NORTHANTS A remain on course to retain the Derbyshire Trophy, the English Bowling Federation indoor county championship, after an impressive 96-81 victory away to main southern section title rivals Lincolnshire at Lincoln which yielded 12 of the 14 points on offer.
It means that Northants will only need a handful of points from their final match away to Norfolk next Sunday (Feb 23) to book a place in the national final at Newark for a second consecutive year.
Northants are currently ten points clear of Lincolnshire, both with one fixture remaining, and 16 ahead of Norfolk, who still have to top two to play at home, so seven points from the Gallows club at Fakenham next Sunday will suffice without having to be concerned about the outcome of the Norfolk/Lincs clash the following weekend.
There were outstanding performances from the rinks of team captain James Harford (23-14), Simon Law (31-23) and Tristan Morton (27-14), while Roger Martin's trio, although beaten 30-15, battled hard against the rink of junior international Jonathan West to make certain Northants maintained their overall advantage.
Meanwhile, Northants B claimed only their fifth point of the season during their 116-79 defeat away to Hunts at Huntingdon, a 22-22 draw being achieved by the rink of Mick Linnell, while Graham Agger's rink only lost by one.
Mick Greaves' rink led 9-6 after ten ends only to fade during the second half to eventually lose 13-28, while Fred Richardson's went down 20-41 after leading 17-12 with just ten ends remaining.
RESULTS
Northants A 96 (12), Lincs 81 (2) – (Northants A rinks only):
Richard Allam, Adam Warrington, Roger Martin lost 15-30; Wayne Aspinall, Paul Bailey, James Harford won 23-14; Paul Dalliday, Michael Humphreys, Simon Law won 31-23; Nick Wilkie, Trevor Collins, Tristan Morton won 27-14.
Northants B 79 (1), Hunts 116 (13) – (Northants B rinks only):
Mike Ramsden, Ray Keating, Mick Greaves lost 13-28; Jeff Clipston, Brian Bassam, Mick Linnell drew 22-22; Les Sharp, Malcolm Squires, Fred Richardson lost 21-40; Melvyn Beck, John Holroyd, Graham Agger lost 24-25.
