THE men’s National Championships get under way at Beach House Park in Worthing this weekend.
The championships begin with the Under-25 Singles and end with the new Two Wood Singles for the Tony Allcock Trophy on August 26.
Northampton West End will represent the County in seven of the competitions, which is a phenomenal achievement.
One of the members of the Triples qualifiers from Wellingborough, Tony Asher, is playing in that discipline 44 years after he first did so in 1968, when, at the age of 19 years he played lead with his father F J Asher and E Houghton when they played out of Irthlingborough WMC.
They played in the National Championships as the County champions at Mortlake before the move to Worthing.
Wellingborough’s triples team, which sees Darren Lyman and Paul Broderick joining Asher, will play a club yet to be confirmed a week today.
Thrapston’s Callum Height plays Ross-on-Wye’s Dan Palmer in the Under-25 Singles on Saturday while West End’s Jamie Walker takes on Gosforth’s Chris Yeomans.
Also on Saturday, West End’s John Baggat and Alan Ashby will take on opponents yet to be confirmed in the Over-55 Pairs.
West End’s Fours team will play against Polegrove on Monday while the Wellingborough line-up of Mark Corbyn, Darren Lyman, Neil Corbyn and Paul Broderick are up against Shanklin.
West End’s Triples team will be in action on Wednesday next week against Shirley Park.
The County’s Under-25s Men’s Double Rink team will play Sussex a week tomorrow.
In the Pairs, Kingsthorpe duo Andrew Manton and Vernon Gearey take on Richard Speake and David Howes of Stroud a week on Sunday while West End’s Andy Fowkes and Dave Kovacs face Adrian Chipper and Chris Holliday (Wokingham) the day after.
Desborough Town bowler John Haines is up against Worcester’s Mark Atkins in the Singles on Wednesday, August 22 while Walker will play Richard Catton on Cambridge & County on the following day.
Keith Height and Neil Corbyn will both be in the Two Wood Singles on August 25.
THE women’s National Championships have started at Victoria Park in Leamington Spa.
But there was disappointment for Northants as they were beaten 44-26 in the preliminary round of the Amy Rose competition - an inter-county double rink tournament for players under 31.
Northants’ team but they were outplayed on the day by an impressive Buckinghamshire side.
In the fours, Finedon were narrowly edged out 20-18 by a side from Leominster, while in the two-wood singles Alison Dring won her first round before losing to Amy Gowshall (Cleethorpes).