West Midlands after surprisingly suffering their heaviest defeat of the campaign in their previous outing a 27-9 reversal away to Dorset rounded off the first two thirds of the season in division one of the BDO Inter County Championships with an away fixture against bottom of the table Kent and for the second time in six games they swept the board with four out of four wins.
Kicking off the all teams win were the ladies ‘B’ and getting them on the road to success was Jacqueline Maiden who after losing the first leg to Kelly Westlake went on to win 3-1. Shannon Hall made it 2-0 with her straight 3-0 win over Janice Corn and guaranteeing a share of the points as early as the third game was Shellbie Simmons who won 3-1 against Suzanne Campfield.
The win was confirmed in the fourth when Heather Wright beat Emma Martin 3-1 before West Midlands found their lady of the match in the form of Claire Hobbs who with a 3-0 result and 20.88 average defeated June Stacey.
Kent came closest to winning a game in the last of the match when their Sharron Charles opened leads of 1-0 and 2-1 over Samantha Maiden before Maiden took the last two legs for a 3-2 win and her team’s clean sweep with a 6-0 result.
The first five games of the men’s ‘B’ game all went with the first throw advantage with West Midlands taking the lead three time through Sam Guest, Mark Rollason and Dean Mills and seeing their lead wiped out twice by Kent’s Steve Stacey and Paul Wratten. Game number six saw the pattern change as Mark Hampton (West Midlands) won 3-0 against Tyler Reynolds to give the away team a 4-2 lead. Daniel Nicholls added another straight 3-0 win to the tally when he accounted for Sam Samson, Nicholls checking out in 20, 19 and 14 darts to give him an award winning average of 28.36.
Lewis Venes took the score along to 6-2 to the visitors when he made it three consecutive 3-0 wins by beating Ian Cunliffe before Kent added their third winner in the shape of Martin Goodin who won 3-0 against Mark Dyke.
The win was secured for the Midlanders in the tenth when Danny Coyle won his tie with Richard Elms 3-2 after Elms had drawn back to level terms after trailing 2-0.
John Glendining made the score a little more respectable for Kent when he won the penultimate game against Paul Price 3-1, then in the final game of the day Matthew Dicken went 2-0 up against David Heath, was pegged back to 2-2 but won the decider to give West Midlands an 8-4 victory.
The ladies ‘A’ were not able to emulate their ‘B’ teams 6-0 success but were not far short as they won 5-1. Sarah Roberts, winner of three previous match awards got the proceedings underway with a straight 3-0 win over Emma Little and doubling that lead was Debbie Loon who after losing the first leg to Lauren Bloomfield bounced back to not only win 3-1 but also win the match award for her 20.35 average.
Lisa Badger moved the score along nicely to 3-0 with her 3-0 win against Melissa Stacey before Kent registered their one and only winner in the game when Andrea Walker won 3-0 against Sophie Singh.
To take the result to 5-1 Kath Jenkins and Gemma Barrett in turn both won 3-1 against Sandrine Valverde and Jackie Holman.
With four wins and only one defeat the men’s ‘A’ are enjoying a successful season but their game at Kent was nip and tuck all of the way with the first eleven encounters all going with the first throw advantage, so in the first half on the occasions when Ashe Khayat, Ian Jones and Sam Guest gave West Midlands the lead it was cancelled out by wins for Kent by Peter Davies, Terry Dunford and Dave Salter to give a 3-3 scoreline by the midway point.
The hosts looked as though they would take the lead for the first time in game number seven when Kevin Smith went two up against Jonathan Platt and despite Platt fighting back to take the next three legs and go 3-2 up Smith won the sixth to force a decider. The outcome of the seventh leg was never in doubt as Platt rattled off scores of 140,123 and 140 then checked out on 98 for a magnificent twelve darts leg plus a personal 4-3 win and at the same time giving West Midlands the lead for a fourth time.
The pattern whereby winners were the ones with the darts advantage then continued right through to the penultimate game as in game eight Ryan Hope (Kent) took the score to 4-4 with a 4-1 win against Danny Coyle, and Peter Allen won game ten 4-0 against Glen McGrandle after Gareth Watts had given West Midlands a 5-4 lead in the previous game by beating Vince Walsh 4-2, then in the eleventh game Gavin Baker made it 6-5 with his 4-2 win over Nigel Fisher.
After West Midlands had gone in front six times it was only fitting if the pattern was going to change it should be in their favour and it certainly was as anchor man Shaun Carroll not only broke the sequence but did it in style with a 4-1 win against Harry Lane in which he chalked up winning legs in 13,16,17 and 16 darts for a tremendous man of the match average of 31.19 and at the same time giving the ‘A’ team a 7-5 win and taking the overall result for the weekend to 26-10 to the Midlanders.
The win keeps West Midlands in second place in the promotion table and reduces the deficit on leaders Hampshire to just four points.
Full Results: Kent v West Midlands (10-26)🙁Kent names first):Men’s ‘A’:- Clive Barden 3 Ashe Khayat 4, Peter Davies 4 Neil Pointon 3, Nigel Payne 1 Ian Jones 4, Terry Dunford 4 Mark Craddock 1, Jordan Dadd 2 Sam Guest 4, Dave Salter 4 Michael Baker 1, Kelvin Smith 3 Jonathan Platt 4, Ryan Hope 4 Danny Coyle 1, Vince Walsh 2 Gareth Watts 4, Peter Allen 4 Glen McGrandle 0, Noel Fisher 2 Gavin Baker 4, Harry Lane 1 Shaun Carroll 4, Men’s ‘B’:- Dave Saint 2 Sam Guest 3, Steve Stacey 3 Richard Platt 1, Carl Wilson 0 Mark Rollinosn 3, Paul Wratten 3 Avtar Singh 1, Mick Judge 1 Dean Mills 3, Tyler Reynolds 0 Mark Hampton 3, Sam Samson 0 Daniel Nicholls 3, Ian Cunliffe 0 Lewis Venes 3, Martin Goodin 3 Mark Dyke 0, Richard Elms 2 Danny Coyle 3, John Glendining 3 Paul Price 1, David Heath 2 Matthew Dicken 3, Women’s ‘A’:- Emma Little 0 Sarah Roberts 3, Lauren Bloomfield 1 Debbie Loon 3, Melissa Stacey 0 Lisa Badger 3, Andrea Walker 3 Sophie Singh 0, Sandrine Valverde 1 Kath Jenkins 3, Jackie Holman 1 Gemma Barrett 3, Women’s ‘B’:- Kelly Westlake 1 Jacqueline Maiden 3, Janice Corn 0 Shannon Hall 3, Suzanne Campfield 1 Shellbie Simmons 3, Emma Martin 1 Heather Wright 3, June Stacey 0 Claire Hobbs 3, Sharon Charles 2 Samantha Maiden 3.
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March saw West Midlands play hosts to Oxfordshire in the latest of their division one fixtures in the BDO Inter County Championships, a game really the home side, who are riding high in a lofty second position in the promotion table, were expected to win, but it didn’t work out that way.
The ladies ‘B’ quickly found themselves leading 2-0 as Heather Wright beat Cath Birch 3-0 and Shannon Hall won 3-1 against Anita Daly-Warwick, Shannon taking the team’s match award for her 18.13 average.
Laura Ross pulled one back for Oxfordshire in the third when she won 3-1 against Claire Hobbs but the two games buffer was immediately restored when Jacqueline Maiden beat Irene Richardson 3-1.
At 3-1 up West Midlands ladies ‘B’ looked all set to add to their four previous wins but a 3-1 win for Trina Blackman followed by a 3-0 win from Cali Birch against respective opponents Samantha Maiden and Shellbie Simmons took the final score to 3-3.
After Dean Mills had given the home side a 1-0 lead when he beat Keith Bedding 3-0 the advantage moved over to Oxfordshire as Tom Baughan beat Mark Hampton 3-1 and Terry Wood won by the same margin against Avtar Singh.
Paul Wells (West Midlands) was in tremendous form winning his first two legs against David Fowler in sixteen darts and he followed that with a fourteen darts leg hitting 140,100,140,103 and checked out on 18 in two darts to leave Fowler wondering what had hit him as he hadn’t reached a double in any of his three legs. Wells superb game gave him a fantastic 32.67 man of the match average, the best men’s ‘B’ team average of the weekend.
With the scores now level at 2-2 Daniel Nicholls, Neil Pointon and Danny Coyle all won 3-2 in turn against Simon Tricker, Joe Palmer and Antony Barrett to put West Midlands 5-2 up, however the winning run didn’t end there as Robert Smith won 3-1 against John Russell, and Matthew Dicken beat Kevin Lowe 3-2 to put the home side into an unassailable 7-2 lead.
A 3-1 win from Simon Key over Lewis Venes and a 3-2 win by Peter Smith against Mark Rollinosn reduced the arrears to 7-4 for Oxfordshire but the result was taken to 8-4 to the West Midlands when anchor man Mark Craddock beat Mark Burns 3-2 after Burns had levelled from a 2-0 deficit.
All of the ladies ‘A’ games went with the first throw advantage, Oxfordshire taking the lead three times before finishing the game at 3-3.
Kim Ledbury was Oxfordshire’s first winner when she won 3-2 against Kath Jenkins only to see Sarah Roberts beat Gina Freshwater 3-0 to level at one each. For a second time the visitors went ahead, this time thanks to a 3-2 win from Emma Everett who defeated Sophie Singh. The away team lead was cancelled out by a lady of the match performance from Lisa Badger, Lisa beating Sandra Cox 3-2 after going 1-0 up and 2-1 down, but in Lisa’s winning legs Cox was unable to reach a double and with a 19.83 average she clinched her first award of the season.
Deta Hedman put the away team in with a shout for victory when she won the penultimate game against Gemma Barrett 3-0 but although her team mate Carol Smith drew back to level terms after trailing 2-0 to Debbie Loon it was the West Midlands player who won the decider to put the match all square at three each.
The opening two games of the men’s ‘A’ match both went the full seven legs distance Peter Hall (Oxfordshire) winning the first against Gavin Baker and Ashe Khayat (West Midlands) the second against Michael Kearns.
The away team went ahead for a second time in the third when Geordie Grant beat Scott Baker 4-2. The visitors then stormed into a 4-1 lead when Jon Jukes and Stephen Wright in turn beat Sam Guest and John Morris 4-1, but by the halfway stage a 4-3 win from Ian Jones against Neal Russell had reduced their lead to 4-2, Jones having 107 and 104 checkouts in his win.
The first game of the second half saw Oxfordshire extend their lead to 5-2 with a further 4-2 win over Michael Baker after Baker had gone from 1-0 down to 2-1 up before losing the last three legs to Preben Krabben. Gareth Watts pulled another game back for West Midlands with a 4-3 win over Ade Larner, Larner having gone one down and then 2-1 up before he eventually lost. Taking the visitors to with an ace of victory was Paul Warwick who with the fifth 4-3 result of the game defeated Glen McGrandle.
With his third ‘A’ team award of the season Nick Fullwell kept West Midlands hopes alive when he beat Lee Russell 4-2, Nick followed up his 15 darts opener with a 14 darts leg before Russell took the third in 14 darts. With a 116 finish in 15 darts in the fourth and then a further 17 darts leg Fullwell rounded off his win which gave him a huge 32.80 average for what was a tremendous effort.
The game was all over in the eleventh when Sean Holley won 4-1 against Jonathan Platt taking the score to 7-4 and sealing an 8-4 win for Oxfordshire was Kevin Wilkins who after trailing 3-1 to Shaun Carroll bounced back to win 4-3.
The overall 18-18 draw has seen West Midlands fall thirteen points behind leaders Hampshire and have their seven points advantage over third placed London reduced to just two points. The final game of the season sees West Midlands play hosts to London that could well be the game that decides who gets promotion to the premier division.
Full Results: West Midlands v Oxfordshire (18-18)🙁West Midlands names first):Men’s ‘A’:- Gavin Baker 3 Peter Hall 4, Ashe Khayat 4 Michael Kearns 3, Scott Baker 2 Geordie Grant 4, Sam Guest 1 Jon Jukes 4, John Morris 1 Stephen Wright 4, Ian Jones 4 Neal Russell 3, Michael Baker 2 Preben Krabben 4, Gareth Watts 4 Ade Larner 3, Glen McGrandle 3 Paul Warwick 4, Nick Fullwell 4 Lee Russell 1, Jonathan Platt 1 Sean Holley 4, Shaun Carroll 3 Kevin Wilkins 4, Men’s ‘B’:- Dean Mills 3 Keith Bedding 0, Mark Hampton 1 Tom Baughan 3, Avtar Singh 1 Terry Wood 3, Paul Wells 3 David Fowler 0, Daniel Nicholls 3 Simon Tricker 2, Neil Pointon 3 Joe Palmer 2, Danny Coyle 3 Antony Barrett 2, Robert Smith 3 John Russell 1, Matthew Dicken 3 Kevin Lowe 2, Lewis Venes 1 Simon Key 3, Mark Rollinson 2 Peter Smith 3, Mark Craddock 3 Mark Burns 2, Women’s ‘A’:- Kath Jenkins 2 Kim Ledbury 3, Sarah Roberts 3 Gina Freshwater 0, Sophie Singh 2 Emma Everett 3, Lisa Badger 3 Sandra Cox 2, Gemma Barrett 0 Deta Hedman 3, Debbie Loon 3 Carol Smith 2, Women’s ‘B’:- Heather Wright 3 Cath Birch 0, Shannon Hall 3 Anita Daly-Warwick 1, Claire Hobbs 1 Laura Ross 3, Jacqueline Maiden 3 Irene Richardson 1, Samantha Maiden 1 Trina Blackman 3, Shellbie Simmons 0 Cali Birch 3.
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