We had a comfortable 2/1 win against Hurstpierpoint in the first round with our first and second pairs chalking up solid victories in their matches. We then faced Felsted in the second round who had surprisingly beaten last year’s winners Oundle in the first round. Our second pair, Martin Riddiford and Jonathan Williams gained their second point of the day with the first pair , John Schofield and Richard Williams losing narrowly at the 18th leaving the third pair of David Westcott and Max Hunt to decide the match which regrettably they lost two down.
Our squad really do have the potential to win this tournament for a second time to add to our successes in 2006/7 but we need to find that extra consistency in depth if we are to lift the prize again!
My sincere thanks to the team of Richard Williams and John Schofield, Jonathan Williams and Martin Riddiford and my partner David Westcott who gave of their best but regrettably it was just not Cranleigh’s year.
THE PETER BURLES SALVER
We lost narrowly in the first round 2/1 against Hurstpierpoint after a play-off which was sad following the excellent 9/7 win by our first pair Tony Mote and Mickey Moore. Having checked the records I can confirm that this is the biggest winning margin by a Cranleigh pair since the start of the tournament! In the afternoon we lost 2/1 to Oundle after our first pair had again won their match but lost an exciting play-off ! Again a big thank you to our team of Tony Mote, Mickey Moore, Ian Borrow and Derek Lyons.
THE BUNNY MILLARD SALVER
We were represented in the over 75’s salver by Bobby Stovold and Wally Triggs who very kindly stepped in at the last moment. It is always challenging to qualify for the semi –finals in this tournament which is decided by the best four stapleford scores. The cut-off was again very high but regrettably we were unable to gain sufficient points.
We must now look forward to the 2015 tournament which will take place on July 9th – 11th in the hope that new blood and new management will change our fortunes and turn in the results that we are undoubtedly capable of achieving .