League And Cup Report

Ian Ferguson has been persuaded to delay his retirement for one match, to play for Curdworth against a Birmingham Select side, in the Maurice Goldstein Cup.  The match takes place at the Colebridge club, on Tuesday April 25, with the select side being picked from the Kingshurst quartet of Mike Browne, Scott Prime, Chris Leach and Jason Essex.

Sutton 'D' won the Callaghan Cup final, with an exciting 25-23 victory for the trio of Martin Round, Colin Cleverley and Roy Astle over Beaufort Sports 'B'.

David Ranford, Maurice Eggleton and Ming Sing of Quinborne, claimed the League Cup final, as opponents Baverstock 'B' failed to show up at the Kingshurst club.

The Birmingham League season is almost complete with just a handful of results remaining.  Colebridge Aces pipped their club-mates Colebridge Braves 6-4 in the Premier Division, with the feature of the match being a maximum from Edward Lynn of Braves, which included an 11-5 in the fifth success over ace veteran Ray Dixon.  

Jon Ludlow continued in magnificent form for Beaufort Sports 'A', in their promotion battle with Kingshurst 'D'.  Ludlow beat star youngster Jack Williamson three straight and Roger Ellerington 14-12 in the fifth after a pulsating battle, in which he came back from two games down and saved two match points.  Beaufort followed up with a title clinching 9-1 performance against Land Rover 'C', which saw Ludlow and Tony Stewart unbeaten.

Streetly 'B' and Land Rover 'D', the top two sides in Division Three, fought out a 5-5 draw.  Graham Fleet won three for Streetly, stopping Paul Thomas gaining an outright individual title, which he now shares with Dean Hicks of Hockley Heath 'B'.  Streetly 'B' then needed to beat Beaufort Sports 'B' to clinch the title, but lost 6-4 as both Rob Sheldon and Alan Thompson gained maximums for Sports.  Nigel Collins gained a magnificent 11-8 in the fifth win over Darren Williams, to clinch a 6-4 win for Bournville 'C' against their 'B' side, after his team-mate, wily veteran Harry Ford, had gained a maximum.

Evergreen Alan Buck shows no signs of losing the winning touch, as he gained another treble for Hockley Heath 'C', in their 5-5 draw with Walmley 'C'.

The Birmingham Summer League commences on Monday May 8, with the team secretary's meeting at the Kingshurst club on Thursday April 27.