County Scene

BMX racing

ACADEMY TRIO MAKE MARK AT NATIONAL SERIES:

The 2012 BMX national series began in Manchester and three girls from the One and All Youth Academy, which is based at Bissoe, near Truro, made the trip to represent their club.

Sisters Megan Wherry (12), Abi Wherry (9) from Carnon Downs and fellow team mate Megan Hopgood (14), from Redruth, entered round one of the national series along with more than 700 other riders from all over the country ageing from the Under 6s to 45+.

Megan, in her second year of national racing riding two classes this year, took sixth place in both.

Sister Abi, in her first ever national, took second in her B final to take 10th place overall. Megan Hopgood, also racing her first national, took a commendable fifth place.

The events are run across the country by British Cycling and are qualifying rounds towards the World Championships in May, which this year are being in Birmingham and which the girls are aiming to compete.

The next round is back at the new Manchester indoor facility later this month when the girls are hoping to match or improve their placings.

One and All Youth Academy is promoting cycling for all abilities and disciplines to any rider under 18.

Through support from their professional riders, patrons, senior riders, coaching team and sponsors they can give youngsters a helping hand from learning basic fun sessions to coaching our regional and national riders in competitive racing.

The Academy intend to support riders in regional and national events in Road racing,Track,Time trials, Triathlon, Cyclo-cross, Mountain Bike events and BMX.

The Academy is based at Bissoe Bike Hire and meets every Sunday morning at 9am.

More details are available at www.oneandallcycling.co.uk or www.oneandallyouth.co.uk

Badminton

EASY WIN FOR YOUNGSTERS:

Cornwall U11s defeated their Avon by 25 rubbers to 11 at Truro School.

The Duchy girls were the stars of the day, winning all their singles and doubles matches.

Notable performances came from the much improved Katie Phelps and Cara Collins, who had two particularly close level doubles matches which they managed to win.

However, the player of the day was Amy Walker, who achieved a marvellous hat-trick of victories with her seven-year-old partner, Charlotte Freer, the youngest member of the team.

The Boys' singles games finished even, with Luke Sillifant winning a pulsating match against No 1 seed, Cameron Elliot.

Sam Hammersley managed to move up a gear to win his match, while Joseph Tucker also won in three close games.

Avon won the majority of the level doubles events, but it still wasn't enough.

With the match won following the singles and level doubles, Cornwall's good form continued into the mixed games, winning five of the six events.

This Sunday the U11s take Dorset on at Truro School.

Snooker/billiards

CHAMPION HITS BACK:

The latest rounds of the Cornwall Billiards and Snooker Competitions have been played and draws have been done for the next rounds.

In the last 16 of the Individual Snooker, in a repeat of last year's final, defending champion Bobby Southworth (Rack em up) won 3-2 against Alan Hurley (Illogan Highway) after trailing 2-0, Bobby had an 81 break.

Former champion, Steve Downing (St Rumons) had a 92 break in his 3-1 win over Simon Hosking (Penponds) and another former champion, Kevin Steed (St Cleer Liberal Club) edged a 3-2 win over Chris Kendall (St Blazey AFC).

In the Pairs Snooker Terry Kempe & Chris Isaacs (St Day) will play Gary Spencer & Andrew Best (Bugle WMC )in the final after both pairs came through their semi finals with 3-1 victories.

In the County Team Five a side Snooker, there will be a repeat of last year's final.

Wh Bond had a 3-0 win against Breage SC and St Rumons had a 3-1 win over Penponds.

In the Under 21 Snooker Jake Stewart (Penponds), Shaun Wills (St Rumons), Steven Hull (Rack em up) and Chris Kendall (St Blazey AFC) all made it through to the semi finals.

The Individual handicap has reached the quarter final stage. Alan Hurley made 2 x 40+ breaks in his 3-1 win over Simon Hosking and the Over 45's Snooker reached the semi final stage, best performance coming from Andy Ridgeman (Callington SC) who had breaks of 43 & 65 in his 3-0 win over Paul Broad (St Rumons).

The Cornwall Billiards & Snooker teams had their annual fixture with the Plymouth League last weekend at the Falmouth Rack em up club, and were defeated 20-11.

The Billiards team had a 3-2 victory thanks to wins from Terry Kempe, Charlie Gay and Steve Downing, but the Senior Snooker team lost 10-4 and the Under 21 Snooker lost 8-4.

Draws and results on page 112.

Tennis

GOOD YEAR FOR COUNTY:

Tennis Cornwall have held their annual meeting which was very well attended with representatives from many of Cornwall's tennis clubs.

Chairman Sue Eames reported that 2011 had been a busy and successful year. She congratulated clubs who had achieved Beacon and Clubmark status.

It had also been a h a very good year for the county teams with the Ladies and Men were both promoted following the July National Grasscourt Championships, and both Ladies and Men over 35 teams also promoted.The Under 18 Girls gained promotion in March.

Cornwall is now also successfully running Veterans' teams for over 45, 55, 60 and 70 s meaning strong competition for all age groups.

Alan Pritchard and Jill Tucker were thanked for all their hard work running the Summer and Winter leagues where, as ever, there was great competition for many players.

Alisa Cole, Kieron Butter and Amy Johns all juniors entered the 'Road to Wimbledon' competition and were good enough to play in the finals in August at the best tennis courts in the world.

Cornwall was fortunate to receive a visit in August from Peter Bretherton, Lawn Tennis Association President.

He visited Bodmin , Wadebridge and presented the prizes at the County Hardcourt Championships in Newquay.

Cornwall has a lot of players ranked in the top 100 nationally in their age group.

Special mention was made of Oshi Leverton ranked 13 in under 12's, Alisa Cole ranked 58 in under16's and Athena Chrysantou ranked 25 in under 18's.

Certificates were awarded to winning teams in all the Divisions of Summer and Winter Leagues as well as the various cups.

Award winners: Spirit of Sport Junior – Conor Polyblank (Penzance); Spirit of Sport Senior – Sammy Bassett (Penzance); Volunteer of the Year Junior – Ryan Jennings (Bodmin); Volunteer of the Year Senior – Harry Livesey (Newquay); Coach of the year – Sally Lobb (Menheinot); Club of the year – St Agnes; Junior player of the year – Ben Kelly ( Leverton Williams); Endeavour Cup – Jill Tucker; James Webster Memorial Cup Junior – Jake Horton (Leverton Williams and Launceston); James Webster Memorial Cup Senior – Clare Hudson (Truro).

Hilary Webster the LTA representative brought the meeting up to date with all the ongoing developments in the game.

The meeting ended with an audio visual presentation from Georgina Loosemore and Debbie Hale the county development officers. It appreciated many of the successes of the last year.

Cricket

LEAGUE AGM ROUND-UP:

A new president was elected at last week's Jolly's Drinks Cornwall Cricket League annual meeting held at Truro.

Clive Rosevear, from St Austell, becomes only the 11th president in the league's 108-year history and follows in the footsteps of Col Ronnie Potts and Mike Buzza.

Mr Rosevear, a Cornishman, has spent most of his life in the Mid Cornwall area and played as a batsman for the St Stephen, Gorran and Grampound Road clubs.

He became a panel umpire and for a time wrote weekly cricket reports for the local press.

He is a vice president of Cornwall CCC and a very familiar face at county matches.

He has also been a keen supporter of the Cornwall Cricket League and this will be the 20th successive year that his firm has sponsored the Hawkey Cup competition.

In recent years the Rosevear Cup, for the lower divisions, has also proved a popular addition to the league schedules. On accepting the post Mr Rosevear thanked the gathering "for the great honour" and he intends to get around the county as much as possible during the season.

The meeting, attended by 65 of the 72 clubs, voted on 40 rule change proposals and all but three were passed.

The exceptions were a proposal to fine clubs for failing to enter results onto their play-cricket website within 48 hours and two proposals from the Officials Association.

If carried they would have seen almost a 20% rise in the annual expenses paid by Higher Tier clubs to umpires.

The Higher Tier clubs voted to allow payments to both a professional and a Seasonal Overseas Player.

The Premier League clubs agreed for games after August 14 to start 30 minutes earlier at 12.30pm.

On weekends when the county side have to travel on Saturday evenings all Premier games will start at noon.

In drawn games two extra points will be awarded if the lower scoring team fails to reach the 75% threshold and a slight change to the acquisition of bowling bonus points will benefit Premier clubs chasing scores of less than 100, if they lose wickets.

In County Division 1 non-playing scorers will now be mandatory with a two point penalty for failure.

In Divisions 2, 3 & 4, after one season, the start time (up to August 14 ) goes back 30 minutes to 2pm.

A new ball will now be made available for each innings in Division 2.

In Division 7, where games are of only 40 overs, the start time will now be 2pm throughout the season.

In Cup competitions the Higher Tier County 20/20 Cup was agreed to be discontinued, having had a mixed reception from clubs over the last couple of years.

The Hawkey Vinter and Edwards Cups will in future all be played under the same set of playing conditions, in line with the National T20 format.

There will also be a new ball available in each innings of the semi-finals and final.

Amongst a number of administrative proposals it was passed that League trophies must in future be returned by the earlier date of July 1 and clubs will now be allowed two associated members serving simultaneously on the LMC.

Any games that need to be rearranged, due to ground availability, must in future be notified to the League by no later than March 1 with the mutually agreed new date.

In his financial report. League Treasurer John Spry reported that the League Accounts had "broken even" over the year.

The Lenny Lobb Fair Play Award , for Premier clubs, was presented by the CACO Chairman Derek Head to Falmouth.

The President made the other awards. The Archie Smith Trophy for the outstanding young player was won by James Walton (Truro CC), while David Masters (St Neot CC) received the Clive Osborne Trophy for the outstanding young eastern bowler.

St Just won the Bradley Trophy for the leading Premier League batting average and the Littlejohns Trophy for the best Premier bowling average went to Truro.

The Division 4 & below (West) Sporting Trophy for the highest batting average was received by Andrew Triggs of Ludgvan.

Paul Angove of Botallack won the Beecher Williams Trophy for the lowest bowling average Division 4 & below (West).

Peter Lidgey, who recently retired as a League Committee member, was made a Vice President.

The chairman, Vic Hassell, thanked him for his valued contribution to the LMC over eighteen years.

He also paid tribute to the work of the Play Cricket Administrator Steve Nicholls, who has moved out of the county.

Del Codd (Perranarworthal CC) and Nigel Long (Truro CC) were elected onto the Management Committee.

All other league officers and committee members were re-elected unopposed.

Officers elected 2012: President, C Rosevear; chairman, V Hassell; secretary, M Evans; assistant secretary, K Goldsmith; treasurer, J Spry; assistant treasurer, P Moores.

Short mat

PETER IS THE CHAMP:

On Sunday, 14 club champions from across the county met at Fowey Community Leisure Centre to compete for the title of County Champion of Champions.

Reaching the semi-finals were Graham Reeves (Saltash), Fran Phillips (Helston), Peter Hore (Holmans) and Graham Ford (St Newlyn East).

In the semi finals Graham Reeves and Fran Phillips contested a close match with the score all square at 6-6 after eight ends before Graham sealed victory 10-8 after the allotted 11 ends.

In the other semi final Peter Hore came from 1-7 down against Graham Ford to win 15-10. Peter claimed the title with an 11-5 win in the final against Graham Reeves.

Game Scores: Preliminary Round: Paul Cummins (Liskeard) 7-11 Graham Reeves (Saltash), John Menhenick (Wadebridge) 10-4 Brenda Sleep (Dobwalls), David Topliffe (St Minver) 5-13 Fran Phillips (Helston), Ian Perry (Porthleven) 9 -6 Betty Temple-Smith (Luxulyan), Andrew Bunce (St Tudy) 6-9 Tony Jago (Treviscoe), Peter Hore (Holmans) 14-1 David Studden (Illogan). Quarter Finals: Graham Reeves 13-4 John Menhenick, Fran Phillips 16-6 Ian Perry, Tony Jago 2-15 Peter Hore, Joyce Ward (Withiel) 3-17 Graham Ford (St Newlyn East). Semi-finals: Graham Reeves 10-8 Fran Phillips, Peter Hore 15-10 Graham Ford. Final: Graham Reeves 5-11 Peter Hore

COUNTY MIXED FOURS:

The eight qualifiers from the recent qualification competition returned to Fowey Community Leisure Centre on Sunday to compete for the County Mixed Fours title.

In the quarter-finals Rosemary Curnow, Patsy Wakeley, Brian Wakeley & Chris Roberts (Ladock) defeated Ronald & Margaret Shillaber (Lanteglos), Sheila Flower & Robert Flower 10-6.

Gillan Cawrse (Withiel), Terry Bray (Lostwithiel), Joyce Ward (Withiel) & Peter Hamley (Lostwithiel) were 12-7 winners against Chris & Edna Cope, John & Margaret Turner (Liskeard). Marion & John Keers, Carol & Graham Ford (St Newlyn East) claimed a 14-4 win against Margaret Goodwin, Melba Kitt, Graham Reeves & Darren Woolner (Saltash).

The final game saw Leah Sherman, Richard Brown, Linda Martin & Gerald Fisher (Illogan) take a 15-3 win against Barbara James (Dobwalls), Marilyn Stewart, Henry Kendall, Arthur Hambley (Withiel).

In the semi-finals Peter Hamley's team held a one shot lead over Chris Roberts' team but a misjudged final wood from Hamley gave away two shots in turn giving Roberts a 9-8 victory and a place in the final.

The second semi saw Gerald Fisher's team defeat Graham Ford's 10-5.

In a closely fought final the score read 8-8 going into the last end, Fisher chose not to bowl the final wood of the game despite not being 100 per cent sure he held shot.

After a few tense moments Fisher's decision not to bowl was proven correct as the umpire measure went in his favour by a matter of millimetres.

COUNTY CHAMPIONSHIP:

On Saturday Cornwall's A team travel to Bristol to start their defence of the ESMBA Inter County A Team Consolation title against Warwickshire.