2011-03-01

With only two wins in their previous four outings West Midlands were hoping that their home fixture against County Durham would be one to help lift them up the division one table in the Riley’s BDO Inter County Championships.
Saturday’s games were a mixed bag of results as the ladies, after chalking up their first win of the season in the previous game against Somerset, went down 5-1, their third such result in five games. The contest began with promise as long serving West Midlands player Diane Tolley (16.12) recorded a 3-2 win over Angela McDonald. Unfortunately the rest of Diane’s team mates, Jenna Couch, Doreen Kaye, Gemma Poole, Jacqueline Maiden and Jackie Simmons in turn lost out to Michelle Downs, Allison Wells, Bryanna Downs, Sharon Haywood and Kathleen Renwick.
The men’s ‘B’ were looking to make it three wins in a row and Matthew Dicken got them off to the right start when he, after twice coming from behind to Stephen Knight went on to win 3-2. The lead was short lived as Mark Kidman beat Paul Price 3-0 and Stephen Annan won 3-2 against Mark Watkiss after being pegged back to 2-2 when he had opened up a 2-0 advantage.
Viv Gould (West Midlands) with the first maximum of the match levelled the score line when he accounted for Eric Sandwick in three straight legs and then for the second time in the game the hosts went ahead when Mark Lloyd beat David Brown 3-1, Brown having won the opening leg. At the midpoint of the game the scores were squared at three each, Stephen Hayers beating Ian Stanton 3-1, once again the loser winning the first leg.
With six games down and six to play there was still everything to play for as Richard Platt raced into a 2-0 lead over his Durham opponent Paul Clark. However Clark was undeterred as he won the following three legs for his 3-2 victory. The eighth and ninth encounters were somewhat unusual in that the two West Midland players, Chris Stanley and Lance Hackett both won 3-0 and both finished with exactly the same average of 27.33 to share the man of the match award. Stanley beat John Dowd and Hackett accounted for Ian Adamson.
Greg Parkes guaranteed at the worst a share of the spoils for the Midlanders when he got the better of Graham Hutchinson with a 3-1 verdict, but David Gill (County Durham) made sure the result would go to the wire by beating Martin Angell 3-2 after trailing 2-0 to take the score along to 6-5 in West Midlands favour with just one remaining game.
It was the County Durham man Gareth Peat who drew first blood as he won the opener against Danny Coyle. Danny responded in the best possible way by winning the next three legs before his opponent got down to a finishing double and so Danny’s 3-1 win gave the ‘B’ side a 7-5 victory.
The ladies ‘A with a 4-2 and three 6-0 defeats were not having the best of seasons so far and still looking for their first points. Sarah Robbins, after winning the first two legs against Cheryl Wooff was unable to wrap up her win and saw Wooff go on to win 3-2. Tammy Chance squared the match, she won the opening two legs against Dawn Winn, but was taken to a decider when she lost the next two. The fifth leg was a long drawn out affair which either player could have won, but it was Tammy Chance who got the vital winning double to secure a 3-2 success. The next game had a similar pattern but the roles were reversed, it was the County Durham lady, Margaret Stewart who went 2-0 up against Heather Wright, Heather then won the next two and the decider went to Margaret Stewart.
Game four and this time it took a lady of the match performance from Kath Jenkins (17.27) to restore parity. Playing against Louise Simpson Kath found herself 2-1 behind after she had won the first leg, however, in another leg that could have gone either way she found the all important double sixteen to clinch a 3-2 win and move the score along to 2-2.
Jennifer Summerson (County Durham) forced a deciding game when she beat Kim Fellows 3-1, but a 3-3 draw was the end result when Lisa Astbury won 3-2 against Kirsty Hutchinson after Hutchinson had twice cancelled out her lead.
Anything above an 8-4 win for the men’s ‘A’ would be enough to secure an overall victory and they certainly began in the right vein to achieve that as Andy Forrester with 2×180,2×140,123,100 and a 120 checkout had a straight 3-0 win over John Cairns. Peter Wyse, also with a maximum trailed from a 122 game shot by Phillip Nixon in the first leg, went 2-1 up and won 3-2 and then in the third game Jamie Hughes twice came from behind to beat George Davison 3-2 and open a healthy 3-0 lead.
At number seven was the usually “Mr Reliable” Ian Jones, but on this occasion he came up against an in form Kevin Naunton who with ten scores of a ton or more won the tie 3-1. Durham’s man of the match Gerry Hall (29.44) reduced the deficit even further to 5-3 when he beat Avtar Singh 3-1. Neil Pointon extended West Midlands lead once more with a 3-1 success over John Donnelly, but that proved to be the hosts only win in the second half of the game as Keith Gowland beat Lol Frazer 3-0, David Prins had a similar 3-0 win over Chris Hickman and making it three in a row John Hardman won in straight legs against Chris Plumpton.
The final score was 6-6, with the overall result 19-17 in favour of County Durham.
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The Barn Social Club, Birmingham was the setting for the TD Events “Witton Winter Warmer” consisting of three competitions. The first of the three was a 170 Knockout played over the best of five legs. Eventually the final was contested between Kevin Woodward and his practise partner and close friend Mark Westgarth, both players coming from Coventry. Both players found their finishing doubles at ease during the opening legs to reach a 2-2 score and force a decider, and what a perfect way to win a decider as Mark Westgarth checked out on 170.
While the draw was being made for the main competition a “ONE7T Contest” was staged whereby players had to finish two legs of 170 in the least number of darts. A few players managed fourteen darts but the winner was eleven years old Luis Barberan who finished the two legs in thirteen darts including a perfect 170 shot.
On to the main event and in the top half of the draw Adam Smith-Neale progressed through with some noteable wins over Warwickshire county players Dave Atkins and Mark Westgarth and so did Mark Hylton, although he was pushed all the way by young Luis Barberan who only missed out on his finishing doubles against the PDC star. From the other end of the draw Kirk Shepherd breezed through the field without dropping a set.
The first semi final brought together Adam Smith-Neale and Mark Hylton, a game that could easily have gone either way but Mark the eventual 2-1 winner. In the other semi Kirk Shepherd took on Jamie Atkins, Shepherd getting the verdict in another close 2-1 result.
The two PDC players laid on a tremendous final playing the best of three sets, each of them the best of five legs. Mark Hylton got off to a flyer winning the first set 3-0 and then opening up what appeared to be a match winning 2-0 lead in the second, however, the former World Champion finalist, Kirk Shepherd fought back to win the set 3-2 and take the final the full distance.
In the third and final set Hylton won the first leg, Shepherd the second, but Hylton then went on to seal his victory by taking the next two legs for a 2-1 sets win.
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Another presentation by TD Events was the Riley’s Midlands Masters, which after various rounds culminated in the grand finals at Riley’s, Wolverhampton.
The final produced a straight 3-0 win for Warwickshire county player Mark McGeeney over Drew Smith from Burton-On-Trent. Champion McGeeney collected £400 and Smith £200 as runner up.
Losing semi finalists Andy Forrester (Wolverhampton) and Adam Huckvale (Worcester) each received £100, while there was £50 for the losing quarter finalists Kevin Bambrick, Dean Stewart, Pat Pace and Simon Jones.
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As promised in last month’s edition further details of the “sportsdale.com Spring Open” are now available. The event will be staged at the Phoenix Suite, Club Chesterfield, Chester Street, Chesterfield, S40 1DL on Saturday 26th March.
Entrance fee for the men’s competition is £8 if pre registering and £12 on the day, for the ladies it will be £5 and £8 respectively. Prize money consists of a guaranteed £500 for the men’s winner and payout to the last sixteen subject to 128 entries. For the ladies a minimum of sixteen entries are required for the event to take place, if that number is not achieved the would be invited to enter the men’s competition and the player to go the furthest will receive £50 (they must win at least one game). Should the required number of entries be achieved all monies, plus £50 from sportsdale.com will be paid out.
Anyone requiring more information regarding either competition should visit www.sportsdale.com.
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