Wiltshire v Derbyshire
Derbyshire went into their third fixture of the season in division two of the Riley’s BDO Inter County Championships looking for a hat trick of wins. Prior to the game they were fourth in the table six points behind leaders Somerset and second placed Cleveland and level on points with third in the table West Midlands. However, Somerset’s fixture with West Midlands had been put off to the weekend of the 9th and 10th November so neither of them would add to their tally’s over the weekend and Cleveland suffered a 24-15 defeat away to Suffolk, so a 22-17 win at Wiltshire took Derbyshire to the top of the table with 68 points, one more than Cleveland.
The men had an excellent weekend, the ‘B’ team stormed into a 5-0 lead, David Allcock and “Mr Derbyshire” himself, Jim Beardmore in turn had 3-2 win’s against Matthew Aubrey and Richie Ettwell. Paul Baker’s 3-0 success over Andrew McAllister was followed by another 3-2 win from Alan Statham against Nick Budgen and making up the first five wins was man of the match Robert Wood. Wood recorded a 26.51 average in his 3-1 win over Clive Taylor.
The home side then began to make the scoreline a little more respectable when Paul Self and Scott Lovell chalked up wins over Keith Cooper and Paul Jones, but a share of the points was guaranteed for the visitors in the very next game when Drew Smith beat Jamie Eatwell 3-0. Derbyshire’s charge was halted again as Steve Lane won 3-0 in his tie with Steven Homer, but it was only a brief stutter as the final three games all went in the away teams favour. There were wins for Robert Needham, Anthony Palfreyman and Ian Byard at the expense of Jeffrey Fowler, David Gould and Craig Griffiths, giving Derbyshire a convincing 9-3 win.
The ‘A’ team never went behind as Doug Walker kicked them off with a 4-3 win over Lee Evans and although Terry Smith’s win against Adrian Asprey levelled the game Derbyshire were quickly back in front with a man of the match performance from Nigel Daniels, who beat Robert Bowers 4-2 and averaged 27.14.
Gary Fenn opened up a two game buffer with a straight 4-0 win over Chris Daglish only to see Anthony Moulden (Wiltshire) beat John Clifford 4-1. Derbyshire then went 4-2 up with a 4-1 win from Tony Cresswell against Andrew Southam before the hosts produced their best run of the game, two consecutive wins from Paul Woolf and Dave Wicks against respective opponents Daniel Thomas and Richard Rawding to restore parity at 4-4.
From there on in it was all Derbyshire, Stephen Pashley beat Shane Harvey 4-0, Paul Mellor had a 4-1 win over David Lewis, Reece Spurr was taken the full five legs distance by Paul Boulton, but came out the 4-3 winner and to round off the day Peter Slater beat Paul Oakley 4-0 to give the Derbyshire men’s ‘A’ an 8-4 victory.
There was not as much joy for the ladies, Saturday’s ‘B’ team suffering a 6-0 whitewash, while the ‘A’ side did a little better but still finished on the wrong side of a 4-2 result.
The ‘A’ did get off to the best possible start as Joanne Oldershaw once again, for the third consecutive match took the lady of the match award with a straight 3-0 win over Joanna Hooke in which she recorded a 20.88 average. Joanne’s win was doubled when Jackie Sweet accounted for Kylie Murphy with another 3-0 margin. Unfortunately it then became a game of missed doubles as Kirsty Handford, Dawn Buckley and Kelly Dean all lost by the odd leg to their counterparts Erica Hartnett, Jaine Telling and Tina Rowlands. The final game saw April Polden (Wiltshire) beat Michelle Phillips 3-0 to give the hosts a 4-2 win.
Despite the ladies demise the overall result was a terrific 22-17 victory for Derbyshire maintain their 100%win record and keeping them well on track for a quick return to division one.
Full results, Wiltshire names first, Men’s ‘A’:- Lee Evans 3 Doug Walker 4, Terry Smith 4 Adrian Asprey 1, Robert Bowers 2 Nigel Daniels 4, Chris Daglish 0 Gary Fenn 4, Anthony Moulden 4 John Clifford 1, Andrew Southam 1 Tony Cresswell 4, Paul Woolf 4 Daniel Thomas 1, Dave Wicks 4 Richard Rawding 1, Shane Harvey 0 Stephen Pashley 4, David Lewis 1 Paul Mellor 4, Paul Boulton 3 Reece Spurr 4, Paul Oakley 0 Peter Slater 4, Men’s ‘B’:- Matthew Aubrey 2 Dave Allcock 3, Richie Ettwell 2 Jim Beardmore 3, Andrew McAllister 0 Paul Baker 3, Nick Budgen 2 Alan Statham 3, Clive Taylor 1 Robert Wood 3, Paul Self 3 Keith Cooper 2, Scott Lovell 3 Paul Jones 0, Jamie Eatwell 0 Drew Smith 3, Steve Lane 3 Steven Homer 0, Jeffrey Fowler 0 Robert Needham 3, David Gould 1 Anthony Palfreyman 3, Craig Griffiths 1 Ian Byard 3, Ladies ‘A’:- Joanna Hooke 0 Joanne Oldershaw 3, Kylie Murphy 0 Jackie Sweet 3, Erica Hartnett 3 Kirsty Handford 2, Jaine Telling 3 Dawn Buckley 2, Tina Rowlands 3 Kelly Dean 2, April Polden 3 Michelle Phillips 0, Ladies ‘B’:- Carol Bowers 3 Louise Rawson 1, Lorraine Kemp 3 Nicola Fletcher 2, Kayleigh Woolf 3 Rachel Ayres 0, Julie Woolf 3 Lynda Gilbert 1, Sue Lane 3 Beverley Worthington 0, Jill Little 3 Sara-Jane Harrison 1.
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