This coming weekend county darts teams throughout the country will kick off their new season in the BDO Inter County Championships and as it has been for the last six seasons Warwickshire will open up with a premier division game against reigning champions Yorkshire. Last season’s 20-16 defeat was the best result Warwickshire have had in the six previous games and so with home advantage at the Bishopsgate Club, Foleshill Road, Coventry the local team will be looking to chalk up their first win over their visitors in seven games.
Selected to play in the opening game are Men’s ‘A’:- Bob Nixon, Dean Stewart, Richard Foster, Jamie Atkins, Jamie Hughes, Mark Carter, Mark Strong, Mark Westgarth, Noel Grant, Rob Hawker, Tom Aldridge, William Naylor, Men’s ‘B’:- Antony Allen, Carl Green, Ted Evetts, Matt Edgar, Prakash Jiwa, Paul Deslandes, Simon Power, Steve Ward, Tom McGlone, Luke Kennedy, Ian Shaw, Luis Barberan, Reserves:- Dan Green, Jimmy Hill, Tom Martin, Chris Gallagher, Mark Archer, Women’s ‘A’:- Denise Keyte, Wendy Adams, Donna Pinch, Kat Spanswick, Natalie Gilbert, Women’s ‘B’:- Lisa Whitmore, Lucy Keyte, Marian Conway, Kerry Bambridge, Kirsty Haw, Nina Bolt, Reserves:- Sue Sandher.
A final reminder to everyone there will be a pre match fund raising half hour prior to Warwickshire’s game when Kaya Holdsworth, daughter of Warwickshire county player Edwina Holdsworth will be having a complete head shave.
As Kaya has previously stated she is doing this because in January her mother was diagnosed with liver and bowel cancer and also some of her family members have also been affected by cancer and she wants to give something back to the nurses who have and still are doing a fantastic job with people being affected by cancer.
Furthermore Kaya is also looking into donating her ponytail to make wigs for people with cancer.
Anyone wishing to support this very courageous twenty years old young lady and wish to donate to a wonderful and worthy cause please follow the link https://bravetheshave.org.uk/shavers/kaya-abbtt/ alternatively just turn up to the game and donate to Kaya’s cause and at the same time support both her and Warwickshire.
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In division two of the BDO Inter County Championships West Midlands begin their fixture list with an away game against local rivals Staffordshire who are newly relegated from division one so it will be no easy task for the away side who last season struggled in the first half of their fixtures winning just one of their first six games. Nevertheless it’s a new season and anything can and usually does happen.
No teams has been provided for the men only a listing of squad members who are Keith Allman, Michael Baker, Scott Baker, Jamie Barrowman, Shaun Carroll, Mark Craddock, Danny Coyle, Glen Cullen, Matthew Dicken, Nick Fullwell, Sam Guest, Ian Jones, Ash Kyhatt, Chris Mason, Jonathan Platt, Richard Platt, Mark Rollinson, Avtar Singh, Rob Smith, Matthew Tedstone, Rob Thompson, Lewis Venes, Mark Watkiss, Gary Watts.
For the ladies the teams are ‘A’ Team:- Sarah Roberts, Lisa Astbury, Kim Fellows, Heather Wright, Debbie Loon, Shelbie Simmons, ‘B’ Team:- Jacqueline Maiden, Samantha Maiden, Wendy Waine, Claire Hobbs, Sophie Singh, Kirsty Shaughnessy, Reserves:- Lizzy Arnold, Roxy Nicholls, Nicci McLaughlin, Gemma Barrett, Kath Jenkins.
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The Red Lion at Shirley have got their fourth premier league season underway and newcomers Noreen Harris and Stuart Dixon both made their debuts in the league Noreen notching a 3-0 win over Alex Hesketh whilst Stuart had a tough start with two 3-0 defeats by Mark Gwalchmai and Pete Silver.
Mark Gwalchmai followed up his win over Dixon with a 3-1 success against Brian Lawton to make him the early pacesetter with a perfect six points. Reigning champion Steve Sidwell trails Gwalchmai slightly on average after he bagged a couple of 3-1 wins over Paul Higgins and Alex Hesketh.
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With just one week of fixtures remaining in the Sheldon and District Summer League four of the divisional titles have been decided, The Digby have won division one, Mackadown Social division two, Iron Horse division four and Langley Hall Sports and Social Flights division six. In the remaining two divisions Solihull Moors and Holy Souls are disputing the division three title both teams having 14 points Moors who currently lead the table on average having a final away game against Sheldon Marlborough Flights who are bottom of the table and Holy Souls will play away to Sheldon Dukes.
The division five battle is between Shirley RBL Misfits and Sheldon Marlborough Arrows, Misfits have completed their programme and have amassed a total of 12 points while Arrows are just one point behind and have a final away game against next to bottom of the table Greville Arms.
In this week’s games there were first wins for The Pirates and The Raven in division two, Pirates winning 7-1 at Marston Green Tavern and Raven having a 5-3 success as hosts to George V. In division four it was a first win in seven for Highwood Exiles ‘A’ winning 6-2 at Sheldon Social to lift them off the foot of the table and be replaced by Ridgemere Social Flights.
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Court Oak made it seven straight wins in the Kings Norton League when they won 6-1 against Weoley Hill to keep them two points ahead of both Kings Norton RBL and Stirchley United both teams winning 4-3 in turn against Cotteridge and Kings Norton Ex Serviceman’s Club to keep their 100% win record intact, they have now played six games as opposed to the seven by Court Oak.
The Bull suffered a somewhat surprising 5-2 home defeat at the hands of the Rubery RBL team and as a result drop from fourth to fifth in the table and now trail the leaders by six points with a game in hand.
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Mackadown Social took their points tally to 23 from 12 games when they won 6-2 at The Gate in group one of the South Birmingham League, second in the table Punchbowl won by the same scoreline at home to Banbury Flights and are now two points behind their victors and have played one game more.
In group two the top two teams Erdington Members Club and second placed St John’s Flights played each other on the former’s board, the outcome was a 4-4 draw to leave Erdington still top of the table with 19 points from 10 games and St John’s on 14 points from 9 games.
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For the second week running all the results in the Forest of Arden Summer League have been 5-2, leaders of division one Journeys End won their home tie with third in the table Highwood ‘C’ and second placed Riley’s Red Arrows won away against Greville Arrows.
In division two Sheldon Marlborough Flights beat Shard End Crown Flights to leave them just two points adrift of leaders Crown Arrows and level on the number of games played.
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It may appear from the league table that Kevin Harris with a further 6-1 win over Andy Whale and a 5-2 success against Kenny West giving him a total of 181 points in the Winmau Centre Thursday Night Champions League is running away with the top prize of £300 pounds as he is currently 26 points ahead of second placed Rob Harris, but that isn’t necessarily so as third placed Mick O’Neill who with 154 points is 27 behind Harris, has five games in hand and with a possible seven points from each game he could take his total to 189 and also Kevin Lane who is fifth in the table with 139 points has nine games in hand and he could reach a total of 202 when he catches up, so the title is far from being decided at this stage but games are fast running out and at the end of the day it will be points that count.
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Although he didn’t play in the latest round of fixtures Tony Carroll still heads the table in the Safe Harbour Double Top League with 28 points from 16 games. Second in the table James Clarke registered a 2-1 win over John Green but then faltered and lost by the same margin to his nearest rival Dave Pickering, Clarke now having 26 points from 17 games and Pickering 24 from 16.
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Little change at the top of the Black Country Premier League as the top five teams all recorded wins, leaders Springfield Rifles had a big 12-3 win over Batham Bandits and second placed Blackheath Beechers won by a much closer 9-7 away to Wynall Warriors to make it five wins in the opening five games for both teams the only two undefeated teams in the league.
The league are on the lookout for a sponsor or alternatively someone to advertise on their web site, anyone interested should contact Scott Roberts on his e-mail [email protected]
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Rose and Crown and White Swan are the top two teams in the Netherton Thursday Night League and the latest round of fixtures paired them together on the latter’s board. The result was a close 5-4 win for Rose and Crown to open up a two points lead over their hosts.
White Horse chalked up their first win in four games a 5-4 victory over bottom of the table The Crown.
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Bridge ‘B’ second in the Brierley Hill Monday Night League table opened up a four points gap between themselves and third placed Rose and Crown (Brierley Hill) when they beat them on their own board 6-3, in addition to the four points advantage they also have a game in hand on Rose and Crown.
Top of the table Dudley Sports ‘C’ kept their two points lead with an impressive 8-1 home win over Dog and Lamppost ‘A’ to make it 25 wins from 28 games.
There was also joy for two of the lower placed teams, next to bottom Old Star having a 5-4 home win over Roebuck who are ten places above them and have double their 14 points and third from bottom Griffin were also 5-4 winners playing away to Queens Head (Wordsley) who are five places above them in the table.
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The Brierley Hill Friday Night League played off their doubles knockout and taking the title with a final win over A.Turley and C.Hart from the Brickmakers Arms were D.Bull and A.Wakeman representing Miners (Wollescote).
Losing semi finalists were A.Smith and R.Pitt (Pensnett Welfare Club) and D.Marshall and M.Rowley (Pensnett Liberal Club).
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It’s close at the top of the Halesowen Monday Night Ladies League with both Spring Meadow and White Horse (formerly Park Lane Tavern) both on 28 points. In the latest round of fixtures Spring Meadow won 4-3 at home to Townsend whose C.Stanley had a 124 checkout and White Horse had a 5-2 win away to The Widders, however Spring Meadow have played one game more than White Horse.
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The Small Heath League played the first round of their League Cup and winning through were Cob’s Bar, East Birmingham Allotment Holders Association and Emerald Club who in turn defeated Moseley All Service, Clock Inn and Emerald Flights.
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Wins for the top three teams in the Cradley Tuesday Night League this week leaders Crown ‘A’ beating their hosts Crown (Simms Lane) 6-3 to stay two points ahead of Brickmakers Arms who won 7-2 at home against Roost ‘A’, third in the table White Horse who are a further two points behind were 6-3 winners at Chop House.
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The Challenge Cup was on the fixture card for the Pip Club League and in division one Bulls Head ‘A’ (Polesworth) leaders of the division beat second in the table Prince of Wales, the division two match saw leaders J W Belgrave account for Pip Club and in the division two Belgrave Shadow Cup Old Liberal won against Progressive Club and Sports Bar ‘180’ defeated Globe Inn ‘B’.
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Week eleven in the Crown at Olton Double Top League and the man at the top of the table Bob Nixon added another two fine 3-0 wins against Simon Edwards and Paul Stephens to take his total points to 68 from 25 games, second in the table Tony Randell had mixed fortunes as he lost 2-1 to Jason Jennings then 3-0 to third placed John Sidwell before recovering to win the next two games against Simon Edwards and Karl Attwood 3-0 to put him on 66 points from 27 games. John Sidwell made it two 3-0 wins when he beat Terry Constable to take him to within four points of Tony Randell and he also has two games in hand on Randell.
After beating Tony Randell Jason Jennings added further notable scalp to his list when he won 2-1 against another former table topper John Buckingham, Jennings moving up one place in the table to sixth.
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Village Inn lost a vital game in the Tettenhall Wednesday Night League when they finished on the wrong side of a 4-3 result at Claregate, the win putting Claregate on the same 30 points as Village Inn in fourth place but trailing on average. Top side Riley’s ‘A’ did their title aspirations no harm whatsoever as they handed out a 7-0 whitewash to their hosts Dog and Partridge to maintain their four points lead over rivals Otter and Vixen who won 6-1 against The Bull. Third placed Riley’s ‘B’ were also 6-1 winners at Brewood British Legion but they are four points off second place.
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