real test on the No1 green. We ended up losing by 38 shots a margin which may well have been smaller if we had played this game third and had some green time before playing this very good side. Tony Rhodes was our best winner 21-16 and Adam Jones won 19. Martin Williams player very well but just dipped out 20. As the green dried out and the sun came out we faced North Mids in the second game in a must win match. The Shropshire lads played very well and green time showed as we put in a commanding performance to beat them by 40 shots. This put us on the table with two points. During this game controversy erupted when it came to light that South Yorkshire had played an ineligible player. South Yorkshire has allegedly rang someone Saturday to get approval and said they had been told the player could play! After consulting the rules the player in question had his 21-13 win versus North Mids reversed to a 21-3 lose (3 on card at start of games). This meant North Mids has in fact won the first game versus South Yorkshire by 4 resulting in North Mids also having 2 points on the table but the real damage came in South Yorkshire’s game versus the Potteries where the players 21-8 win was reversed to a 21-3 lose resulting in a Potteries win by 14 putting them on the table with 4 points. We had six winners versus North Mids with Glyn Wellings starring with a 21-9 closely followed by Stuart Clee winning 10. In the last game we played South Yorkshire who were fired up after effectively being eliminated from the competition due to the breach of the rules. Again our lads played well but with Potteries beating North Mids by 20 we were unable to win the group and sadly dipped out by 8. We shared the wins 4 each with Tony Rhodes being our best with a 21-12 and Glyn Wellings winning 21-14 being our best. A very good day of bowling despite not getting the result we wanted. Notable performances came from Tony Rhodes who used all of his experience to deliver 3 wins out of 3 and and an impressive day from Adam Jones who also won 3 out of 3. Also after suffering defeats in the first game both Stuart Clee and Glyn Wellings played very well to win both of their games comfortably. A good effort from the squad who would have gained valuable experience from the day.
Game 1 vs. Potteries & District B - lost by 38
- Keith Wall 17-21 D Clutton
- Stuart Clee 9-21 A Booth
- Glyn Wellings 10-21 M Rushton
- Scott Thomas 13-21 K McIntyre
- Tony Rhodes 21-16 R Hollins
- Martin Gaut 12-21 T Colclough
- Martin Williams 20-21 R Bridgwood
- Adam Jones 21-19 A Steele
Game 2 vs. North Midlands - won by 40
- Tony Rhodes 21-12 George Chapman
- Keith Wall 21-17 Jack Chapman
- Stuart Clee 21-10 Chris Tonks
- Scott Thomas 17-21 Natty Tonks
- Steve Roberts 18-21 Matty Allen
- Glyn Wellings 21-9 Max Jefferson
- Martin Williams 21-17 Jamie Sheringham
- Adam Jones 21-14 Paul Haylor
Game 3 vs. South Yorkshire - lost by 8
- Tony Rhodes 21-12 C Naylor
- Keith Wall 12-21 N Slack
- Stuart Clee 21-17 C Chambers
- Scott Thomas 13-21 J Higgins
- Steve Roberts 11-21 A Holdcroft
- Glyn Wellings 21-14 M Whittaker
- Martin Williams 17-21 M Hague
- Adam Jones 21-19 M Richardson
