Lancashire v West Midlands
Midlands penultimate fixture in the Premier Division of the BDO Inter County Championships was a tough away game against second in the table Lancashire, not the sort of fixture one would wish for to get back into winning ways after losing the previous three games and it could not have got off to a worse start as the ladies ‘B’ slumped to a 6-0 defeat.
Chalking up the win for Lancashire were Anne-Marie Millership (3-0), Sharon Seed (3-2), Maria Ronson (3-1), Debbie Baxter (3-1), Heather Draper (3-0) and Danni-Lea Platt (3-2) who in turn accounted for Shannon Hall, Jacqueline Maiden, Shellbie Simmons, Elizabeth Arnold, Grace Angell and Heather Wright.
The men’s ‘B’ had previously only lost two of their seven games but were about to suffer their heaviest defeat of the season so far.
On at number one for the West Midlands was Martin Greenwood who in his inaugural game for the county produced a 4-3 win after trailing 2-0 and 3-1 to Tony Clarke. Neil Pointon appeared to be on his way to beating David Place as he won the opening three legs but then lost the last four. Gareth Watts was another player who looked as though he would win when he went 1-0 and 3-1 up against Tony Baker but he lost the last three legs to finish 4-3 down like his team mate Pointon.
A 4-1 win for Terry Hey over Paul Price took the hosts lead to 3-1 before the Midlanders got their second win which was provided by Richard Platt when he won 4-3 against Martin Barratt. Taking the score along to 4-2 by the midway point was Steve Green who beat Danny Coyle 4-2.
As the second half got underway James Cator extended Lancashire’s lead to 5-2 with a 4-2 win against Shaun Carroll and although Jordan Singh with a maximum 170 game shot in the fourth leg momentarily stopped the home team’s charge when he won 4-3 against Allan Fitzpatrick the hosts romped to an 8-3 lead with further wins from Jordan Brooks, 4-0 against John Mycock, Bradley Brooks who beat Adam Edgar 4-2 and Gary Davey with a 4-1 win over Avtar Singh.
On the day the West Midlands kept their best till last as Shane Price recorded his second successive man of the match performance when he beat Mike Adamson 4-0 with a 29.04 average to give a final score of 8-4 to Lancashire.
The ladies ‘A’ had lost the previous four games, the last three 5-1 and alas this was going to be another 5-1 defeat making it five in a row and four consecutive 5-1 reversals.
The opening three games all finished 3-0 with two of them going to Lancashire’s Joanne Clements and Allyson Smith who accounted for Lisa Badger and Kim Fellows. The third game was a win for West Midlands Sarah Roberts who with her superb 27.33 average and being the sole winner for the visitors won her third match award of the season. Sarah finished her legs in 20,16 and 19 darts.
Debbie Loon took the first two legs off Tracey Cunningham but it was the Lancashire player who got the 3-2 result.
There were 3-0 scorelines in the last two games as Sue Cusick beat Kath Jenkins and Amy Eden won against Gemma Barrett for a 5-1 win for Lancashire.
With four wins under their belts the men’s ‘A’ team have been the most successful for the West Midlands since their promotion to the Premier Division and once again they got off to a fine start as Michael Baker beat Darren Hebb 4-3, Alfie Jacques with top finishes of 102 and 125 won 4-2 against Graham Lalor and taking the score to 3-0 was Glen McGrandle with his 4-2 win over Sam Cromwell after Cromwell had opened up a 2-1 lead.
From 3-0 up the lead was reversed with Lancashire winning the next six games but not without a fight as Keith Allman came from 1-0 and 3-1 down to lead 2-1 and draw level at 3-3 before losing 4-3 after leaving himself on double six and Jonathan Platt went two up against Dave Airey, lost the next two then with a 117 finish took a 3-2 lead before he lost 4-3. Andy Johnson had a 4-1 win over Mark Watkiss-Allen to put the score level at the break at 3-3.
In the first three games of the second half Dave Adshead beat Paul Wells 4-2, Lee Shewan won by the same margin against Scott Baker and Gary Jackson despite trailing 2-0 and 3-1 to Shane Price went on to win the tie 4-3 and open up a 6-3 lead for Lancashire.
The hosts now looked odds on for a win but there was still plenty of fight left in the Midlands side as Mark Craddock made it 6-4 with his 4-2 win against Mick Oversby prior to Ash Khayatt who put up a tremendous fight against Scott Taylor as he went 2-0 and 3-1 down before winning the last three legs for a 4-3 win to keep his team in the hunt for a draw.
Anchor man Shaun Carroll now had the West Midlands men’s ‘A’ fate in his hands and he responded magnificently as he defeated Chris O’Connor 4-3 after O’Connor had opened up 1-0, 2-1 and 3-2 leads, Carroll winning the final two legs in 15 and 16 darts to give him a man of the match winning average of 27.70 and take the final score to 6-6.
The overall result for the weekend was 25-11 to Lancashire leaving West Midlands on 133 points with just one fixture remaining. The three teams below West Midlands, Hampshire (128 points), Cambridgeshire (109 points) and Devon (106 points) all have a game in hand on West Midlands, it is to be hoped that the early season form was enough to secure their place in the Premier Division next season.
Full Results: Lancashire v West Midlands (25-11)🙁Lancashire names first):Men’s ‘A’:- Darren Hebb 3 Michael Baker 4, Graham Lalor 2 Alfie Jacques 4, Sam Cromwell 2 Glen McGrandle 4, Carl Sneyd 4 Keith Allman 3, Dave Airey 4 Jonathan Platt 3, Andy Johnson 4 Mark Watkiss-Allen 1, Dave Adshead 4 Paul Wells 2, Lee Shewan 4 Scott Baker 2, Gary Jackson 4 Shane Price 3, Mick Oversby 2 Mark Craddock 4, Scott Taylor 3 Ash Khayatt 4, Chris O’Connor 3 Shaun Carroll 4, Men’s ‘B’:- Tony Clarke 3 Martin Greenwood 4, David Place 4 Neil Pointon 3, Tony Baker 4 Gareth Watts 3, Terry Hey 4 Paul Price 1, Martin Barratt 3 Richard Platt 4, Steve Green 4 Danny Coyle 2, James Caton 4 Shaun Carroll 2, Allan Fitzpatrick 3 Jordan Singh 4, Jordan Brooks 4 John Mycock 0, Bradley Brooks 4 Adam Edgar 2, Gary Davey 4 Avtar Singh 1, Mike Adamson 0 Shane Price 4, Women’s ‘A’:- Joanne Clements 3 Lisa Badger 0, Allyson Smith 3 Kim Fellows 0, Gina Jones 0 Sarah Roberts 3, Tracey Cunningham 3 Debbie Loon 2, Sue Cusick 3 Kath Jenkins 0, Amy Eden 3 Gemma Barrett 0, Women’s ‘B’:- Anne-Marie Millership 3 Shannon Hall 0, Sharon Seed 3 Jacqueline Maiden 2, Maria Ronson 3 Shellbie Simmons 1, Debbie Baxter 3 Elizabeth Arnold 1, Heather Draper 3 Grace Angell 0, Danni-Lea Platt 3 Heather Wright 2.
———————————