This coming weekend the Warwickshire County Darts Organisation will play their last away fixture of the season in the premier division of the BDO Inter County Championships and should end a run of two consecutive defeats as they travel to the Chelmsford Social Club to take on Essex who are bottom of the division on 91 points, 23 fewer than Warwickshire who are fifth but still in with a good chance of finishing in the top three places as they only trail third placed Cheshire by six points.
Lining up for Warwickshire will be, Men’s ‘A’:- Antony Allen, Mark Westgarth, Jamie Hughes, William Naylor, Nigel Heydon, Dean Stewart, Rob Hawker, Bob Nixon, Noel Grant, Simon Power, Tom Aldridge, Richard Foster, Men’s ‘B’:- Mark Strong, Mark Carter, Anthony West, Carl Green, Mangal Singh, Graham Hall, Tom Ryan, Simon Fairbrother, Charlie Symons, Peter Hughes, James Hykin, Ian Shaw, Reserves:- Ted Evetts, Luke Kennedy, Tom Martin, Andrew Foulkes, Tom McGlone, Matt Edgar, Women’s ‘A’:- Trina Gulliver, Natalie Gilbert, Sue Gulliver, Melanie Hill, Kerry Bambridge, Caroline Pike, Women’s ‘B’:- Angela Jones, Wendy Adams, Marian Conway, Donna Pinch, Chloe McKevitt, Nina Bolt, Reserves:- Lisa Deslandes, Helen Rigg, Denise Keyte.
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In division one of the BDO Inter County Championships West Midlands will be hoping to increase the gap between themselves and third in the table London so the decision on who gets promotion will not depend on the final game of the season when the two teams play each other. Currently second on 135 points West Midlands are just four points short of leaders Hampshire and seven to the good on London, this weekend’s fixture is an away game against County Durham who are in the bottom three places in the table and some 34 points behind their visitors so a big win could see West Midlands take over pole position.
Selected to play for West Midlands are, Men’s ‘A’:- Gavin Baker, Scott Baker, Shaun Carroll, Nick Fullwell, Sam Guest, Ian Jones, Ash Khayatt, Glen McGrandle, John Morris, Danny Nicholls, Jonathan Platt, Gary Watts, Men’s ‘B’:- Michael Baker, Danny Coyle, Mark Craddock, Matthew Dicken, Mark Hampton, Dean Mills, Neil Pointon, Mark Rollason, Avtar Singh, Robert Smith, Louis Venes, Paul Wells, Reserves:- Michael Hoult, Mark Dyke, John Mycock, Richard Platt, Paul Price, Dave Redding, Dave Robbins, Jack Routledge, Mark Watkiss, Women’s ‘A’:- Lisa Astbury, Gemma Barrett, Kath Jenkins, Debbie Loon, Sarah Roberts, Sophie Singh, Women’s ‘B’:- Shannon Hall, Claire Hobbs, Jacqueline Maiden, Samantha Maiden, Shellbie Simmons, Heather Wright, Reserves:- Elizabeth Arnold, Kim Fellows, Kirsty Shaughnessy, Wendy Waine.
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The South Birmingham League were engaged in cup semi finals this week and in the League Knockout Cup there was something of a surprisingly big 8-1 win for division one’s third placed Crown at Shard End who beat second in the first division table Mackadown Social. The other semi final saw Coleshill Social win 5-4 against Banbury Arrows.
In the Jimmy Walker Cup last four playoff division one leaders Erdington Members Club handed out a 9-0 whitewash to their division two hosts Toby Jug while Banbury Flights had a close 5-4 win against The C’s.
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It was cup week in the Four Oaks and District League and in the Brian Goodman Cup Boldmere St Mikes didn’t have it all their own way against Bishop Vesey who fought back from 3-0 down to 3-2, the next two games were shared before St Mikes took the final two for a 6-3 win. Boldmere’s final opponents will be Golden Hind who lost the first game against Erdington Club but then won the next five and eventually finished as 6-3 winners.
In the Ken Rust Cup The Boot struggled against Red Lion and had only one winner in the first seven games, losing their match 7-2 while The Boat had a hard battle with Drakes Drum but the outcome was the same with Boat winning 7-2.
M.Wild (Boldmere St Mikes) hit his first maximum of the season Jason Prince (The Boat) his third.
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Week four in the Shirley Red Lion Premier League and taking over in pole position is Lee Harris with 26 points. Harris jumped up from fourth place to top with a 4-0 win over Neil Comerford followed by a 3-1 success against Tony Daly. Chris Thomas and Mick Gorst were both previously locked together at the top of the table both on 20 points but Thomas slipped to second when he lost 3-1 to Mark Gwalchmai (180) but then beat Nick Walker 4-0 to leave him on 25 points, level on points and average with Gwalchmai who finished all square at 2-2 with Trevor Carter in his second game.
It was not a good week at all for Mick Gorst, after sharing the number one spot he lost both of his week four games against Antony Daly and Chris John 3-1 to drop to fifth in the table on 22 points.
Personal performances saw Steve Sidwell take the £5 for the best checkout as he recorded a tremendous 161 finish in his 3-1 win over Luke Coles, Jack Sidwell had a 160 break in a 3-1 win against Antony Daly and Andy Thomas chalked up nine and ten darts legs as he beat Mike Forsyth 4-0.
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The Winmau Centre in the Wolverhampton Indoor Community Sports Arena have got their new Monday Night League season underway and the early pacesetters are Just The Tip who after only two fixtures have opened up a 22 points lead over second placed The Untouchables. In week two Just The Tip had a huge 42-6 win over Unleashed Warrior who are currently bottom of the table, Untouchables had a much closer 28-20 win against their nearest rivals, third in the table Utter Nutters who have played three games compared to their opponents two and are six points adrift.
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Just one result from division one of the Forest of Arden Winter League this week which saw next to bottom Greville Arrows win 6-3 at home against Ivy Leaf who are bottom of the division.
In the second division Journeys End Flights finished their season with an 8-1 win over third placed Crown Arrows to see them play through both the summer and winter leagues without losing a single game.
Highwood Arms finish as runners up to Journeys End Flights their final game seeing them also win 8-1 away to Inn on the Green.
With just one more outstanding game Chelmsley Town recorded their first win of the season when they won their home tie with next to bottom of the table Highwood Exiles 7-2, both teams are on two points, Chelmsley bottom on average.
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A 3-0 win over Marie Jenkins and a 2-1 success against Martin Cox sees Dave Humphries top of the Sheldon Marlborough Cricket Club Singles League with 30 points from eleven games. Second in the table Dave Howlett had two 3-0 wins in his games against Pete Jones and Marie Jenkins giving him 28 points but from twelve games.
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Holy Gulp and Cotterills Lane Club extended their unbeaten run to four games in the Camp Hill League, Holy Gulp having a close 4-3 verdict away to fourth placed Eagle and Ball while Cotterills were 5-2 winners at bottom of the table Station Wagon. The two leading teams have a two points lead over third placed Hay Mills Social Club Lions who were the week’s biggest winners as they accounted for their visitors Devil’s Club with a 6-1 scoreline.
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As the Winmau Centre Thursday Night Champions League nears the halfway point Chris Williams leads the field with 111 points from 20 games and has an eleven points advantage over second placed Sam Guest who is fast catching up with his outstanding games and despite the deficit he has two games in hand on Williams which could net him a total of 14 points which would take him to the number one spot.
Mick Baker is hoping to make it three consecutive titles, he is currently fifth on 94 points and like Guest has two games in hand on leader Williams but there is still a long way to go to the end of the season and undoubtedly there will be many twists and turns before the title is decided.
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There were wins for the top five teams in the Hilltop Friendly Tuesday Night League with the to three all winning 5-2, so with all teams having played eight games Island Inn top the table with a perfect 16 points with Dewdrop second on 14 closely followed by Old Hop Pole with 12. In turn the top three beat Ivy Bush, Wonder and Hayes Social.
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Hillyfields ‘B’ keep winning in the Kings Norton League their latest 4-3 away win over fourth placed Stirchley United taking their undefeated run to 12 games, but with a 5-2 home win over Grant Arms West Heath in second place are on the same 12 points but from 13 games.
Rubery RBL and Stirchley United are joint third both having played twelve games with the same 16 points and identical average.
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After only two weeks fixtures just two of the six teams in the Small Heath League have a 100% win record, East Birmingham Allotment Holders Association are top but only by one leg of average after winning 7-2 at Wagon and Horses while their nearest rivals Foaming Tankard won 6-3 away to Cob’s Bar.
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Bulls Head (Netherton) added an 8-1 win over New Talbot to their unbeaten tally in the Brierley Hill Monday Night League to keep them two points to the good on second placed Mount Pleasant who take over the number two spot from Dudley Sports ‘B’ after handing out a 9-0 whitewash to their visitor’s bottom of the table Limes Club. Dudley Sports ‘B’ suffered a 6-3 defeat at Roebuck and were the only losers in the top six and drop two places to fourth behind Dudley Ex Serviceman’s Club who had an 8-01 win at Dudley Sports ‘A’.
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The Brierley Hill Friday Night League played the second leg of round two of their League Cup and winning through to the semi finals were Netherton Cricket Club ‘A’, Netherton Cricket Club ‘B’, Pensnett Welfare Club ‘B’ and Brickmakers Arms, four of the league’s current top five teams.
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The Rowley Monday Night League fixtures matched the top two teams in week ten and the close 5-4 result went in favour of Ex Serviceman’s ‘A’ to make it ten wins in as many games and sees them leap frog their opponents The Bell whose first defeat sees them drop into second place.
Cradley Liberal Club hold on to third place with a 7-2 win over Yeltz Bar with Whiteheath Tavern fourth after their 8-1 win over Three Diamonds ‘X’. Ex Serviceman’s ‘B’ move up into fifth place with a 6-3 win against The Roost who go down two places to sixth.
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Landywood ‘A’ beat Cabin 5-0 in the West Midlands Men’s Super League to go one point clear at the top of the table over reigning champions Crown ‘A’ who won 4-1 at home to Pensnett Welfare Club, Crown having a game in hand on the leaders.
Pheasant leapfrog Ten Arches into third place after beating them 4-1. Other movers in the league were Chillington who go up to joint fourth with Ten Arches after a 5-0 win against White Swan while Bridgetown and Duke of York moved up to sixth and seventh respectively, Bridgtown winning 3-2 at Allens Sports Bar ‘B’ and Duke of York beating Olde Queens Head 4-1.
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In the Main League in the Pip Club League Bulls Head ‘A’ (Polesworth) had a 7-2 win away to Winning Post to keep them in pole position despite their second placed rivals Queens Head going one better with an 8-1 win against Progressive Club. Both of the top two teams are on 24 points with Bulls Head having the better average. Winning Post in third place have now played one game more than the two teams above them and are four points worse off.
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The Wednesbury and Darlaston Wednesday Night League played off round one of their Harry Tibbetts Cup which saw wins for Black Horse, Churchills ‘A’, The Nutan and Staffordshire Knot in turn defeating Red Lion, English Oak, Churchills ‘B’ and Horse and Jockey.
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Although Ten Arches ‘B’ had a 6-3 win at Bird (Wordsley) in the Stourbridge and District Monday Night League it was not enough for them to hold on to second place as Brickmakers Arms moved above them with a better average, one single leg after they won 9-0 at Hare and Hounds ‘A’. Ten Arches ‘A’ remain in pole position making it nine straight wins when they won their home tie with The Swan 9-0 to keep them two points ahead of the chasing duo.
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Woodside consolidated their number one spot in the Silver End Sunday Morning League when they won 8-0 away to Brickmakers Arms ‘B’, the win keeping them six points ahead of second placed Brickmakers Arms ‘A’ who won their away fixture with Blue Brick 7-1 maintaining their four points lead over both The Bell and Dudley Sports ‘B’ in third and fourth places respectively.
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With Richard Reed not playing in week six of the Yeltz Bar Tuesday Night Singles League, Neil Steventon and Tommy Johnson have replaced him in pole position both players having 25 points and similar average. Steventon won his game with Tony Duncan 4-1 while Johnson won by the same margin against Richard Hill to give the two players a slender one point lead over third placed Loz Slater who won his game with Mark Adams 5-0. Reed with 22 points is fourth.
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Riley’s ‘C’ with a 4-3 win at Wednesfield Conservative Club have opened up a two points lead at the top of the division one singles league in the Wolverhampton Tuesday Night League and aiding them was the 4-3 defeat of second placed Sunbeam by Riley’s ‘B’.
No change at the top of the division two singles league as leaders Dog and Partridge won 6-1 against Royal and second placed Wednesfield Legion were 5-2 winners at Ukrainian Club.
The top three teams in the division one doubles league were all 2-1 winners, Riley’s ‘B’, Victoria and Boat in turn beating Sunbeam, Penn Bowling and Riley’s ‘A’.
A 3-0 win over Ukrainian Club took Wednesfield Legion’s unbeaten run in the division two doubles league to six games and keeps their two points lead over Riley’s ‘D’ intact, Riley’s ‘D’ winning 2-1 at Royal.
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In week five of the Tettenhall Wednesday Night League Whitmore Reans WMC lost not only their fixture against Moreton 5-2 but also their top of the table position and drop to second, Moreton prior to the fixture were ninth and move up to seventh. Taking over pole position is Swan Compton whose 4-3 home win over Cleveland Arms puts them above Whitmore on average, both teams having eight points.
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