Three draws and a win were enough for Warwickshire to secure a 19-17 win away to Cheshire in the latest of their premier division fixtures in the BDO Inter County Championships, the win taking them up two places in the table to fourth on 59 points just three short of third placed Nottinghamshire.
Both ladies teams finished all square at three each with Kerry Bambridge (19.52) taking the ‘A’ team’s match award and Marion Conway (16.20) the ‘B’.
The men’s ‘B’ team recorded their second consecutive 7-5 win Simon Power their top man with a superb 30.36 average while the ‘A’ side after going 4-3 and 5-4 up had to thank anchor man Noel Grant for securing a 6-6 draw when he won 4-0 against Andy Hope. Man of the match for the ‘A’ team was Mark Westgarth who had a great 30.42 average in a 4-1 win over Nathan Aspinall.
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In division one of the BDO Inter County Championships West Midlands played an away game against Gwent and returned with a 24-12 win to consolidate their number two position in the promotion table and extend their lead over third placed Dorset from one point to twelve.
Saturday’s games got off to a fine start with the ladies ‘B’ winning 5-1, Claire Hobbs with an 18.56 average taking the match award. The men’s ‘B’ added to the lead with their terrific 9-3 victory, top man Dave Robbins chalking up a 26.78 average.
The ladies ‘A’ team stormed into a 3-1 lead but in the end had to be content with a 3-3 draw Gemma Barrett recording a lady of the match average of 23.12. Rounding off the fixture the men’s ‘A’ completed a very satisfying weekend with a 7-5 win, their top player being Nick Fullwell with a 28.97 average.
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Nick Fulwell was in the news again when in the final of the Bedworth Open he squared up to Warwickshire’s Nigel Heydon.
The last four games saw Heydon beat Nottinghamshire’s Matt Padgett 5-0 while Fullwell was taken to a deciding leg before beating Cheshire’s David Pallett 5-4. The final was extended to the best of eleven games and it was Fullwell who was first to a winning six legs as he beat Heydon 6-2 to clinch the top prize.
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The Sheldon and District Winter League have got their new season underway and the biggest winners in week one were division one outfit Iron Horse who accounted for their visitors Yardley Ex Colts with a 7-1 result to head the table.
The Lyndon top the premier division but only by one leg of average as their 6-2 win against The Harvester was only slightly better than the 5-3 by both Highwood KB’s and The Pirates who in turn defeated Saltley Amateur Gardeners and Castle Vale Residents.
There are three teams, Lyndon Old Boys, Meadway Sports and Social and Ridgemere Social Flights all level on points and average at the top of division two, each of them in turn winning 6-2 against Greville Arms, Langley Hall Sports and Social Flights and The Maggies.
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The first round of the Roy Parry Cup was the order of the day for the South Birmingham League and matched the leaders of the two division’s, Mackadown Social from division one getting the 5-4 result over The Dog who are top of division two.
The two bottom teams in division one played each other, next to bottom Trident beating bottom team Crown Arrows 7-2.
Other teams to win through to the next round were Banbury Arrows, The Bell, Coleshill Social, Banbury Flights, Crown at Shard End and Erdington Members Club.
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What’s The Point made it seven wins in as many games in the Winmau Centre Monday Night League when they beat Full Monty 33-15 to put them top of the table with 269 points with a lead of 61 over second placed The Outcasts who had a 39-9 win against Oche Dokie leaving them with a game in hand on the leaders.
Smash It are just four points off The Outcasts and they like Outcasts have only played six games their latest being a massive 43-5 win against Make Mine A Double.
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There were only two games played this week in the Small Heath League which saw leaders East Birmingham Allotment Holders Association win 8-1 against Wagon and Horses to take their unbeaten run to five games and at the same time open up a four points lead over second placed Gulp Tribe who now have a game in hand as their fixture with Mitre was postponed. The other game played saw the bottom two teams play each other with next to bottom Cob’s Bar beating bottom team Emerald Club 6-3 to go four points ahead of them.
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In the preliminary round of the Coronation Shield in the Four Oaks League The Boat and St Thomas’s Social Club laid on a match that included no fewer than 50 scores of a ton or more with second division’s St Thomas’s contributing 17. The result was a 12-3 win for The Boat who on the night were outstanding.
The Boldmere St Mikes and Pint Pot Flights tie was another high scoring affair with a total of 46 tons or over, the former getting the 10-5 verdict. Plough and Arrows without a league win so far made it two cup wins when they also won 10-5 in their game against Old Oscott WMC.
The Boot needed one leg from their final game to win 8-7 at Boldmere Tap and in a titanic tussle Bishop Vesey beat The Fox in the final leg of the last game for a similar 8-7 result.
M.Naylor (The Fox), N.Clarke (The Boat), A.Kimberley (Boldmere St Mikes) and G.Oldfield (Erdington Arrows) all hit a maximum.
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As a result of Paul Higgins and Mick Gorst, the top two players in the Shirley Red Lion Premier League not playing a game in week nine they have dropped to fifth and sixth positions respectively in the table. Taking over in pole position is Andy Hoy who after losing 3-1 to Chris Thomas who hit a maximum recovered to hold Ken Hopton to a 2-2 draw giving him a total of 41 points and a slender one point lead over Chris Thomas, Mick Bown and Anthony Daly. After beating Hoy Thomas added a further 3-1 result against Steve Heeks to his tally, Bown meanwhile with a 180 won 3-0 against Dave Fisher and followed that with another 3-0 verdict against Mark Gwalchmai. Daly had 3-0 and 3-1 wins over Steve Heeks and Jack Nason.
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Two games played in division one of the Forest of Arden Winter League in week three and both finished with a 7-2 scorleine, top of the table Journeys End winning against Kingshurst Knights who dropped down to next to bottom of the table replacing Highwood KB who won against bottom team Greville Arrows, KB moving up to second in the table.
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The Brierley Hill Monday Night League played off the finals of their doubles knockout and taking the title with a final 3-1 victory over Rob Powers and Jeff Batham from The Bridge were Stuart and Sid Skidmore representing Dudley Sports ‘C’.
In the semi finals the Skidmore’s took out Dave Moss and John McCormack (High Acres) while Powers and Batham accounted for Adam Neale and Clive Weeks again from High Acres.
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Just two outstanding fixtures remain in the Stourbridge and District Monday Night League and they are two games that will decide who will pick up the winners silverware on presentation night. Ten Arches ‘A’ top the table with 72 points after completing their fixtures, third in the table Ten Arches ‘B’ have one game remaining against sixth in the table Ashwood, a win for Ten Arches ‘B’; would give them the title on average over their ‘A’ side. Fifth placed Bird ‘A’ (Stourbridge) also have a game to play and like Ten Arches ‘B’ are currently two points behind the leaders, Bird ‘A’ will take on Quarry Bank Conservative Club who are in the bottom half of the table, however they trail heavily on average and it does look as though the title will go to either Ten Arches ‘A’ or ‘B’.with the losers almost certainly finishing as runners up.
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There were 7-0 defeats for all of the bottom three teams in the Brierley Hill Friday Night League in week ten, Lenches Bridge, Ten Arches and Fox Inn (Lye) in turn losing to The Bell, Samson and Lion and Miners (Wollescote).
At the other end of the table leaders Pensnett Welfare Club ‘A’ came out of the local derby with their ‘B’ team with a 6-1 result to put them two points ahead of second in the table Brickmakers Arms who lost 5-2 playing away to Netherton Cricket Club ‘A’ who have taken over third place from Pensnett Welfare ‘B’.
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Cotterills Lane Club march on in the Camp Hill League making it twelve wins in as many games when they won 6-1 against Station Wagon to maintain their four point’s advantage over second in the table Hay Mills Social Club who also won 6-1 in their game at Devil’s Club.
Holy Gulp were the only losers in the top three teams as they finished on the wrong side of a close 4-3 result at home against Eagle and Ball who are now just two points behind them in fourth place.
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With just one more round of fixtures to be played in the Hilltop Friendly Tuesday Night League the main issue has been sorted for some time now as Dewdrop are acclaimed league champions but the race is still on for the runners up spot as Old Hop Pole and Island Inn are both battling for pride of finishing second
Prior to week 32 games Island Inn held second place and even though they won 4-3 away to New Talbot were unable to hold on to that position as Old Hop Pole won their home tie with bottom of the table Horseley Tavern 7-0 to leap over their rivals by two legs of average, both teams are on 48 points.
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Next week will see the Netherton Thursday Night League complete their domestic fixtures but the title is far from being sewn up as at present Dudley Sports and Social are top of the table with 45 points from sixteen games and White Swan second with 42 points from the same number of games but with a superior average and with each game carrying three points the final game could decide where the title will go, however it may not end there as there is just one rearranged fixture to be played and that fixture will definitely decide who becomes champions as it is between White Swan and Dudley Sports and Social.
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No change at the top of the Stourbridge and District Wednesday Night League but in week 21 there was a bit of an upset for leaders Ashwood ‘A’ as they lost 4-3 away to fourth in the table Britannia. Nevertheless Ashwood ‘A’ remain in pole position but now their lead has been cut to just two points as second placed Miners Welfare won 6-1 at home against High Acres.
A bottom of the table clash between Holly Bush and Hare and Hounds as seen the latter move off the foot of the table to be replaced by their opponents, Hare and Hounds won the tie 7-0.
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With a 9-0 win over Wigginton Arms, Bulls Head ‘A’ (Polesworth) lead the master league in the Pip Club League with six points from the opening three games, a 6-3 win at Pip Club has put second in the table Queens Head on the same number of points as Bulls Head but they trail massively on average
In addition to the two top teams having won all three of their games fourth placed Birchmoor Club are the only other undefeated team in the league, they won their latest game away to Progressive Club 6-3 but have only played two fixtures so far.
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I would like to apologise to any league secretary and players who have submitted copy and it has not appeared in this week’s column but the problem lies with TalkTalk who promised me a new fibre broadband connection by the 4th November which just never happened and they left me high and dry without any internet.
The reports printed are the one’s received by Saturday morning as I went to my son’s to run them off, wrote them up at home and then go back to my son’s Sunday evening to send them over to the Birmingham Mail.
Hopefully all will be resolved by this coming weekend but I am not holding my breath as I have been told that if they have to send out an engineer it will not be before the 15th November.
So until TalkTalk have got their act together please let me have any reports as early as possible to ensure they will be included.
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