Darts World
Played two, won two, a great start for the West Midlands in their quest for promotion from division two in the Riley’s BDO Inter County Championships.
Playing at home at the Gilberts Wine Bar, Willenhall, the ladies ‘B’ didn’t have the best of starts as Claire Hobbs went down 3-0 to Norfolk’s Thelma Gosling, finishing doubles once again proving to be the deciding factor on the outcome. Nevertheless, parity was soon restored as Shellbie Simmons handed out a similar 3-0 defeat to the visitors Marie Stopher before Samantha Maiden gave the hosts the lead for the first time when she handed out a similar 3-0 defeat to Susan Brittain.
Norfolk’s lady of the match Mandy Gray (14.69) levelled the game at 2-2 with her 3-1 win against Kim Fellows, after Fellows had won the opening leg, but from there on in it was West Midlands as Jacqueline Maiden won 3-0 against Claire Broom and to round off a second 4-2 victory, Heather Wright turned on a lady of the match performance to beat Mary Jolly 3-0 and take the award with an 18.33 average.
The men’s ‘B’ side after losing their game against Leicestershire were hoping to kick start their season and giving them a solid start was Mark Craddock, who beat Jimmy Warner 3-1, winning the third leg with a tremendous outshot of 157. Mark Watkiss-Allen looked all set to double the lead when he twice went ahead against Jack Holmes only to see Holmes go on and win the tie 3-2.
West Midlands went ahead again in the third game when Gary Watts beat Simon Rudling 3-1, but yet again Norfolk levelled, this time it was Peter Manning’s close 3-2 win against Jamie Barrowman that tied the scoreline at 2-2, Barrowman taking the lead in the first and third legs and missing his doubles in the fifth to win the game.
The sequence of winning against the first throw advantage continued in the fifth game between Avtar Singh and Neil Horn, the former beating his counterpart 3-1 to give the hosts a 3-2 lead. Robert Thompson opened up a two games cushion when he accounted for Peter Taylor with a 3-1 verdict and although Jason Cains reduced the arrears with his 3-2 win against Danny Coyle, an in form Sean Carrol beat David Dearing 3-1 to take the running tally to 5-3. Carrol won the first leg in 16 darts, lost the second in 15, but then won the next two in 16 and 23 for his 3-1 win plus an award winning average of 26.63.
Martin Sheldon kept the deficit to a minimum for Norfolk when he won a close affair with Jordan Singh 3-2, however, Karl Hughes guaranteed the home side at the worst a share of the points with his 30-1 win over Robert Ellis.
Julian Ray fell behind in the first and third legs to Martin Angell, but remained focussed to go on and win 3-2 to take the result to the final game between John Platt (West Midlands) and William Walpole. Walpole won the first leg in 21 darts after Platt had missed his finishing double, he doubled his lead in 18 darts, but then lost the next two as Platt chalked up winning legs of 18 and 20 darts. The final leg of the day went to Walpole to give him a 3-2 win and earn his team a 6-6 draw.
The ladies ‘A’ should have been filled with confidence after an opening 5-1 win against Leicestershire, unfortunately that confidence just wasn’t evident on the day. The game got underway with Dawn Standley (Norfolk) recording a 3-0 win over Diane Tolley, the same scoreline by which Sarah Roberts levelled the match in her game with Jan Butters. Sarah had previously earned the lady of the match award in the first fixture of the season and again her win, despite her average of 16.70 being far below her earlier game, was good enough to win the trophy again.
Although other averages were better than Sarah’s, she on the day was the sole winner, Lisa Astbury lost 3-1 to Nikki Goldsmith, Kath Jenkins went down 3-0 to Rosalyn Bulmer. Kerry Jonson’s 3-2 victory over Gemma Barrett was the match winner for Norfolk, but with Stephanie Mudd adding her 3-1 win against Jackie Crew the final result was a 5-1 win for the away side, a complete reversal of the result West Midlands ‘A’ team ladies recorded in their previous game.
The men’s ‘A’ side, were looking to add to their 7-5 win over Leicestershire in the season’s opening day and the fine form of Matthew Dennant, who twice came from behind against Wayne Wall to go on and win 4-2 gave them the best possible start. Doug Thompson found himself trailing 2-1 after winning the first leg against Vincent Mudd, but stuck to his task winning the final three legs in 15, 16 and 15 darts to double West Midlands lead and at the same time clinch the man of the match award with his 27.56 average.
The following two games saw Ian Stanton and Neil Pointon each record straight 4-0 wins against respective opponents Richard Waller and Hamish Varnon to open up a 4-0 lead.
Norfolk came to life in the fifth game when Paul Daniels produced a little magic to beat Christopher Mason 4-2 and chalk up their first win. However, the joy was short lived as Glen Cullen put the hosts back on track after trailing 3-1 to Charles Wilson he fought back to earn a 4-3 win. Peter Wyse appeared to be all set to increase the Midlander lead when he went 2-0 and 3-2 up against Mark Easter, but Easter won the last two legs for a 4-3 win.
Requiring just two more wins for their second successive victory Andrew Forrester halved that requirement when he beat Kevin Walpole in a straight four legs affair and taking the score along to 7-2 was Gavin Baker, who with a 4-1 result defeated Ian King.
With the result in the bag Michael baker eased to a 4-0 win over Adrian Siddle before Norfolk recorded their third winner of the day, Kevin Rudling, a 4-2 result against Paul Price.
Rounding off the proceedings was Ian Jones (West Midlands) and Jason Lovett. With the men’s ‘A’ result and the overall result already settled it was mainly pride the two players were playing for. Over the years Ian Jones has been more of a winner than loser for the West Midlands and on this occasion it was not going to any different to if he was playing a decider as he romped to a 4-1 victory to put the final score at 9-3 for the men’s ‘A’ and an overall 20-16 overall success.
This second win of the West Midlands has taken them into third place on 46 points, just six behind leaders Somerset and second placed Cleveland, who both have 52 points.
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The Ripley Elite Darts Singles League have completed their programme and once again it turned out to be a fantastic season with a total of £6,455 prize money paid out. Darron Brown secured the premier division title by just two points from Gary Fenn. Brown lost just two of his 24 games and finished with a total of 87 points. Ash Spencer improves every season and claimed the third place with 81 points and Dave Allcock, playing some of the best darts of his career finished fourth, also with 81 points.
The league goes from strength to strength each season, something that was highlighted in the fact that ‘A’ team county players finished outside of the top five and eighteenth was the highest some county players achieved out of 25 players. The five players relegated to division one next season will be Wes Smith, Wayne Howe, Martyn Cutbush, Kev Wragg and Ash Fisher, replacing them will be Dean Allsopp, Jim Beardmore, Steve Pashley, Andy Brittland and Kyle Machin.
The awards for the best individual performances went to, Gary Fenn, best average of 21.11, Joanne Oldershaw produced a fantastic maximum 170 finish, Pete Slater and Ash Spencer had the least darts (11) and the most 180’s were hit by Paul Baker (17).
The division one title was decided by a play off as Dean Allsopp and Derbyshire legend Jim Beardmore both finished the campaign with 94 points. The win for Allsopp gave him the title. Steve Pashley finished third on 91 points with Andy Brittland a further three points behind fourth. The final promotion place was decided on the final night of the season as youngster Kyle Machin edged out Mike Robinson and Tony Jacklin to finish fifth.
The best average for division one was 28.54 achieved by Tony Jacklin, while the highest finish of 161 went to Dean Allsopp. Steve Pashley and Dean Allsopp both recorded 12 darts legs and Allsopp also took the most 180’s which was 10.
Final points, Premier Division:- Daz Brown 87, Gary Fenn 85, Ash Spencer 81, Dave Allcock 81, Paul Baker 75, Pete Slater 72, Aden Kirk 71, Daz Sinfield 70, Reece Spurr 68, Brian Kirk 65, Rick Gray 63, Ian Richardson 61, Daz Sullivan 61, Ian Byard 60, Tony Palfreyman 60, Ant parry 55, Jo Oldershaw 54, Alan Evans 53, Dave Fritchley 52, Colin Rich 45, Ash Fisher 44, Kev Wragg 43, Martyn Cutbush 38, Wayne Howe 38, Wes Smith 18, Division One:- Dean Allsopp 94, Jim Beardmore 94, Steve Pashley 91, Andy Brittland 88, Kyle machin 78, Tony Jacklin 75, Mike Robinson 74, Steve Richards 69, Paul Croson 65, Neil Beresford 62, Andy Selby 62, John Upton 61, Gordy Toft 59, Mike Ivekich 57, Kelly Dean 51, John Bush 49, Craig Freeman 48, Dave Slater 46, Dee Fenn 46, Chris Breen 45, Mick Gascoine 44, Ben Connell 43, Steve Darcy 35, Paul Radford 33, John Selby 32.
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As the summer season finishes the winter season gets underway for the Ripley Elite Darts League. The new season starts with 28 players in the premier division and 26 in division one and it promises to be one of the toughest seasons so far. The top five players from the summer premier league must all fancy their chances of the title, plus the five promoted players will be quietly confident of holding their own in the top flight. However, no one can be ruled out in what looks to be a fascinating season ahead of them.
Division one welcomes eight new faces with current county ‘A’ team player Keith Cooper starting as one of the favourites. Father and son Ty Ward, senior and junior are also newcomers as are Ian Allcock, Paul Hodges, John Rice, Ashley Wood and Paul Slater.
Throughout the season there are bound to be twists and turns, but the season threatens to be the biggest and best yet.
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In the final run in to the end of the Sheldon and District Summer League there was a flurry of action with league fixtures and cup finals. In the league just two teams completed the season without dropping a point, Riley’s Rags – Castle Vale won all ten of their group four fixtures to finish seven points ahead of runners up Crown Arrows – Shard End, while in group five Raven finished with a massive nine points more than their nearest rivals Sheldon Social.
The group one title went to Riley’s Kings- Castle Vale, Highwood Flights taking the group two title. Group three winners were George V ‘A’, while in group six Baldwin Bears were the top team. Group seven was the most fiercely contested group with Greville Arms champions on 16 points, but only on average from second placed Ivy Leaf ‘B’, who were knocked off pole position in the very last game of the season losing 6-2 to the eventual champions Greville Arms.
The semi finals of the Mrs F. Richman Cup were played off, the last four games both ending with close 4-3 verdicts. It was not a good day for the Riley’s as Saltley Amateur Gardeners beat group one champions Riley’s Kings – Castle Vale and Mackadown Social accounted for Riley’s Rags.
The final was a more clear cut affair with Saltley Amateur Gardeners running out 5-2 winners against Mackadown Social.
The player of the final was Mackadown’s Glynn James, who had top scores of 3×140,121 and 100, he also recorded a ten darts winning leg.
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A final 5-3 win over the Raven has given Riley’s Kings the group ‘C’ title in the South Birmingham League, Crown at Shard End fell short on average and had to settle for the runners up spot.
Mackadown Social wn the group ‘A’ division, with a perfect ten wins in as many games. St John’s won group ‘B’.
The Rose Bowl title went to Mackadown Social, with Riley’s Kings runners up.
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A quality field turned out at the Heartlands Club, Aston to participate in a 501 competition in an effort to raise money for Alfie Leadbetter a young man from Middlesbrough who suffers from Alexander’s Disease, an illness that destroys the nervous system. Fourteen year old Luis Barberan took the honours defeating Ian Mathews 4-3 in a closely fought final well done to all the players who attended.
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The Camp Hill League staged their doubles competition at the Cotterills Lane Club and winning the event were the hosts representatives Neil Parsonage and Matthew Cooper. The winning duo beat team mates D.Carter and Martin Cooper in the all Cotterills final.
Losing semi finalists were, D.Logan / M.Richards and Ada Radborne / Mark Wyatt.
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