2006-12-01

West Midlands followed up their curtain raising win at home to Suffolk in division three of the Kaliber BDO Inter Counties Championships with a journey to the south west where they took on Devon at the Heavitree Social Club.
The match, as far as the visitors were concerned did not get off to a good start as the hosts quickly fired off four straight wins. Moira Mortimer twice came from behind to beat Chris Banks 3-2 and give Devon the opening win. Carol Holdsworth’s 3-1 win over Claire Ford made it 2-0 and a straight 3-0 success from Christine Harding at the expense of Natalie Harrison made it 3-0.
Jackie Simmonds looked all set to open West Midlands account when she went 2-0 up against Trish Penberthy. However, her luck deserted her and Penberthy fought back to snatch a 3-2 lead and at the same time ensure a victory for her team.
It was the penultimate encounter before West Midlands won their first game. Alison Bowen lost the first leg to Penny Farrow (Devon). Undeterred Alison won the next two legs to take the lead for a second time. With the first throw advantage Penny won the fourth leg to set up a decider, but she was unable to get down to a double in the last leg as Alison found double sixteen to wrap up a 3-2 win. Devon’s Jenny Prout went one up against Diane Tolley in the last game of the match. Nevertheless, Diane hung on in there and turned on a lady of the match display to average 16.81 and win 3-1 to put the final score at a more respectable 4-2.
The men’s ‘B’ side also got off to an indifferent start. Andy Jackson and Mike Beale both won 3-2 in turn against Chris Jones and Chris Plumpton to give Devon a 2-0 lead. Neil Anstead made it three when he beat Mick Noakes in straight legs before West Midlands claimed their first winner in the shape of long serving Jack Routledge. Jack went two up before his opponent, Alan Perry won his solitary leg, Jack then wrapped up the issue in the fourth leg.
The cheers were short lived as in the following game Adrian Arnold, after taking the first leg off Paul Woolfenden, eventually lost 3-1. The running total was taken to 4-2 at the halfway stage when David Arnold defeated Nigel Callard 3-1.
Mark Lloyd reduced the arrears even further when he began the second half with a 3-0 win over Flynn Jones, only to see Brian Ancombe restore Devon’s two games buffer with a 3-1 success over Liam Kelly. From there on in it was all West Midlands. Ian Hartland won 3-0 against James Gregory, Colin Wood (24.60) laid on a man of the match performance to defeat Colin Greenslade 3-1 and Viv Gould ensured a share of the points when he added is 3-1 win against Wayne Hughes. With the score at 6-5 in West Midlands favour the difference between a win and a draw rested firmly and squarely on the shoulders of anchor man Robert Carr. Three tons and a 73 game shot gave Carr the first leg. His counterpart, Matthew Dickinson took the second after Carr had missed his doubles after two visits to the oche. An eighty outshot put Carr back in the driving seat and although he failed to hit a three figure score in the fourth leg he won it with a 52 checkout to win 3-1 and give his team mates a 7-5 victory, their second in two outings.
As in Saturday’s games the ladies struggled once again. Kath Jenkins lost 3-0 to Christine Kinnard, Sara Jukes, despite twice drawing back to level terms against Merryl Jarman, eventually lost by the odd leg and Ann Jones similar 3-2 defeat by Michelle Andrews left the West Midlands with a mountain to climb as they trailed 3-0.
Julie Aston produced a ray of hope for the away side when she won 3-1 against Catherine Dram, but it was too little too late as Joyce Wilson and Sandra Chamberlain notched up two further wins against respective opponents Leanne Jennings and Claire Hobbs to give Devon a convincing 5-1 win.
With the opposition leading 14-10 and just the men’s ‘A’ match remaining Devon looked a good bet to win the fixture, but as everyone knows a game is not lost until it’s won and with that in mind the Midlanders got off to a good start. Gary Taylor won the first tussle against Ian Burnett 3-1 and doubling the visitors lead was Mr Reliable, Ian Jones, who with a 25.47 average and a 3-0 result defeated Andrew Taylor. Paul Milford pulled one back for Devon when he beat Eddie Price 3-1, but it turned out to be just a blip for the visitors as they rattled off a further three wins to round off the first half. Mark Rollinson had a 3-1 success against Brian Hodge, Avtar Sing beat William ‘Steve’ Lewis 3-2 and Richard Foster, with the same margin of victory beat Derek Dennis to give the West Midlands a 5-1 lead at the midway point.
The second half began where the first had left off. Dave Robbins ensured at the worst a draw with a 3-0 win over Ian Knight before the home team had their best spell of the match, three wins in a row. Richard Dennis was the first of three as he accounted for Mick James 3-1. Andrew Steed was taken the full five legs distance by Andy Forrester but still ran out a 3-2 winner and with Christopher Hunt’s 3-1 winning margin over Peter Wyse, Devon were back in the game albeit trailing 6-4.
It was the penultimate game where Lol Frazer removed the uncertainty by beating Martyn Bevan 3-2 to confirm a win for the ‘A’ team, but it was the win in the final game by Stuart Kendrick (3-0) over Trevor Perry that gave the midland outfit an overall weekend draw. Hard fought but nevertheless, with this sort of never say die attitude division two next season looks a real prospect.