THURSDAY September 20 saw the inaugural representative fixture between the Heart of England Bowling League and near neighbours Big Crown Bowling League.

Twenty-four players took to the green on a wet and dismal evening. The Heart of England chose the Valley BC green at West Midlands Travel, Billesley, as their home venue whilst Big Crown utilised Kings Norton BC.

Although the leg at Kings Norton got away to a prompt start - a credit to the club and green-keeper in such horrid conditions - the Valley leg was under serious threat as the green-keeper initially declared the green unfit for play. However, in view of the effort everyone had made in attending, he relented and play started 15 minutes late after the green had drained.

Whilst this drama was going on, at Kings Norton play was under way. First card off was a victory for Heart of England with Tome Sankey winning 21-3 over Alan Phipps. This was soon cancelled out with Big Crown's first winner Keith Rosten who came off 21-5 over Clive Sewell. With Steve Waldron and Andrew Taggart defeating Heart of England's Junior Merit Champions of the past two years Paul Whitcombe and Kevin Mytton 21-14 and 21-19 respectively, Big Crown took a seven shot lead after four ends and it appeared they were in for a close match.

Over at the Valley a similar story was emerging, with Heart of England claiming the first winner of the evening with home captain Len Mole coming home 21-13. However, Big Crown took the next three ends with Maurice Acton 21-14, Janet Walker 21-18 and Ged Sinclair 21-12 winner over last minute replacement Nigel Winn, who stepped in when Jim Ingles declared himself unfit to play. This left Big Crown 11 shots to the good after the first four.

At Kings Norton, Big Crown were turning the screw, reeling off four straight wins from Ray Hodgetts, Jason Galvin, Diane Ross and Alan Blore, 21-13, 21-17, 21-15 and 21-11 respectively. However, the four Heart of England representatives, Marj Robinson, Individual Merit Champion Harvey Lee, Sarah Harvey and Les Nunn all fought hard for every shot. Big Crown were now in command,increasing their lead to 35 after eight ends.

At Valley, Big Crown were in a prime position with 21-12 victories by Lee Lowery and Colin Mortiboys over Ray Preston and Fred Harris. It was at this stage that the game of the night took place with Big Crown's Rita Lannie taking on the youngest bowler on show at either venue, Lee Kington, from Acocks Green. What a struggle it was, with Rita holding the lead for the entire match until Lee took the match 21-20. He left the green to a standing ovation from both sides. Whilst this was going on Heart of England had another winner, Brian Handley bowling well for his 21-14 victory.

Back at Kings Norton, Heart of England were trying hard to limit the earlier damage. George Donaldson, carding a 21-19 success for Heart of England. However John Bradnock was unable to match a tight game bowled by Big Crown's Mark Cole which ended up 21-6 to the youngster. Away captain John Alderson gave Heart of England a third winner on the night, defeating Jeff Wedgewood Snr 21-14. Michelle Chatwin finished off proceedings with another victory for Big Crown, defeating Rod Monnington 21-15 making a difference in this leg of 47.

At the Valley it was looking unlikely that Heart of England could recover enough shots to take overall victory, especially when ninth end off was a victory by Steve Jesic for Big Crown 21-7 over Kelly Martin. Maliza Herbert and Rod Brammer made things slightly better with their respective scores of 21-18 and 21-10 over Paul and Keith Farley. Big Crown sealed proceedings with Matt Bradley getting off to a flyer against Graham Kidner, building up a 15-0 lead before Graham rallied to end up a 21-9 loser.

This rounded off a 33-shot victory in the away leg for Big Crown and an overall aggregate of 80 shots.