Northants A team make a successful start to trophy defence by beating their B team
Northants A opened their bid to retain the English Bowling Federation's Derbyshire Trophy by defeating their own B side 116-75 at Stamford.
They claimed 11 of the 14 points on offer, but victory was not as comfortable as the scoreline might suggest with the B team having led on three of the four rinks at one stage before the A team pulled away in the second half of the match.
The A rinks of captain Simon Law and Graham Agger led the way with 42-17 and 37-15 victories respectively, the latter's rink scoring 24 shots against two over the last 11 ends.
Adam Warrington's rink trailed Roger Martin's trio 19-11 with five ends remaining before coming back to draw 21-21, while Trevor Collins' triple secured the B team's one rink success with a 22-16 win.
Scores:
A team names first: Michael Humphreys, Wayne Morris, Adam Warrington drew with Peter Smith, Kevin Vinter, Roger Martin 21-21; Stuart Agger, Paul Dalliday, Simon Law beat Martin Prudhoe, Tien Ngo, Dudley Smith 42-17; Martyn Dolby, Mick Linnell, Graham Agger beat Peter Linnell, Ally McNaughton, Mike Anderson 37-15; Brian Martin, Tom Newman-Borrett, Peter Brown lost to John Holroyd, Andy Cox, Trevor Collins 16-22.