Broadwas beat Bury 6-1

[<<] [>>] by Stuart Smith at Broadwas
10th July 2023 (AC - Secretary's Shield)

Broadwas (eight miles west of Worcester) were delighted when Bury overcame Middlesborough in the First Round as that eliminated the potential 450-mile round trip for the Second Round fixture. That improved further when Broadwas won the toss and hosted Bury on 8 July when the weather was decidedly "iffy" with regular light rain spells and distant thunder. Bury had been warned in advance about Broadwas' notorious sloping lawns so they used the practice time well to try to read how the balls might roll when playing across the slope - not easy!

Tony Phillips (4.5) and Chris Alvey (8) got Bury off to a good start by winning the doubles against Stuart Smith (4.5) and Ian Dampney (8) having taken a narrow lead and then defending it assiduously until time ran out +3t to Bury. However, the singles both went to Broadwas Ian Lambert (12) defeating Roger Schofield (6) +23 and John Guy (5) overcoming Anne Alvey (+7t).

In the afternoon session Broadwas came to terms with their own lawns better and made a clean sweep Stuart +8 v Tony, John +8t v Roger, Ian D +2t v Chris and Ian L +4t v Anne. The overall result of 6-1 rather flattered Broadwas but sets us up nicely for a repeat of last year's fixture against Sheffield. Thanks for making the long journey Bury.