Derbyshire v Leicestershire
Derbyshire have begun life in division two of the Riley’s BDO Inter County Championships with two wins in two games. They have followed up their 19-17 success away to Suffolk with a 21-15 home win against Leicestershire.
Three of the games, the men’s ‘B’, ladies ‘A’ and ‘B’ all finished with the same scoreline as in the opening fixture, that is the men’s ‘B’ finished all square at 6-6, the ladies ‘A’ won 5-1 and the ‘B’ side had a 3-3 draw.
After Lynda Gilbert had given the ‘B’ side an opening 3-0 win over Betty Pickard, Leicestershire raced into a 3-1 lead through Jacky White, Hayley Trigg and Melanie Bell, who in turn defeated Sarah-Jane Harrison, Nicola Fletcher and Rachel Ayres.
Louise Rawson stopped the rot with a 3-2 win against Debbie Ward, her 14.20 average earning her the match award. Dawn Buckley saved the day for Derbyshire in the final game against Donna Greasley, Dawn’s 3-2 victory taking the result to 3-3 to share the points.
Like the ladies the men’s ‘B’ team also left it late before they confirmed their draw. Jim Young and Mark Wagg put the away side two up before Anthony Palfreyman and Adrian Asprey levelled for the home team. Once again the visitors went ahead, this time it was Alex Long providing the win, only to see Paul Baker level in the very next game against Steven Coltman.
For the third time in the match Leicestershire opened up a lead, wins from Daniel Starkey, Scott Warwick and former Warwickshire player Prakash Jiwa giving them a 6-3 advantage, with three to play.
Long serving Derbyshire stalwart Jim Beardmore was on at number ten against Andrew Hibbert, the verdict being a 3-1 win for Beardmore and with a straight 3-0 win from Drew Smith against Steve Watton, the outcome of the match depended entirely on the final game between Robert Needham (Derbyshire) and Rich Cockram.
The encounter went the full five legs distance, Needham getting the decision in the last leg of the day, a 3-2 win and confirming a 6-6 draw for his team.
So after Saturday’s games the scoreline was level at 9-9 with everything to play for. The ladies ‘A’ match got off to a cracking start, Joanne Oldershaw in super form adding the match award to the one already won against Leicestershire, a tremendous 3-0 win over Caroline Newberry and a scintillating 27.93 average, the top average on the day for the ladies ‘A’ in division two and putting her top of the division’s averages for the two games played so far.
Kelly Dean added her 3-1 win against Julie Booth to the score before Leicestershire got the one and only winner of the game when Kelly Welsh beat Jackie Sweet in a close 3-2 affair.
The remaining three games all went to Derbyshire Michelle Phillips beat Krissie Long 3-2, Kirsty Handford won 3-1 against Katie Leatherland and to win up the proceedings Stephanie Allerton had a straight 3-0 win over Mem Martin to give the hosts a convincing 5-1 victory.
The men’s ‘A’ were looking to avenge their opening 7-5 defeat and get their season underway, Paul Mellor and Peter Slater got them going with respective wins over Mike Lewis and Stephen Smith. Leicestershire’s reply was quick as Jay Foreman and Darren Burdett took out Richard Rawding and Alan Statham to level the game.
Reece Spurr (26.72) made it played two, won two and won two man of the match awards with his clear cut 4-0 win over Curtis Bagley, only to see the lead cancelled out once more, this time Ricky Sudale was the man to square the game for Leicestershire with a close 4-3 verdict over Robert Wood.
Stirred but not shaken by the setback, Derbyshire added three wins in a row provided by John Clifford, Nigel Daniels and Tony Cresswell to go 6-3 up and although the away team pulled on back through Jon Bott, Daniel Thomas assured the men’s ‘A’ side a win when he beat Peter Wills 4-2. The last game was won by Derek Allsopp to give a final score of 7-5 to Derbyshire and an overall 21-15 win for them.
Full results (Derbyshire names first), Men’s ‘A’:- Paul Mellor 4 Mike Lewis 1, Peter Slater 4 Stephen Smith 2, Richard Rawding 3 Jay Foreman 4, Alan Statham 0 Darren Burdett 4, Reece Spurr 4 Curtis Bagley 0, Robert Wood 3 Ricky Sudale 4, John Clifford 4 Darren Tyler 2, Nigel Daniels 4 Mark Stanley 2, Tony Cresswell 4 Andy Tempest 2, Keith Cooper 1 Jon Bott 4, Daniel Thomas 4 Peter Wills 2, Steve Pashley 2 Derek Allsopp 4, Men’s ‘B’:- Frank Davis 1 Jim Young 3, Alan Evans 1 Mark Wagg 3, Anthony Palfreyman 3 Steve Liddell 2, Adrian Asprey 3 Gary Harris 0, Steven Homer 2 Alex Young 3, Paul Baker 3 Steven Coltman 0, Michael Smith 2 Daniel Starkey 3, Gary Barker 1 Scott Warwick 3, David Allcock 2 Prakash Jiwa 3, Jim Beardmore 3 Andrew Hibbert 1, Drew Smith 3 Steve Watton 0, Robert Needham 3 Rich Cockram 2, Ladies ‘A’:- Joanne Oldershaw 3 Caroline Newberry 0, Kelly Dean 3 Julie Booth 1, Jackie Sweet 2 Kelly Welsh 3, Michelle Phillips 3 Krissie Long 2, Kirsty Handford 3 Katie Leatherland 1, Stephanie Allerton 3 Mem Martin 0, Ladies ‘B’:- Lynda Gilbert 3 Betty Pickard 0, Sarah-Jane Harrison 1 Jacky White 3, Nicola Fletcher 2 Hayley Trigg 3, Rachel Ayres 2 Melanie Bell 3, Louuise Rawson 3 Debbie Ward 2, Dawn Buckley 3 Donna Greasley 2.
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