Derbyshire v Berkshire
Although Derbyshire had home advantage in their latest fixture in division two of the BDO Inter County Championships, playing against Berkshire was never going to be an easy game as so it turned out as the result was close 19-17.
The ladies ‘B’ after losing the opening game when Jenny Payne defeated Samantha Clarke 3-2 levelled through a 3-1 win from Dee Fenn over Jackie Walford, the home team then went ahead with a lady of the match performance from Kelly Dean as she also won 3-1 and her 16.43 average earning her the award.
Berkshire’s Lisa Webb put the game back to level terms, winning 3-2 against Nicola Fletcher after the Derbyshire player had come back from 2-0 down to 2-2.
The home side took the lead once more in the penultimate encounter when Jennifer Whatmough beat Priscilla Cummings 3-2 after trailing 2-1 to leave the outcome resting on the final game. Unfortunately for the hosts the visitors had kept their best till last and Chris Ruffell (17.28) won 3-0 against Dawn Buckley to take her teams match award and put the final score at 3-3.
Saturday’s men’s team had Dean Wilkins opening up for them, he won the first leg against Steve Shadwell but then found himself 2-1 down. The final two legs were close but it was the Derbyshire man who won both of them for a 3-2 success. Adrian Asprey doubled the home teams lead in double quick time with a 3-0 win over Ashley Passmore before Berkshire chalked up their first winner. Richard Stride the man that reduced the arrears, twice coming from behind against Alan Statham to go on and win 3-2.
Colin Rich (Derbyshire) went one up against Robert Carr only to see Carr go on to win the tie 3-1 and at the same time level the game at 2-2.
Simon Purvey looked all set to put Berkshire in the lead for the first time when he won the opening leg against Robert Wood, but Wood stormed back in style to take the next three legs in 15, 13 and 15 darts for not only a 3-1 win but also a match award win with his fantastic 33.86 average.
From 3-2 up Derbyshire then slumped to trail 8-3. John Hall started the rout with his 3-0 win over Jim Beardmore, then came a 3-1 win for Andy Wells against Paul Williams, Geoff Heath beat David Allcock 3-2, Kevan Merritt added another 3-0 result against Lee Stanley to the tally and with a further 3-2 win by James Turner over Mark Walker Berkshire were in an unassailable 7-3 position. Andy McNeill-Aitken had a 3-1 against John Clifford before Tony Cressweel (Derbyshire) made the result a little more respectable with his 3-1 win over John Wasylczuk after the Berkshire man had won the first leg. The result 8-4 to Berkshire.
Going into Sunday’s games the home team were trailing 11-7 but keeping them well and truly in the game were the ladies ‘A’. Lauren Jackson began what was to be a tremendous result when she won 3-0 against Jo Rolls, following Lauren was Rachel Bird who added her 3-1 win over Debbie Shadwell to make it 2-0.
Jane Densley continued to enjoy her great season taking the score along to 3-0 with her straight 3-0 win over Louise Grannell and at the same time winning the match award with yet another fine 23.12 average which included scores of 121, 4×100 and a superb 115 game shot in the first leg to make it five awards out of seven games.
Another regular winner for Derbyshire, Joanne Oldershaw was on at number four and once again she didn’t disappoint as she promptly put the score beyond the reach of the away team with a neat and tidy 3-0 win over Hayley Croucher for a 4-0 lead.
The final two games both finished with 3-1 results, Sara-Jane Harrison winning against Amy Smith and Jackie Sweet rounding off a brilliant 6-0 win with her victory over Debbie Connors.
The weekend’s result now hinged on the men’s ‘A’ final score. Berkshire took first blood as their Stephen Rose beat Keith Cooper 4-0 in the first game. The home side then took control as Gary Fenn had a 4-2 win over Luke Woodland, Paul Bettnet beat Eddie Simmonds 4-1 and Robert Smith added his 4-2 victory over Jason Heaver to the score to make it 3-1 to Derbyshire.
Richard Hanson was in fine form at number five, he won the first leg against Paul Snowsill with a 136 outshot, he then won the next two legs to go within an ace of victory, but Snowsill delayed that win when he won the next three legs to take the game to a deciding seventh leg.
After eighteen darts Snowsill left himself on double sixteen, meanwhile after a somewhat slow start Hanson hit back with scores of 100, 97 and 100 and with his sixth visit to the oche recorded a fantastic 157 game shot to clinch not only a tremendous 3-2 win but also his second man of the match award for the season with his 27.53 average.
Going into the halfway point David Smith-Hayes moved the score along to 5-1 when he rounded off his teams run of five successive wins with a 4-1 win over Daniel Woodcraft.
Reece Spurr looked to carry on the good work of the first half when he opened up a 2-0 lead on Joe Lacey but Lacey took the next three legs to forge a 3-1 lead and although Spurr won the penultimate leg it was Lacey who won the decider for a 3-2 win.
Robin Woolery (Derbyshire) went one better than Spurr and opened up a 3-0 lead only to see it erode as Paul Croucher won three in a row. However on this occasion the result was different as Woolery clinched a 4-3 win in 21 darts to put the hosts within one game of victory, the score standing at 6-2
At this point Berkshire produced their best run of the match, four wins in a row supplied by Terry Stubbs, Gary Jones, Paul Hogan and Kevin Morley, who in turn defeated Nigel Daniels, Drew Smith, Tim Daniels and Paul Mellor to put the final score all square at 6-6.
The overall weekend result of 19-17 to Derbyshire maintains their number one position in the promotional table and gives them a total of 167 points, eleven more than Nottinghamshire who as a result of their convincing 25-11 win against bottom of the table Wiltshire have taken over second place in the table.
Full Results:Derbyshire v Berkshire 19-17:(Derbyshire names first):Men’s ‘A’:- Keith Cooper 0 Stephen Rose 4, Gary Fenn 4 Luke Woodland 2, Paul Bettney 4 Eddie Simmonds 1, Robert Smith 4 Jason Heaver 2, Richard Hanson 4 Paul Snowsill 3, David Smith-Hayes 4 Daniel Woodcraft 1, Reece Spurr 3 Joe Lacey 4, Robin Woolery 4 Paul Croucher 3, Nigel Daniels 1 Terry Stubbs 4, Drew Smith 2 Gary Jones 4, Tim Daniels 0 Paul Hogan 4, Paul Mellor 1 Kevin Morley 4, Men’s ‘B’:- Dean Wilkins 3 Steve Shadwell 2, Adrian Asprey 3 Ashley Passmore 0, Alan Statham 2 Richard Stride 3, Colin Rich 1 Robert Carr 3, Robert Wood 3 Simon Purvey 1, Jim Beardmore 0 John Hall 3, Paul Williams 1 Andy Wells 3, David Allcock 2 Geoff Heath 3, Lee Stanley 0 Kevan Merritt 3, Mark Walker 2 James Turner 3, John Clifford 1 Andy McNeil-Aitken 3, Tony Cresswell 3 John Wasylczuk 1, Women’s ‘A’:- Lauren Jackson 3 Jo Rolls 0, Rachel Bird 3 Debbie Shadwell 1, Jane Densley 3 Louise Grannell 0, Joanne Oldershaw 3 Hayley Croucher 0, Sara-Jane Harrison 3 Amy Smith 1, Jackie Sweet 3 Debbie Connors 1, Women’s ‘B’:- Samantha Clarke 2 Jenny Payne 3, Dee Fenn 3 Jackie Walford 1, Kelly Dean 3 Sophie Edwards 1, Nicola Fletcher 2 Lisa Webb 3, Jennifer Whatmough 3 Priscilla Cummings 2, Dawn Buckley 0 Chris Ruffell 3.
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