Derbyshire’s christening in division one of the BDO Inter County Championships was never going to be an easy ride despite having home advantage they were facing up to Glamorgan a team who had played last season in the premier division.
Dawn Buckley (Derbyshire) opened up for the ladies ‘B’ side but lost out by 3-1 to Vanda Adams, Kelly Dean restored parity as she won by the same 3-1 margin against Eve Watson and as it turned out Kelly’s average of 14.88 was Derbyshire’s award winning average on the day as the remainder of her team mates all lost.
Heather Mowat started Glamorgan’s five winning games run with her 3-0 success against Dee Fenn, then came Danielle Cabble who beat Samantha Clarke 3-2. Game number five was another straight 3-0 again going to the visitors this time it was Iris Powell who won against Nicola Fletcher and rounding off the away team’s 5-1 victory was Sandra Quinn with a 3-2 result against Rachel Ayres.
The ladies ‘B’ were not beaten until the final game of last season a 4-2 reversal away to Northamptonshire, hopefully this is the only one they lose in the current campaign.
It was the away side that got the better start in the men’s ‘B’ match, Ashley Pascoe opening up for them with a 3-2 win over Colin Rich who had twice taken the lead. Mark Walker (Derbyshire) went 1-0 down to Chris Cahill but fought back and went on to win 3-1 and level the score before Adrian Asprey gave the home side the lead for the first time when he beat Clayton Williams 3-1, Williams winning the first then Asprey with three checkouts of 8 won the tie.
Glamorgan forged ahead again with two 3-0 wins from Mark Dacey and Paddy Murphy who in turn defeated Craig Freeman and David Allcock, but by the halfway stage it was all level again after Richard Hanson, who twice came from behind against Michael Huntley went on to win 3-2.
Despite a spirited fight by Tony Cresswell, who twice levelled his game with Dale Pinch it was the latter who got the 3-2 verdict and with a further 3-1 win from Sean Fisher against John Clifford Glamorgan had opened up a 5-3 lead.
The arrears were halved when Keith Cooper got the better of Justin Davies with a close 3-2 win but with three more wins from the visitors they went on to clinch an 8-4 victory. Supplying the final wins were Wayne (Sid) Davies, Lloyd Browning and Mark Salmon who in turn defeated Ian Allcock (3-1), Peter Slater (3-2) and Drew Smith (3-1).
As it happened the ladies ‘A’ game turned out to be the highlight of the weekend for the hosts but it didn’t look too promising when Michelle Lloyd (Glamorgan) beat Sara-Jane Harrison 3-0 in the first game and second on for the visitors Donna Thomas opened up a 2-0 lead on Lauren Jackson. However Lauren kept her cool and battled on to win 3-2. Two more 3-0 scorelines in games three and four both of them again going to Glamorgan when their Nikki O’Donovan beat Rachel Bird and Rhian Edwards won against Jackie Sweet.
At 3-1 down all looked lost but winner of six of the possible nine lady of the match awards last season Jane Densley carried on where she left off, her 3-1 win against Paula Clemett giving her an award winning average of 22.94 and at the same time keeping the home side in with a chance of a draw.
The final game could easily have gone either way but to the hosts delight it was Jennifer McCormick who beat Alannah Waters 3-1 to put the final score at 3-3.
First on for Derbyshire in the men’s ‘A’ game was Tim Daniels who was very unlucky to lose out 4-3 to Richie Edwards, but the Welsh teams lead was short lived as Robert Smith beat David Rogers by the same close 4-3 result. The visitors forged ahead again in the third another seven legs affair in which Ron Morgan beat Lee Stanley and then took their lead to 3-1 when Tim Jones beat Robert Wood 4-0.
Rhys Griffin looked set to add another stripe to the away teams tally when he went 2-0 up against Nigel Daniels but Daniels responded with four winning legs in a row to claim his 4-2 win. The following game was a complete reversal of the previous one as Paul Mellor (Derbyshire) won the first two legs and Glamorgan’s Wayne Warren took the next four to give his team a 4-2 lead at the halfway mark.
From 4-2 the score moved along to 6-2 as Shaun Dibbs won 4-0 against Paul Bettney and Clive Langford beat Ashley Spencer 4-3. Then came Derbyshire’s best run of the game two consecutive wins, Darron Brown lost the first leg to Wayne Davies but responded magnificently with winning legs of 16, 14, 25 and 17 darts to seal his 4-1 win. Gary Fenn reduced the arrears to 6-4 with his 4-2 win over Jeff Bass after trailing 2-0 however the result was secured for Glamorgan in the penultimate encounter when Ray Johnson beat Alan Statham 4-1.
The final score was a close 7-5 as Derbyshire’s anchor man Paul Baker produced his team’s best performance of the day a 4-1 win over Keirion Carter giving him a man of the match average of 28.43, the overall result for the weekend 23-13 to Glamorgan.
Full Results:(Derbyshire names first):Men’s ‘A’:- Tim Daniels 3 Richie Edwards 4, Robert Smith 4 David Rogers 3, Lee Stanley 3 Ron Morgan 4, Robert Wood 0 Tim Jones 4, Nigel Daniels 4 Rhys Griffin 2, Paul Mellor 2 Wayne Warren 4, Paul Bettney 0 Shaun Dibbs 4, Ashley Spencer 3 Clive Langford 4, Darron Brown 4 Wayne Davies 1, Gary Fenn 4 Jeff Bass 2, Alan Statham 1 Ray Johnson 4, Paul Baker 4 Keirion Carter 1, Men’s ‘B’:- Colin Rich 2 Ashley Pascoe 3, Mark Walker 3 Chris Cahill 1, Adrian Asprey 3 Clayton Williams 1, Craig Freeman 0 Mark Dacey 3, David Allcock 1 Paddy Murphy 3, Richard Hanson 3 Michael Huntley 2, Tony Cresswell 2 Dale Pinch 3, John Clifford 1 Sean Fisher 3, Keith Cooper 3 Justin Davies 2, Ian Allcock 1 Wayne (Sid) Davies 3, Peter Slater 2 Lloyd Browning 3, Drew Smith 1 Mark Salmon 3, Women’s ‘A’:- Sara-Jane Harrison 0 Michelle Lloyd 3, Lauren Jackson 3 Donna Thomas 2, Rachel Bird 0 Nikki O’Donovan 3, Jackie Sweet 0 Rhian Edwards 3, Jane Densley 3 Paula Clement 1, Jennifer McCormick 3 Alannah Waters 1.