National Finals – Mixed Fours & Over 55 Pairs

Solihull IBC
Saturday February 25th:
MIXED FOURS
Once again the total entry was down to 48 (normally 64) meaning a round robin of 12 groups of 4 in which we had 3 teams which included 6 players making their first appearance in a National Final.
Jim Dawson, Edrene Rumley, Robin Boddy & Pat Jones failed to score, losing 6-9, 8-9 and 3-9 whilst Roger Green, Debbie Taylor, Helen Hurling & Paul Johnson did score 1 point for a 5-5 draw but then lost 8-9, 2-16 to join Jim and Co. for an early trip home. The experienced Newsome team (runners-up in 2020), lost their first game 7-8 but with 2 wins 9-6 and 14-4 went through to the knockouts. However, after a good start to go 5-0 up against Kent1 they dropped a 2 and a 5 from which they struggled to recover, finally going out 9-10.

Sunday February 26th:
OVER 55 PAIRS
As on the previous day, the North Yorks teams failed to make any impact. Lawrence & Chantel Ireland lost 6-17, 6-9 and 4-9: Roger & Dianne Ellis went down 5-10, 8-11 and 4-10 and Rodney & Edith Knight bowed out with 4-10, 4-11 and 10-12 defeats. A glimmer of hope remained as Roger Green & Rod Dawson, after losing their first game 5-14 managed a 6-6 draw and a 12-4 win to reach the last 32 only to lose their against E Sussex by 6-16. (To be fair, Rod was playing on his own most of the time after his partner lost the plot!)