THE MONDAY TRIPLES LEAGUE kicked off on May 13th. And nobody in Division 1 began with a stronger result than Abington's A-side.

 

A clean sweep of the points against newly-promoted Kislingbury A proved a partial, but necessary, corrective to the losses in other competitons so far. The win was also dominant on the shots front, with Abington walloping the aggregate score by 64 to 29, an average of double figures on each of the three rinks.

 

The B and C teams were both away, but could still display their camararderie, both tasked with a trip to the same venue - Northampton West End. The home club's A-side are one of the league's dominant sides, but the strength in depth of Abington means even our B-side can give them a testing game, and so they proved by taking a rink-win point and keeping the aggregate deficit down to just 7 at 39-46.

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On the other half of the green, Abington C were doing the opposite, taking the overall win despite only a single successful rink. Debate still remains on the natural level of the C-team, having been promoted in each of their first two seasons since joining the league. But a victory away at one of the promotion hopefuls suggests they can climb even higher still.

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* Sadly, it hasn't marked a turning point in Abington's county comp record this year. On Wednesday, Phil Reeve's rink followed his clubmates out of the men's county fours, making a full five for five knocked straight out in their first match. 2024 remains a work-in-progress.

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11/05/2024: ABINGTON ARE looking for a pick-me-up following a series of harsh results in county and national competitions.

 

The men's National Two-Fours C-team put in a determined effort against Northampton Express' B-team on Wednesday evening, 8th May, but made a swift exit from the tournament. A bright start in the early ends was soon pegged back. Abington C, skipped by Phil Reeve and Ollie Kirkwood, rallied to pull back nine shots across the final six ends, but it was not enough to cancel out the earlier damage.

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Friday night was the real gut-wrencher though, with all four Abington rinks competing in the men's county fours that night turfed out in the prelim round. Two of them by heavy scorelines - albeit with the mitigation of these opponents being among Northamptonshire's favourites. The results leave only one remaining entrant, who enter in next week's 1st round, in a comp Abington always marks out as a possible for success.

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Little to zero solace was provided by Abington's women either, who were comfortably beaten in the opening match of the Friday triples league, also to Express. A combined score of 19-42 and no winning rink puts the new combined Abington/Wootton Grange team on the back foot immediately. At least in this game you never have to wait long before your next opportunity.

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04/05/2024: NORTHAMPTON WEST END claimed victory in the Jubilee Vase for the first time on Friday 3rd May. Abington had won the first two outings of this now-annual fixture - which for both clubs doubles as a warmup for the Monday Triples League - but trailed a distant second on the A-half of the green this time.

 

Abington A barely had a response to West End A's superior technique in wet-weather play. Abington B at least held up their side of the event with three winning rinks, but even factoring that in, the final aggregate difference was minus 26. Truly, the Abington A-team was massacred.

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Individual rink of the night from an Abington perspective was Trevor Aston, Conor Dolby (on his Abington debut) and B-captain Phil Reeve, who took five on the final end to finish 19-7. Of course, the main thing was the spirit of the occasion, and another chapter in the long existence of two storied clubs. May this fixture continue for many more years to come.

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*TWO Abington players are toasting an early success; Tony O'Leary and Rob Archer, who booked their place in this year's Dave Jones Memorial Singles final on the Thursday. Also in its third year, this 3-wood singles comp will again have a new champion. Last year's runner-up O'Leary emerged from a particularly tough section of the draw while Archer played through a nasty shoulder-ache, which has been plaguing him since early in the year. He'll be hoping that has cleared by September, when the final is played.