Following their win over Surrey in the premier division of the Riley’s BDO Inter County Championships, this weekend Warwickshire will travel to Wales to take on Glamorgan at the Penydarren Social Club, Merthyr Tydfil. Currently fourth in the overall table Warwickshire on 113 are twelve points to the good on their hosts and will be looking to take their winning tally to three and hopefully move further up the table.
Selected to play are, Men’s ‘A’:- Mark Strong, Tom Aldridge, Mark Westgarth, Nigel Heydon, Ian McFarlane, Jamie Atkins, Noel Grant, Mark Carter, Tom McGlone, Richard Foster, Steve Hine, Kevin Dowling, Men’s ‘B’:- Antony Allen, Jimmy Hill, Mark Birch, Steve Giddings, Luke Kennedy, Mark Archer, Dave Atkins, Rob Hawker, Paul Deslandes, Carl Green, Matt Edgar, Dave Harris, Reserves:- Dave Sanders, Ian Shaw, Simon Power, Martin Tonks, Ladies ‘A’:- Trina Gulliver, Sue Gulliver, Caroline Pike, Denise Burke, Angela Jones, Narian Conway, Ladies ‘B’:- Kat Spanswick, Donna Pinch, Louise Graham, Lisa Whitmore, Wendy Adams, Edwina Holdsworth, Reserves:- Natalie Gilbert, Terri Bellamy, Tracey Edgecombe, Melanie Hill.
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In division one West Midlands will be playing hosts to local rivals Staffordshire. With home advantage and their opponents currently bottom of the league table, this will be a fixture West Midlands will look upon as winnable.
Teams selected are, Men’s ‘A’:- Ian Jones, Andy Forrester, Jamie Hughes, Nick Fullwell, Mark Rollinson, Neil Pointen, Dean Stewart, Peter Wyse, Ian Stanton, Michael Baker, Danny Coyle, John Roberts, Men’s ‘B’:- Gary Watts, Glen Cullen, Mark Watkiss, Avtar Singh, Viv Gould, Martin Angell, Gurpal Singh, Kevin Jones, Jonathon Platt, Richard Platt, Simon Meredith, Paul Price, Reserves:- John Mycock, Karl Noakes, Greg Parkes, Ladies ‘A’:- Claire Hobbs, Lisa Astbury, Jackie Crew, Sarah Thornbury, Katharine Jenkins, Gemma Barrett, Ladies ‘B’:- Heather Wright, Kim Fellows, Diane Tolley, Jackie Maiden, Shellbie Simmons, Lisa Maiden, Reserves:- Samantha Maiden.
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The preliminary round of the singles has been played off in the Sheldon and District Winter League and the last sixteen qualifiers for finals night are, C.Betteridge, M.Cooper (Crown at Shard End), P.Curry (Sheldon Dukes), M.Tolliss (Kingshurst and District Labour Club), A.Hutchings, J.Sidwell (Crown at Olton), N.Clarke, T.Randell, T.White (Saltley Amateur Gardeners), D.Heighway (Holy Souls), D.Reid (Willclare Sports and Social), T.Frost (Banbury Club), A.Parvez (Highwood ‘A’), P.Cornes (Small Heath Gardeners), D.Mortiboys (Raven), D.Jelley (Langley Hall Sports and Social).
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The Leopard, with a convincing 9-0 win over Erdington Arrows have won the division two title in the Four Oaks and District League. Drakes Drum hopes of taking the runners up spot were sunk by Deer’s Leap Stags, who beat them 7-2 to take second place with the same 24 points as Leopard, but with an inferior average.
Third division winner The Beehive finished the season on a high beating Boldmere Oak 8-1, winning the title by six clear points from the Brookvale.
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The Cradley Tuesday League played the preliminary rounds of their Wally Fellows and Harry Siviter Memorial Cups. The former produced a high scoring game between Chainmakers and Victoria with the latter getting the close 4-3 verdict.
The Harry Siviter Memorial Cup was again a close 4-3 result with Roost ‘A’ beating Yeltz Bar to reach the last eight.
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Wolverhampton Sports Arena are the only team in division one of the Wolverhampton Tuesday League able to boast a 100% win record, their latest success being a 4-3 home win over Boat ‘B’. Village ‘A’ lost their top spot going down 4-3 at home to Victoria and Wednesfield Legion ‘A’ dropped from second to fifth following their massive 6-1 home loss to Oxbarn.
In division two Boat ‘A’ moved away from the foot of the table with a surprising 4-3 home win over Pyle Cock, who were previously unbeaten and second in the table. Electric and Riley’s ‘A’ remain undefeated.
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A big 6-1 win over Brewood British Legion sees Wednesfield FC go clear as leaders of the Tettenhall Wednesday League, they are now the only unbeaten team in the sixteen team league after only four games. Fordhouses CC dropped one place to third after suffering their first defeat , a 4-3 reversal away to Moreton, both teams now on six points, as are Riley’s ‘A’, Riley’s ‘B’, Bull, Royal Oak, Whitmore Reans and Bushbury Arms ‘A’.
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In division one of the Forest of Arden Winter League Harvester had a shock 7-2 loss away to next to bottom Highwood KB and as a result have dropped one place to fourth. Highwood ‘A take over third place after a close 5-4 win away to bottom team The Grange.
The Crane remain two points ahead of the rest of the field in division two, a 7-2 win at Riley’s Wings giving thema total of 22 points. Second placed Crown Arrows won their home tie with Sheldon Flights 5-4.
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Both of the top two teams in the Vic Lloyd Thursday League handed out whitewash to their opponents in the latest round of fixtures, leaders Quarry Bank beat Gilbert’s ‘B’, while Cleveland Arms, who are second accounted for Whitmore Reans. Both teams have won all their games so far, Quarry Bank top by the slender margin of just one lag to the good.
Congratulations to Staffordshire Knot ‘D’, who may have lost 5-1 at the Orange Tree, but their one winner was their first in five games, they had lost the previous four 6-0. Also it was good news for Grapes as they chalked up their first win in six, winning 4-2 away to Gilbert’s ‘A’ to lift them away from the foot of the table.
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Phil Tonks (Dudley Ex-Serviceman’s Club) has won the Netherton Thursday Night singles title. Playing at the Bulls Head, Netherton, Tonks defeated Springfield Social representative Kelvin Chambers in the final. Losing semi finalists were Jess Archer (Victoria) and Joe Sharratt (Prince of Wales).
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Riley’s Kings took their winning run to eight games when they beat Raven Flights 6-3 in division one of the South Birmingham League. Second place Crown at Shard End won 7-2 at home to Punchbowl, but remain four points adrift of the leaders and have played one game more. N.Clarke (Digby Hotel) recorded not only a nine darts leg but also a 160 break despite his team losing 9-0 at The Raven. P.Burnham (Crown at Shard End) was another player to break with 160.
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An 8-1 win at Fairfield has seen Rowley Golf Club move up from third to take over pole position in the Rowley Monday Night League. Former leaders Bull Terrier had their first loss in eight games as they were beaten 5-4 at Ex-Serviceman’s, who have moved up one place to fifth. Golf Club now have 16 points from 9 games, while Bull Terrier have 14 from 8 games.
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The semi finals of their Divisional Cup’s were the order of the day for the Pip Club League. In division one Bulls Head (Polesworth) and Dosthill Club had respective wins over Sports Bar’180’ and J.W.Belgrave, the division two playoff saw Travellers and Belgrave Club reach the final, in turn at the expense of Pip Club and Royal Oak.
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The Camp Hill League staged their Doubles Knockout and taking the honours were the Midland Darts Centre pairing of Peter Yardley and Arturus Bogucianskas. The duo beat the Crown Arrows team of Tom Humphries and Ben Watkins in the final.
Losing semi finalists were W.Hart & Kevin Maloney (Custard House) and Dave Logan & Nark Richards (Scruffy Ringers).
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Gulp Tribe continue to impress in the Small Heath League, an 8-1 win against Redhill Wanderers giving them a perfect point’s tally of 16 from their eight games. Midland Darts Centre’s 7-2 home win over Custard House Flights keeps them in second place, four points behind the leaders, with a game in hand.
Emerald Club, who won 5-4 away to bottom team Clock Inn, are also on the same 12 points as Darts Centre, but have played 9 games.
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Second in the table Sportsmans Rest lost ground in the Aston League title race when they surprisingly lost 8-1 away to Heartlands, who are sixth in the table. Leaders Red Lion’s result was also 8-1, but theirs was a win over Aston Social. So after completing 12 games Red Lion, with 22 points have a four points advantage over Sportsmans Rest, but Sportsmans do have a game in hand, as do third placed Riley’s, who are also on the same 18 points as Sportsmans. Riley’s had a 6-3 win over their visitors Deer’s Leap.
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