2008-11-01

After winning promotion to division one of the Kaliber BDO Inter Counties Championships, West Midlands curtain raiser for the new season was a tough away fixture against County Durham. County Durham were only four points off promotion to the premier division last season highlighting the task ahead of the West Midlands. Nevertheless the first two fixtures provide mixed fortunes for the division one newcomers.
In the first of those two the ladies ‘B’ match saw the hosts take the lead three times, first through Sharon Haywood then Jean Westmorland and finally Liz Tait. However, the Midlanders were sticking to the task in hand and their opponents lead was cancelled out each time by Claire Ford, Kim Fellows and in the fifth and final game Lisa Astbury to earn a well deserved 3-3 draw.
The first half of the men’s ‘B’ game saw Durham take control as David Crawley and John Teal put them 2-0 up and although Andy Forrester pulled one back for the visitors Durham extend their lead to 5-1 by the halfway stage thanks to further wins from Stephen Annan, George Davison and David Gill.
The second half was much better for the Midlands side as Chris Plumpton reduced the arrears with his 3-1 win over Eric Sandwick and despite Paul Knighton restoring the home teams four games lead with his straight 3-0 victory over Ian Hartland, West Midlands came back fighting through Mathew Tedstone who beat Ian Adamson 3-1, Viv Gould who had a similar 3-1 success against George Hodgson and Eddie Price who won 3-0 in his tie with Jimmy Summers to bring the scoreline along to a close 6-5 to County Durham with just game to play.
Although the margin does not suggest it the final encounter between Jason Bone (County Durham) and Ian Stanton was very close, Bone winning 3-0 to give the home side a 7-5 win.
The ladies ‘A’ were made to fight all the way and they did that magnificently. Kath Renwick and Cheryl Wooff gave County Durham a 2-0 head start before Kath Jenkins pulled one back with her close 3-2 win over Margaret Steward. Nancy Richardson assured the home team of at least a share of the spoils when she took the score along to 3-1 when she beat Lisa Astbury 3-2 after Astbury had taken a 2-0 lead.
So often a winner for the West Midlands Leanne Jennings turned u trumps yet again when she won in three straight legs against Jenny Summerson to keep he team in the match and leave the result hinging on the final game. Julie Aston (West Midlands) opened up a 2-0 lead over Linda Ithurralde. Ithurralde pulled back to level terms but lost out in the decider and Aston won 3-2 to put the final score at 3-3.
Going into the final match, the men’s ‘A’ and the West Midlands were trailing 13-11 but they were still in with a shout and a possible win in the opening fixture was still on the cards. Trying to ensure that did not happen was Paul Telford and Robert Douthwaite who in turn defeated Tom Aldridge, making a return to the West Midlands after his spell with Warwickshire, and Chris Hickman. Jamie Hughes reduced the arrears beating Stephen Hayton 3-1, but Stephen Knight restored the two games advantage with his beating of Avtar Singh. Going into the halfway mark and the score was level at 3-3 after West Midlands added wins from Chris Mason and Ian Jones.
For the first time in the match the away team took the lead in the seventh game, Stuart Kendrick winning against Paddy Lenagh, unfortunately luck then deserted the West Midlands and County Durham from 4-3 down roared to an 8-4 win with wins from Phil Borthwick, Phill Nixon David Dodds, John Donnelly and Ray Scott to give them an overall 21-15 victory.
West Midlands match awards went to men’s ‘A’ Ian Jones (28.36), men’s ‘B’ Andy Forrester (31.98), women’s ‘A’ Leanne Jennings (22.10) and women’s ‘B’ Lisa Astbury (17.08).
Fixture number two was a home tie against Hertfordshire. The visitors were quick to get the upper hand as they accounted for the ladies ‘B’ with a 4-2 result. West Midlands took the first game through Claire Hobbs who beat Linda Reed 3-0. They then had to wait until the final encounter before chalking up their only other winner, another Claire this time Ford who beat Rita Brownless 3-1 and took the match award with a 16.67 average. In between the home team’s two winners were Jill Theobald, Tracy Robson, Joanne Kitchen and Amanda Essam who made up the four winners for Hertfordshire.
With the one hiccup out of the way it was then a relatively good weekend for the home team. The men’s ‘B’ got off to a cracking start with wins from Eddie Price, Ian Stanton and Paul Price, who in turn beat Roy Medcalf, Jon .E. Creed and Darren Jones. Hertfordshire came back into the game with two in a row from John McGuirk and Daniel Ovens at the expense of Viv Gould and Ian Hartland to take the score along to 3-2.
From the sixth game onwards it was all West Midlands, David Arnold, Nicky Bache, Lol Frazer, Mathew Tedstone, Matthew Dicken, Mark Lloyd (Man of the match 27.73) and Andy Forrester all winning to give their team a fabulous 10-2 victory.
On to the ‘A’ matches and the ladies, after going 1-0 down when Jane Phillips beat Kim Fellows 3-1 then won three in a row thanks to Claire Ford, Kath Jenkins and lady of the match Leanne Jennings (20.04) who bear respective opponents Joanne Brosnan, Sharon Cowell and Kathy Ovens.
Linda Searle kept Hertfordshire’s hopes alive with a 3-1 win against Julie Aston, but it was to no avail as Diane Tolley, a West Midlands player of long standing beat Lynne Taylor 3-2 to clinch a 4-2 win and put the hosts within three games of an overall victory.
Two of those three wins were provided in the opening two games of the men’s encounter. Steve Farmer and Stuart Kendrick won 3-1 and 3-2 respectively against Dave Meader and Steve Read. Hertfordshire were quick to respond as Peter Brown beat Jamie Hughes 3-2, Robin Wigg handed out a similar 3-2 defeat to Tom Aldridge and Dean Harwood had a 3-1 win over Chris Hickman. However, at the halfway stage the issue was decided as Avtar Singh had a 3-1 win against Mark Woodhams taking the score to 3-3 and an overall running total for the weekend to 19-11.
Steve Harley added his 3-2 win over Peter Wyse to the away teams score only to see Richard Foster (27.33) match award winning 3-0 win over Michael Ovens to level the score at 4-4. The visitors then chalked up two more wins provided by Peter Kosmalski and Mark Elliot, beating Mark Rollinson and Mark Jones.
The men’s result was now hinging on the last two games, both players, Ian Jones and Chris Plumpton required wins to earn a share of the spoils. Jones took on Phil Winch-Furness and beat him 3-0, Chris copied that result and also had a straight legs win over John Creed to end the men’s ‘A’ match all square at 6-6, but making the overall result a welcome 22-14 win for the West Midlands.