Lincolnshire v Warwickshire
After a somwhat shakey start to the new season in the premier division of the BDO Inter County Championships when Warwickshire lost their opening two fixtures they now appear to have settled into the season and in their latest fixture away to Lincolnshire they chalked up their second consecutive victory.
The ladies ‘B’ team with one defeat and two draws were still searching for their first win and they certainly got it in style.
Angela Jones opened up with a straight 3-0 win over Jet McQueen, Angel’s 17.89 average giving her the lady of the match award. Lisa Deslandes doubled the lead with her 3-1 success against Emma Tomlinson and with another 3-0 win from Nina Bolt over Lindsey Wingell Warwickshire looked to be well and truly on their way to their first win.
Layla Bontoft put a temporary halt to Warwickshire’s run when she won 3-0 against Lucy Keyte but it was the very next game that saw the long awaited winning game go up when Marian Conway got the better of Julie Lambie beating her 3-1.
The final score was taken to 5-1 to Warwickshire when Kerry Bambridge rounded off the match with a 3-1 win over Sharon Magan.
It was not all good news in Saturday’s games however, despite Simon Power giving the men’s ‘B’ a solid start when he won 4-1 against Martin Richards the home team then strung together a run of four winning games, Duncan Hunt began the quartet of wins with a 4-1 win over Carl Green after Green had won the first leg, Rob Hewson made it 2-1 to the home side with his 4-3 win over Antony Allen, Allen having taken the lead in the first and third legs. Moving the score along to 3-1 was Richard Selby, again it was the Warwickshire player that won the first leg, Peter Hughes going from 1-0 up to losing 4-1. A 4-0 win by Dean Allsopp over Luke Kennedy gave Lincolnshire a 4-1 lead which by the halfway mark was reduced slightly to 4-2 when Paul Deslandes beat Shane Lowe 4-3, Deslandes going 2-0 up to 3-2 down before sealing his win in the seventh leg.
The second half began something like the first with Warwickshire winning the opener, Prakash Jiwa having a 4-1 win over Allan Spencer in which he hit fifteen scores of a ton or more plus a maximum and with winning legs of 17,18,17 and 13 darts he had a man of the match average of 28.09 his last leg seeing him score 140,100,100,137 and double twelve to take the score to 4-3.
Another run of three wins took the home team to an unassialable 7-3 lead, Kevin Tomlinson’s award winning performance against Tom McGlone started the run, Tomlinson winning 4-0 with a 28.23 average. Steve Hamill came from behind against Ian Shaw to win 4-3 and Jon Bywater’s 4-1 win against Tom Martin gave Lincolnshire the all imoirtant seventh winner.
Matthew Edgar in the penultimate game beat Karl Forrington 4-1 and in the final encounter Tom Ryan won 4-2 against Nathan Smith to make the result a little more respectable for Warwickshire as they lost 7-5.
Warwickshire’s ladies ‘A’ like their ‘B’ team were without a win prior to the game but unlike their ‘B’ team they were unable to put an end to that statistic. After going 1-0 down from a Tammy Montgomery 3-1 win over Melanie Hill Warwickshire then went into a 2-1 lead, Trina Gulliver supplied her usual lady of the match performace when she won 3-2 against Shelley Bontoft-Gash, Trina averaging 23.62 then giving the visitors the lead was Sue Gulliver with her straight 3-0 win over Laura Tye.
Unfortunately it was then all downhill some missed doubles proving to be very costly as Donna Pinch lost 3-2 to Paula Jacklin after she had twice taken the lead, Wendy Adams went down by the same scoreline to Dawn Armstrong and like Donna Wendy had also take the lead twice, then in the final game Denise Keyte lost 3-0 to Heather Lodge to give Lincolnshire a 4-2 win.
Everything now depended on the men’s ‘A’ result, a win was what was required to give an overall victory for the weekend.
Noel Grant (Warwickshire) won the first against Mark Blackwell but he was made to fight all the way for his win as he went 2-0 up 2-2, 3-2 up 3-3 and won the final leg in 16 darts.Taking the score to 2-0 was Warwickshire’s man in form Jamie Hughes, Jamie made it three man of the match awards in four games when he beat Sam Hewson 4-0 kicking off with a 13 darts leg scoring 60,140,140,137 and checking out on double twelve first dart. He the rattled off two further wins both in 17 darts and rounded off his straight win with a 14 darts leg and scores of 57,100,180,94 and a 70 game shot for his best average so far this season a fantastic 32.85.
Another Jamie, this time Atkins unlike Hughes was made to fight for his win, no fewer than three time did he come back from behind against Adam Beck and then go on to win 4-3 to open up a 3-0 lead for his team.
Game number four saw the hosts record their first win when Lloyd Pennell beat Mark Carter 4-0 and Warwickshire’s lead was cut to 3-2 with a further win for the home side when Andy Bingham won 4-3 against William Naylor after Naylor had gone 2-0 up.
A steady performance from Tom Adridge winning 4-1 against Adam Ward after Ward had won the first took the score for the first half to 4-2 to the away side.
Ted Evetts (Warwickshire) had his lead cancelled out twice by Dean Baker but went on to win 4-2 while Bob Nixon after winning the first aginst Simon Stainton found himself trailing 2-1, nevertheless in 16,17 and 21 dartshe went on to clinch a 4-2 win. With three maximums and six scores of a ton Mark Westgarth not only beat Lincolnshire’s Gary Blades 4-1 but at the same time put up the magical seventh win for Warwickshire to seal an overall win as well as a men’s ‘A’ team win.
With three to play the home team put together their best run of the match three consecutive wins, Chris Fidler (29.44) with a man of the match game against Dean Stewart won 4-1, Micky Taylor had a similar 4-1 win over Richard Foster and Jock Watt won 4-3 against Mark Strong, Watt going 3-0 up only to be pegged back to 3-3 before winning the decider to put the final score at 7-5 to Warwickshire.
The 19-17 result may have been close but at the end of the day a win is a win and it keeps Warwickshire in fourth place in the table with a total of 75 points.
Full Results:Lincolnshire v Warwickshire (17-19)🙁Lincolnshire names first):Men’s ‘A’:- Mark Blackwell 3 Noel Grant 4, Sam Hewson 0 Jamie Hughes 4, Adam Beck 3 Jamie Atkins 4, Lloyd Pennell 4 Mark Carter 0, Andy Bingham 4 William Naylor 3, Adam Ward 1 Tom Aldridge 4, Dean Baker 2 Ted Evetts 4, Simon Stainton 2 Bob Nixon 4, Gary Blades 1 Mark Westgarth 4, Chris Fidler 4 Dean Stewart 1, Micky Taylor 4 Richard Foster 1, Jock Watt 4 Mark Strong 3, Men’s ‘B’:- Martin Richards 1 Simon Power 4, Duncan Hunt 4 Carl Green 1, Rob Hewson 4 Antony Allen 3, Richard Selby 4 Peter Hughes 1, Dean Allsopp 4 Luke Kennedy 0, Shane Lowe 3 Paul Deslandes 4, Allan Spencer 1 Prakash Jiwa 4, Kevin Tomlinson 4 Tom McGlone 0, Steve Hamill 4 Ian Shaw 2, Jon Bywater 4 Tom Martin 1, Karl Forrington 1 Matthew Edgar 4, Nathan Smith 2 Tom Ryan 4, Women’s ‘A’:- Tammy Montgomery 3 Melanie Hill 1, Shelley Bontoft-Gash 2 Trina Gulliver 3, Laura Tye 0 Sue Gulliver 3, Paula Jacklin 3 Donna Pinch 2, Dawn Armstrong 3 Wendy Adams 2, Heather Lodge 3 Denise Keyte 0, Women’s ‘B’:- Jet McQueen 0 Angela Jones 3, Emma Tomlinson 1 Lisa Deslandes 3, Linsey Wingell 0 Nina Bolt 3, Layla Bontoft 3 Lucy Keyte 0, Julie Lambie 1 Marian Conway 3, Sharon Magan 1 Kerry Bambridge 3.
———————————
The Warwickshire Darts Organisation staged their annual Dennis Roberts Singles competition and with some tremendous throwing on the night taking the title was Birmingham Hillyfields man Richard Hosey. The event attracted a very encouraging 50 entries and had a total payout of £300.
Hosey had come up against tough opposition throughout none tougher than in the semi’s where he beat Erdington’s Rob Hawker 4-2. From the other half of the draw Dean Sanders (Nuneaton and Bedworth) booked his final spot with a 4-0 win over Stratford’s Ant West.
The final result was a very close 5-4 win for Hosey.
———————————