2004-04-01

A home tie against Leicestershire was what promotion hopefuls West Midlands had in their latest third division fixture in the BDO Inter Counties Championships.
A 3-2 win from Gill Cook, after twice falling behind to Lin Rowland, gave the home team the best possible start and with a further straight 3-0 success from Debi Hackett over Krissie Long the hosts opened up a 2-0 lead. At number three was Teresa Johnson, who had previously won four of the teams five match awards, another win most definitely looked on the cards. However, it was not to be. Teresa was not up to her own usually high standards, her finishing doubles letting her down as she lost 3-0 to Leicestershire’s award winner Tracey Burrows (17.48).
Putting the Midlanders back on winning lines was Angie Perry. With a 3-0 result Angie accounted for Michelle Herriot , and her 16.70 average earned her the lady of the match award. The draw assured, Teresa Johnston looked all set to confirm the win as she twice took the lead against Louise Hathaway, but unfortunately for Angie Louise got her act together in the final two legs and ran out the 3-2 winner leaving the result hinging on the final encounter between Jenny Aston and Moira Simons.
The pressure appeared to get to the home player more so than Leicester’s Simons. The first leg was nip and tuck with Simons just getting the winning double first. The following two legs were never in doubt as Jenny struggled to find the high scores and Moira went on to win 3-0 and give her team mates a share of the points.
The men’s ‘B’ side were looking to extend their unbeaten run to six games. Eddie Price and Alan Cockayne did their part to maintain that record as opener Price, despite being taken the full five legs distance, defeated Andy Norton and Cockayne, in double quick time beat Philip Daulman 3-0.
It was game three before Leicestershire chalked up their first win. Stuart Lilley went one down to Avtar Singh but fought back to snatch a 3-1 victory. That however, was the away side’s only moment of glory in the first half as Joe Biggs won 3-1 against Steve Proudman, Adrian Arnold (27.33 award winner) beat Moe Whelan 3-0 and by the same margin Frank Johnson defeated Mark Rushton to give the West Midlands a 5-1 lead at the break.
Lee Jones began the second half for the home team, but was unable to increase their advantage as he finished on the wrong side of a 3-2 verdict to Steve Neill. Gary Taylor moved the running score along to 6-2 with a neat 3-0 win over Colin Murphy and with a further 3-1 success from Mervyn Field against Andy Tempest the all important seventh win was recorded and the West Midlands had stretched their unbeaten run to six games.
Although Fred Parsons twice took the lead against Dave Walker, it was the latter who finished on top with a 3-2 result. The final two games went in West Midlands favour. Brendon Cowen (West Midlands) was made to battle all the way by Colin Kirby, who won the first and third legs only to lose the last two and see his opponent take the 3-2 verdict. The final game was another five legs affair, but again it was the home player, on this occasion, Viv Gould who won the game against Dave Andrew to give a final score of 9-3 to the West Midlands.
Jan Bell (Leicestershire) drew first blood in the ladies ‘A’ game when she beat Kath Jenkins 3-1 after Kath had won the opening leg. Claire Downing squared the match with a similar 3-1 victory over Norma Needham and with a further 3-2 success from Sara Jukes over Trish Roberts, West Midlands took a 2-1 lead. Teek Newberry kept the away side in the match, her 3-1 win against Sue Smith taking the scoreline to two each.
In the penultimate game Janet Hubbard produced a lady of the match performance, her 19.78 average giving her a 3-0 win and leaving her counterpart without a throw at a double in any of the legs. As in the ladies ‘B’ game the result yet again was resting on the final encounter and once more it was the visitors who got the verdict to ensure a share of the points. On this occasion it was Angela Barrow who came to Leicestershire’s rescue, her 3-1 win over Claire Hobbs ending the game at 3-3.
The men’s ‘A’ now had what appeared to be an easy task, requiring just four winners for an overall victory. Those winners came in the opening four games. Mick James started the ball rolling with his 3-1 win over Martin Bowman. Mick was followed by John Pountney, who had a similar 3-1 win in his tie with Martin Whatmough, John producing a terrific 154 checkout in the fourth leg. Another 3-1 win by Ian Jones against Steve Smith and a straight legs success from Paddy Johnson over Kelvin Clarke put the hosts 4-0 up.
The run continued as man of the match Richard Foster (30.92) beat Dave Homer 3-1 and Chris Hickman made it 6-0, bringing the first half curtain down with a 3-0 win over Ian Warhurst.
Lol Frazer ensured that the second half began in similar fashion to the first by beating Derek Burrows with yet another 3-1 result. Then came two 3-0 wins supplied by Ian Hartland and Jamie Parsons, at the expense of GFred Boddey and Stuart Lilley, giving the West Midlands an unassailable 9-0 lead.
It was game ten before Leicestershire recorded their first winner. Dave Barrow was made to fight all the way by Peter Wyse before securing his 3-2 win and making it two in a row was Jez Porter who had a 3-1 win over Darren Williams, but the final game went to West Midlands man Dave Evans. Dave lost the first leg to Graham Roberts, but responded magnificently to win 3-1 and give his side a final 10-2 victory and an overall 25-11 win.