Norfolk Premier made it three wins out of three after a determined second half performance sunk Northants in the Inter-County Championships. After their poor performance last week, when they went down 14-26 at home to Essex, the Northants team will have been pleased to lead Norfolk at the halfway stage but the visitors were in no mood to relinquish their unbeaten record.

In the second half Halvergate's David Lamb beat Chris Hopkins 20-9 and Bob Carter's Trevor Brown beat Edward Sawbridge 23-9 to take seven out of ten points in the singles. Norfolk's triples also moved up a gear with Shirley Brown, Joe Brown and Chris Mann winning 11-7 & Robin Amos, George Clarke and John Turner winning 14-8. In the rinks Sue Hunt, Kim Bridge, Bob Oatway & Melvin Woods added an 11-4 win to their first half 7-6 victory which ensured eight more points and Norfolk were home and dry by 21-19. After a difficult week for Norfolk, which saw one player suspended for two matches, assistant manager Bob Oatway called for the team to complete an early-season double against old rivals Northants and their response could not have been better. This week saw the Bure League Pairs Championship preliminary rounds take place with Horsford BC hosting the first heat. Mark Tuttle and Chris Woodhouse of Horsford Heroes were unbeaten after opening with a 10-2 win against Coltishall's Peter Barnett and Mally Catchpole. Avril Walker and Mike Boswell of Anglian Windows earned a high scoring 12-0 win over the luckless Coltishall pair in their last game clinching them the second qualifying place for finals night in March next year. At Anglian Windows Teresa and Selwyn Goldsmith of Kirby Bedon finished first with six points and Hevingham's Ian MacLean andVic Woods also qualified for finals night. Alan Bunn and David Sharpe of Hevingham were unbeaten at Coltishall with East Tuddenham's Gillian and Robin Amos grabbing the runners-up spot. David Knights and Simon Warnes of Horsford BC were heat winners at Hevingham with Keith Chapman and Mally Kemp of Horsford Heroes in second place. In the Tens League defending champions Bob Carter and last year's runners-up Hevingham met in the first match of the season. A superb 30-7 win for Sue Hunt, Jean Woods & Robert Howlett against David Sharpe's triple made sure of a 4-0 home win.