2014-02-10

Division two of the Riley’s BDO Inter County Championships produced a fixture that was vital to both teams, West Midlands versus Derbyshire. Prior to the game Derbyshire, with four wins in as many games were riding high in pole position on 91 points, their hosts were fourth just eight points behind them.
The ladies ‘B’ team gave Derbyshire just the start they were after, a 4-2 victory. Dee Fenn began the day with a 3-2 win against Shellbie Simmons and although Sarah Quinn lost 3-0 to West Midlands lady of the match Claire Hobbs, the visitors were soon back in control. Sara-Jane Harrison (Derbyshire) restored the lead with a 3-1 win over Gemma Barrett all three of Sara-Jane’s games finishing on double one. Michelle Phillips moved the score along to 3-1 with her 3-2 win against Samantha Maiden, Michelle’s 16.51average earning her the team’s match award.
West Midlands pulled one back in the fifth game when Kim Fellows recorded a 3-0 win over Lynda Gilbert, but the 4-2 result was achieved in the final game when Rachel Ayres beat Jacqueline Maiden 3-1.
The men’s ‘B’ match saw the first three games go against the first throw advantage. Daniel Thomas was first on for Derbyshire and could have won the opening leg as he and his opponent Robert Thompson both had throws at a finishing double, however it was the home player who finally found double two to go one up. Thompson then followed up with wins in the next two legs to win 3-0. Alan Statham levelled the match when he with a similar 3-0 result beat Jamie Barrowman, only to see his team mate Anthony Palfreyman lose 3-1 to Joe Taylor to put West Midlands 2-1 up.
For a second time the match was squared, this time it was Steven Homer with a 3-1 win against Avtar Singh that won for the away team and putting the visitors ahead for the first time in the match was Michael Smith, who won his tie with Peter Wyse 3-0. The lead was short lived as the match was put back to level terms for a third time when Robert Wood (Derbyshire) lost 3-0 to Sean Carroll.
Derbyshire went 4-3 up thanks to a 3-2 win from Adrian Asprey, who fought back after trailing 2-0 to Mark Craddock, but yet again the lead was cancelled out, this time it was West Midlands Paul Price who made it 4-4 when he won 3-1 against Christian Bradshaw.
Giving Derbyshire the lead for a third time was Darran Sinfield, his straight 3-0 win against Karl Hughes giving the away side a 5-4 lead. Then for the first time in the match there was a two games buffer, Robert Needham (25.24) laid on a man of the match performance against Jordan Singh to win 3-2 and guarantee his team mates at the least a share of the spoils.
With two to play and requiring just one more win Derbyshire were in the driving seat, unfortunately veteran player Jim Beardmore was unable to provide that win as he lost 3-1 to Martin Angell, leaving David Allcock to play the final game against John Platt.
Allcock looked to be all up for the win as he won the first leg in 17 darts and then with a 145 checkout in fifteen darts went within an ace of victory both for him and Derbyshire. Alas it was not to be, Platt won the third leg in 19 darts and then squared the tie in the fourth. The last leg saw Allcock storm ahead with 180 and 100 to Platt’s 76 and 100 and despite another visit to the oche and three darts at double nine Allcock was unable to finish and in stepped Platt with a 48 outshot to win 3-2 and put the final score at 6-6.
Sunday’s games began with the scoreline standing at 10-8 in favour of Derbyshire, so both teams had everything to play for. The ladies ‘A’ match saw every single game go with the first throw advantage, Derbyshire getting off to a fine start with Jane Densley not only beating Heather Wright 3-1 but also winning the lady of the match award with her 19.96average. Jane was followed by another lady winning the match award, this time it was West Midlands Sarah Roberts (22.56), who was taken the full five legs distance by Jackie Sweet before winning 3-2.
1-0 up then 2-1 down, but Kirsty Handford went on to beat Kath Jenkins 3-2 to give the away team the lead for a second time. Once again Derbyshire’s advantage was erased, this time it was down to Lisa Astbury, who chalked up a 3-1 win over Stephanie Allerton after trailing 1-0.
Lady of the match for the previous four outings Joanne Oldershaw was on in the penultimate encounter and facing up to Jackie Crew. Joanne lost the opening leg then went 2-1 up. Despite being pegged back to level terms she won the final leg to give her a 3-2 win and a 19.38 average, just narrowly missing out on her fifth award of the season.
The final game went to West midlands long serving Diane Tolley, a 3-0 win against Kelly Dean to put the final score all square at 3-3.
With only the men’s result to be added on Derbyshire were still two games to the good with the score at 13-11 and a draw from the men would be enough to give them an overall victory. The first half of the match saw them go within one game of that result as they raced to a 5-1 lead. Peter Slater began the proceedings with a 4—3 win over Richard Platt after he had gone 3-1 down. Gary Fenn was a 4-1 winner in his tie with Glen Cullen and Stephen Pashley looked all set to add to the tally when he won the first two legs against Mark Jones. However, Jones stuck to his task and went on to win the game 4-2.
Man of the match from the previous day, Robert Needham was on at number four and once again prodeuced the goods as he handed out a 4-2 defeat to Neil Pointon. The fifth game was a classic, West Midlands Michael Baker recording fourteen scores of a ton or more and actually lost 4-2 as Nigel Daniels chalked up two maximums plus twelve tons or over to win not only the game but also the match award with his 28.08 average.
To round off the first half of the match Paul Mellor (Derbyshire) came very close to claiming the match award with his 28.02 average as he won 4-1 against Gavin Baker.
The overall result was confirmed as early as the seventh game when John Clifford won 4-2 against Andrew Forrester, the running total standing at 6-1 to the visitors. At this point the hosts chalked up their second winner when Ian Stanton beat Doug Walker 4-3. Tony Cresswell moved the score along to 7-2 with a clear cut 4-0 victory over Gary Watts before West Midlands man of the match Ian Jones (30.39) had a 4-2 win over David Smith-Hayes, Jones hitting no fewer than 18 scores of a ton or more and Smith-Hayes 11 plus a maximum.
The last two games both went to Derbyshire Drew Smith winning 4-1 against Danny Coyle and Reece Spurr having a 4-3 win over Mark Rollinson to give a final score of 9-3 to Derbyshire and more importantly a 22-14 overall win to keep them top of the promotional table with 116 points.
With Somerset having their fixture with Berkshire cancelled they dropped from second to sixth in the table, while Cleveland, who won their game away to Leicestershire 22-14 moved up one place to second, level on the same 116 points as Derbyshire.