Warwickshire v Cambridgeshire
After a disappointing start to the New Year when in the Premier Division of the BDO Inter County Championships Warwickshire lost 25-11 away to divisional leaders Lancashire, what better way to bounce back than with a big win over Cambridgeshire to lift them above their opponents into fifth place in the table.
In Saturday’s games the ladies went one up with a 3-1 win by Kerry Bambridge over Debbie Melton but unfortunately the lead was short lived as the visitors stormed into a 3-1 lead with wins from Ronnie Johnson, Juliet Findley and Nadine Bentley winning in turn against their counterparts Nina Bolt, Lucy Keyte and Marian Conway.
Lisa Whitmore stopped the rot with her 3-2 success over Casey Horspool but she was made to fight all the way for her win as she won the opening leg and then lost the following two, however she stuck to her task, won the next two legs to seals her win and keep her team in the game.
With the result now hinging on the final encounter between Donna Pinch (Warwickshire) and Liz Humphries, Donna secured a 3-2 win after twice being pegged back to level terms, her 19.31 average earning her the lady of the match award and giving her team a share of the spoils with a final 3-3 scoreline.
The men’s ‘B’ had a solid start as Carl Green opened up with a 4-1 win over Darren Cotterell and following Carl was Ted Evetts who began his game against Eddie Martin in style with a tremendous 136 outshot and with further legs in 17 and 19 darts took a 3-0 lead. Martin pulled one back in the fourth only to see Evetts complete his 4-1 win in the fifth giving him an award winning average of 26.26.
Luke Kennedy moved the score along to 3-0 when he defeated Simon Hill in four straight legs before the visitors chalked up two in a row, Jason Smith and Dan Whitlam accounting for Dane Vickers and Paul Deslandes.
Going into the halfway point Warwickshire increased their lead to 4-2 when Dave Atkins beat Bob Foster 4-1.
The second half of the match was the complete opposite of the first as Cambridgeshire won the first three games through Craig Venham, Garry Kilpatrick and Mark Horspool who in turn defeated Michael Spencer, Tom McGlone and Dan Green to put the away team into a 5-4 lead, the first time in the game that they had been in front.
Thanks to Simon Power and Antony Allen that lead didn’t last long, Simon Power twice had his advantage wiped out by Andrew Hirlock but went on to win 4-2, while Antony Allen had a more comfortable and convincing 4-0 win over Paul Wenn to put the hosts within an ace of victory as they went 6-5 up.
The Warwickshire win looked to be on the cards as Jimmy Hill won the first leg against Mark Taylor with a 111 game shot, he then went 2-0 up with double twenty in 19 darts. Taylor then checked out on 40 after Hill had missed out with the same checkout. Leg number four went to Hill double nineteen with his nineteenth dart to leave him 3-1 up and just one leg away from victory.
Missed doubles were Hill’s downfall again in the fifth leg after two visits to the oche and failing to find his double Taylor checked out on 99 and went on to win the next leg to level the game at 3-3. The deciding leg was again the same story as Hill had throws to win the game, missed and allowed Taylor to step in and take it for a 4-3 win and put the final score at 6-6.
With the score standing at 9-9 Sunday’s games were going to be massive for both sides. The ladies ‘A’ match followed the exact same pattern as their ‘B’ the previous day, Denise Keyte was first on for the home team and despite losing the first leg to Karen Stanhope went on to win 3-2. Cambridgeshire then turned on the pressure with wins from Jane Judges, Amanda Abbott and Sandra Greatbatch, who in turn accounted for Angela Jones, Kat Spanswick and Melanie Hill.
Claire Ball (Cambridgeshire) with two 21 darts legs and two 20 game shots went 2-0 up against Wendy Adams but she then lost her way on doubles and Wendy took full advantage to clinch a 3-2 win and give Trina Gulliver the opportunity to beat Diane Nash in the final game to earn a draw.
Who better for Warwickshire in a deciding game than Trina Gulliver? The answer to that is no one as Trina made short work of her game winning 3-0 and averaging 23.48 for her fifth match award from the six played so far this season and in the process giving her team a share of the points with a 3-3 draw.
The weekend’s result was now entirely dependent on the outcome of the men’s ‘A’ game and they could not have wished for a better start as they stormed into a 6-0 lead although some of the players were made to fight for their result but fight they did and did it well. Richard Foster came from 2-1 down and 3-3 to beat Stuart Ward 4-3, William Naylor went 2-0 down to Ian Withers and won 4-3, Mark Westgarth trailed 1-0 to Dennis Harbour and won 4-2 to open up a 3-0 lead. Bob Nixon added his 4-1 win over John Dye to the tally and with a 4-2 win from Noel Grant against Terry Redhead Warwickshire were 5-0 up and sailing.
Rob Hawker completed the first half making it a clean sweep 6-0 although he had come from 2-0 and 3-1 down before going on to win 4-3 against Gary Robertson.
The result was put beyond the reach of the Cambridgeshire side as early as the seventh game as Mark Strong with a 4-1 success against Kelly Corcoran gave the home side an unassailable 7-0 lead.
Warwickshire’s man of the moment Jamie Hughes was on at number eight and what a start he had against Pete Fuller as he hit two maximums in his first three throws and won the first leg in eleven darts. Jamie then became “Mr Consistency” as he wrapped up a 4-0 win with three nineteen darts legs to give him a superb award winning average of 29.47.
Game nine saw the away team record their first winner, Martin Adams beating Mark Carter 4-2 after Carter had squared the game twice in the second and fourth legs.
Jamie Atkins made it 9-1 with a neat 4-1 victory over Craig Venham after Venham had gone one up then Mark Archer looked all set to increase that lead when he came from 2-0 down to Chris Sands-Pearce to level in the fourth but then lost the next two to lose 4-2.
Adam Cousin (Cambridgeshire) put the final score at 9-3 with a 4-3 win over Tom Aldridge. Aldridge had a 1-0 lead, trailed 2-1 then was leading 3-2 before losing the last two legs.
The overall 21-15 win has seen Warwickshire overtake their visitors and move into fifth spot in the league table with 116 points just three fewer than fourth placed Essex and only five off third in the table Cheshire, so the big question is with only three remaining games can they emulate last season’s success by finishing third again?
Full Results:(Warwickshire names first):Men’s ‘A’:- Richard Foster 4 Stuart Ward 3, William Naylor 4 Ian Withers 3, Mark Westgarth 4 Dennis Harbour 2, Bob Nixon 4 John Dye 1, Noel Grant 4 Terry Redhead 2, Rob Hawker 4 Gary Robertson 3, Mark Strong 4 Kelly Corcoran 1, Jamie Hughes 4 Pete Fuller 0, Mark Carter 2 Martin Adams 4, Jamie Atkins 4 Craig Venman 1, Mark Archer 2 Chris Sands-Pearce 4, Tom Aldridge 3 Adam Cousins 4, Men’s ‘B’:- Carl Green 4 Darren Cotterell 1, Ted Evetts 4 Eddie Martin 1, Luke Kennedy 4 Simon Hill 0, Dane Vickers 1 Jason Smith 4, Paul Deslandes 0 Dan Whitlam 4, Dave Atkins 4 Bob Foster 1, Michael Spencer 1 Craig Venman 4, Tom McGlone 3 Garry Kilpatrick 4, Dan Green 1 Mark Horspool 4, Simon Power 4 Andrew Hircock 2, Antony Allen 4 Paul Wenn 0, James Hill 3 Mark Taylor 4, Women’s ‘A’:- Denise Keyte 3 Karen Stanhope 2, Angela Jones 0 Jane Judges 3, Kat Spanswick 2 Amanda Abbott 3, Melanie Hill 1 Sandra Greatbatch 3, Wendy Adams 3 Claire Ball 2, Trina Gulliver 3 Diane Nash 0, Women’s ‘B’:- Kerry Bambridge 3 Debbie Melton 1, Nina Bolt 1 Ronnie Johnson 3, Lucy Keyte 0 Juliet Findley 3, Marian Conway 0 Nadine Bentley 3, Lisa Whitmore 3 Casey Horspool 2, Donna Pinch 3 Liz Humphries 2.
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The Warwickshire men’s Super League sees last season’s top two teams battling it out once more for the league title, reigning champions Coventry Bishopsgate after sixteen games have 111 points and are in second place with runners up from last season Brandon leading the way on 123 points from the same number of games.
Highest average so far is a tremendous 34.95 supplied by Jamie Hughes, the highest finish by Mark Westgarth and Prakash Jiwa is 161 and least darts of eleven recorded by Ian McFarlane, Noel Grant and Jamie Hughes.
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