2003-02-01

Played four won four that’s the West Midlands record so far in division four of the BDO Inter Counties Championships, their great start has seen them race to the top of the promotion table on 104 points, sixteen more than their nearest rivals Gwynedd and if they can maintain this form, which I have now doubts whatsoever that they can, it’s division three next season.
Playing at home at the Gilbert Bar, Willenhall, Shropshire provided the opposition. The ladies ‘B’, who after faltering in the curtain raiser have hit a rich vein of form with three consecutive wins. They came bouncing back after Teresa Johnson lost the opener to Sue Corbett to win 5-1, thanks to Sue Smith, Teresa Johnston, Jean Tibbetts, Gill Cook (16.19 lady of the match) and Sara Jukes. This latest victory has taken the ‘B’ side to third in the table and only six points adrift of leaders Gwynedd.
The men’s ‘B’ consolidated their pole position with another fine win, making it four straight wins in as many matches. John Pountney was pushed all the way by Tony White but eventually came out on top as the 3-2 winner. Following John was man of the match Dave Evans (25.24). Dave was pegged back to 1-1 by Rob Aston, but apart from that minor setback never looked anything but a winner. Fred Parsons made it 3-0 with a similar 3-1 verdict over Tony Wickham before Shropshire gained their first win of the game. Mark Taylor trailed 1-0 to Mervyn Field then went on to win 3-1.
A straight 3-0 win from Viv Gould against Dave Wilkes took the scoreline along to 4-1 and going into the break Adrian Hammersley made it 5-1 when he beat Mark Bradford 3-1.
The second half turned out to be a tale of two halves. The first three games all went to the West Midlands, Alan Cockayne won 3-0 against Mick Clayton, Jamie Parsons defeated Gordon Cowern 3-1 and Frank Johnson, with a 3-0 result accounted for Brian Hickman, giving the hosts a commanding 8-1 lead. The final three games were a different story. Pete Dykes chalked up Shropshire’s second win when he won 3-1 against Paul Johnson. Dykes team mate Andy Sandford went one better, a 3-0 win over Paddy Johnson and in the last encounter of the day, never say die Moss Evans fought back from 2-0 down to West Midlands veteran Joe Biggs to win 3-2 and put the result at 8-4 to the home team.
The ladies ‘A’, unlike the other West Midland teams are struggling, their record in the opening two fixtures, one draw and two defeats. Their tie with Shropshire was not going to make that reading any prettier. The away side stormed into an unassailable 4-0 lead, finishing doubles not easy to come by for the hosts. Giving the visitors their four stripes were Sharon Shepherd, Debbie Davies, Lorraine McCormack and Marie Riggs, who in turn defeated Claire Downing, Janet Hubbard, Rose Mycock and Claire Hobbs.
Match award winner, Kath Jenkins (19.02) was on at number five. She powered her way to a 3-0 success, giving her counterpart Terri Appleby very little chance. Making the score a tad more respectable was Angie Perry whose 3-2 win over Pat Marsh took the final score to 4-2.
With the combined scores standing at 15-9 to the West Midlands, the men’s ‘A’ needed just four winners to gain an overall victory. Shropshire’s Simon Arora reduced the arrears when he got the match underway with a 3-2 win against Chris Hickman. The away teams cheers were short lived as Richard Foster started the ball rolling for the home side with a 3-1 win over Julien Marston. Mick James, Ian Hartland, Darren Williams and Steve James all followed suit. Each of them added to the Midlands tally with personal victories over Steve Jones, Steve Farmer, Mark Jones and Jack Tapley respectively. Darren Williams was in good form against Mark Jones as he recorded not only a 3-0 win but also his team best average, 26.84, to take the man of the match award.
With victory assured and leading 5-1 the second half began with Darryl Sheldon (Shropshire) taking a 2-0 lead against Gary Taylor, only to see Taylor take the next three legs to claim his win. Martin Tibbetts guaranteed the ‘A’ side their win when he beat Andy Roberts 3-1 and when Ian Jones stretched his 100% win record for the season with a 3-1 success against Ian Pallett the score was taken to 8-1.
Shropshire’s second win came in the tenth game when Graham Parry beat Avtar Singh 3-1. Neville Quinton (Shropshire) could have won the penultimate game against Colin Davies, but he made the mistake of missing his double and giving Davies the opportunity he wanted. Davies made no mistakes he won the tie 3-2. Quinton’s team mate, Eddie Austin had no problems with his doubles as he strolled to a 3-0 win over Steve Brindley. However, it was immaterial as the result, 9-3, was in favour of the West Midlands as was the overall score of 27-12.
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