Warwickshire
Despite home advantage in their fixture against Cambridgeshire in the premier division of the BDO Inter County Championships Warwickshire were unable to capitalise and fell to their third defeat in six games.
Although the overall result was not the best the weekend did have a bright start as the ladies ‘B’ stormed to a 5-1 victory. Setting them off on the winning path was lady of the match Chloe McKivett who in double quick time accounted for her opponent Ronnie Johnson with a 3-0 result and a super 20.88 average.
Melanie Hill added another straight 3-0 win when she beat Wendy Ickin and with a further 3-1 success from Sue Gulliver over Casey Hill things were looking pretty good at 3-0 up.
Barbara Greatbatch pulled one back for Cambridgeshire when she won 3-1 against Helen Rigg after Rigg had won the first leg but with a 3-0 win over Debbie Melton by Angela Jones and a final 3-1 defeat of Liz Humphries by Nina Bolt Warwickshire ladies ‘B’ recorded their best win of the season so far.
The men’s ‘B’ had a terrible start as Cambridgeshire took the first five games. Barry-John Pagett set them off on their way with a 4-2 win over Peter Hughes after Hughes had gone 2-0 up. Andy Jones doubled the visitors lead with his 4-3 win against Ian Shaw, Shaw having taken leads of 1-0, 2-1 and 3-2 before losing the last two legs. Duncan Norman made it 3-0 when he beat Andrew Foulkes, once again the Warwickshire player had gone 1-0 and 3-2 up before losing the last two legs. Gary Robertson made it 4-0 with a straight 4-0 win over Anthony West and with a 4-1 win from Paul Wenn against Tom Ryan the away team had a 5-0 lead.
To finish the first half Graham Hall put up the hosts first win, a 4-2 result against Gary Flynn with Hall recording 115,120 and 130 checkouts.
Warwickshire had their score doubled in game number seven when Ian McFarlane accounted for Brian Reed with a 4-2 result and reducing the deficit even further to 5-3 was Charlie Symons who came from 3-1 down to Darren Cotterell to win 4-3. Mangal Singh and James Hykin were both made to fight for their result in respective games against Pete Fuller and Kelly Corcoran before winning 4-3 to level the score at 5-5, and after trailing 5-0 the home teams fantastic fight back continued and saw them actually take the lead for the first time in the penultimate encounter when Carl Green beat Martin Purell in four straight legs.
The final game of the day looked all set for a Warwickshire win when Luke Kennedy opened up 1-0 and 3-1 leads over Ashley Coleman but the Cambridgeshire man battled on to eventually win 4-3 and put the overall score level at six each.
The first game of the ladies ‘A’ match went to Cambridgeshire when Juliet Findley beat Kerry Bambridge 3-1 after Bambridge had won the first leg. Natalie Gilbert was quick to restore parity as she with a similar 3-1 scoreline defeated Amanda Abbott and in the process earned herself the lady of the match award with her super 24.00 average plus the fact that she turned out to be Warwickshire’s only winner.
Marian Conway lost 3-0 to Diane Nash and was followed with two 3-1 defeats for Caroline Pike and Donna Pinch at the hands of Jane Judges and Sandra Greatbatch.
It was expected that the hosts would take the final game as their “Golden Girl” Trina Gulliver was the anchor player, however Trina suffered a very rare 3-0 defeat as her opponent Nadine Bentley took the final score to 5-1 for the visitors.
As with the men’s ‘B’ team the ‘A’ team found themselves trailing 5-0 as Jamie Hughes lost 4-2 to Matthew David, Mark Strong went down 4-0 to Stuart Ward, Simon Fairbrother was a 4-0 loser to Ian Withers and rounding off the first five games and Cambridgeshire’s opening five winners was Alexander Topper who beat Tom Aldridge 3-2.
Mark Carter looked all set for the home team’s sixth defeat when he lost the first three legs to Tony Holland but he actually stopped the rot when he bounced back to win the last four legs. Man of the match Noel Grant was on at number seven and with winning legs in 17,16,15 and 17 darts he took out Will Harwood with a 4-2 result and a tremendous 30.88 average.
Chris Sands-Pearce guaranteed the away team a share of the spoils with his 4-2 win over Bob Nixon and although Antony Allen kept Warwickshire in the game with a 4-2 win against Phil Carter it was all over in the tenth when Dennis Harbour, after trailing 1-0,2-1 and 3-2 to William Naylor took the final two legs for a 4-3 win and put his team in an unassailable 7-3 lead.
Steve Carrett made it 8-3 with his 4-3 win over Rob Hawker before Nigel Heydon made the result a little more respectable when he won 4-0 against Brett Claydon in the last game of the weekend taking the score to 8-4.
The overall 20-16 defeat saw Warwickshire drop from fourth to sixth in the table while their opponents moved up one place to fifth, three points to the good on Warwickshire.
Full Results: Warwickshire v Cambridgeshire (16-20)🙁Warwickshire names first):Men’s ‘A’:- Jamie Hughes 2 Matthew David 4, Mark Strong 0 Stuart Ward 4, Simon Fairbrother 1 Ashley Coleman 4, Richard Foster 0 Ian Withers 4, Tom Aldridge 2 Alexander Topper 4, Mark Carter 4 Tony Holland 3, Noel Grant 4 Will Harwood 2, Bob Nixon 2 Chris Sands-Pearce 4, Antony Allen 4 Phil Carter 2, William Naylor 3 Dennis Harbour 4, Rob Hawker 3 Steve Carrett 4, Nigel Heydon 4 Brett Claydon 0, Men’s ‘B’:- Peter Hughes 2 Barry-John Paget 4, Ian Shaw 3 Andy Jones 4, Andrew Foulkes 3 Duncan Norman 4, Anthony West 0 Gary Robertson 4, Tom Ryan 1 Paul Wenn 4, Graham Hall 4 Gary Flynn 2, Ian McFarlane 4 Brian Reed 2, Charlie Symons 4 Darren Cotterell 3, Mangal Singh 4 Pete Fuller 3, James Hykin 4 Kelly Corcoran 3, Carl Green 4 Martin Purell 0, Luke Kennedy 3 Ashley Coleman 4, Women’s ‘A’:- Kerry Bambridge 1 Juliet Findley 3, Natalie Gilbert 3 Amanda Abbott 1, Marian Conway 0 Diane Nash 3, Caroline Pike 1 Jane Judges 3, Donna Pinch 1 Sandra Greatbatch 3, Trina Gulliver 0 Nadine Bentley 3, Women’s ‘B’:- Chloe McKivett 3 Ronnie Johnson 0, Melanie Hill 3 Wendy Ickin 0, Sue Gulliver 3 Casey Hill 1, Helen Rigg 1 Barbara Greatbatch 3, Angela Jones 3 Debbie Melton 0, Nina Bolt 3 Liz Humphries 1.
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Warwickshire’s seventh game of the season saw them travel to Wales to take on Glamorgan but as in their previous game at home to Cambridgeshire they finished on the wrong side of a 20-16 result.
For Both ladies teams it was a weekend to forget as they both lost 5-1, Saturday’s ‘B’ team found themselves trailing 5-0 and picking up just two winning legs in the process, one each for Chloe McKivett and Marian Conway as Glamorgan’s Eve Watson, Iris Powell, Donna Thomas, Sandra Quinn and Lisa Clyant in turn accounted for Angela Jones, Nina Bolt, Chloe McKivett, Helen Rigg and Marian Conway.
Anchor player Melanie Hill was Warwickshire’s sole winner as she won 3-0 against Joanne Pugh, her 18.11 average earning her the match award.
Unlike the ‘B’ side the ‘A’ team won the first game as opposed to the last and supplying that win was Natalie Gilbert who with a 3-0 scoreline and an 18.56 average defeated Danielle Cabble and claimed the lady of the match award. From there on in it was all Glamorgan as Rhian Edwards and Alannah Waters each won 3-1 against respective opponents Sue Gulliver and Caroline Pike. Two 3-0 wins from Michele Jones and Heath Mowat against Donna Pinch and Melanie Hill took the score along to 4-1 to the hosts and with a final 3-1 success by Paula Clemett over Kerry Bambridge the 5-1 win was complete.
There were mixed fortunes for the men’s teams as the ‘B’ side got off to a fine start when Anthony West with 100 and 127 finishes beat Ashley Pascoe 4-3. James Hykin had a 101 checkout against Cavan Phillips but it was Phillips who got the 4-3 result. Putting Warwickshire in the lead for a second time was Matthew Edgar who after losing the first leg to Chris Thomas produced a tremendous 160 game shot to draw level and then with a 112 finish went 2-1 up. Thomas won the fourth leg but it was Edgar who took the next two for a 4-2 win.
The games continued to go with the first throw advantage and a 4-2 win from David Neads over Ian Shaw levelled the running score at 2-2.
Warwickshire’s long serving player Mangal Singh was the next player to give his team the lead, a 4-1 result against Ray Johnson before Carl Green broke the sequence with a 4-2 win over Mark Dacey to put Warwickshire 4-2 up by the midway point.
The away team’s advantage was taken to 5-2 when Graham Hall added his 4-2 win over Paddy Murphy to the tally and with a further 4-2 win for Tommy Ryan against John Davey plus Simon Fairbrother’s 4-3 win against Jeff Thomas the game was won. Fairbrother who opened up a lead of 3-0 was then taken to a deciding leg by Thomas which he wn in just 14 darts to not only chalk up the match winning seventh game but also a terrific 30.30 average to clinch the man of the match award.
The good run continued for Warwickshire as Charlie Symons beat Lloyd Browning 4-2 and Peter Hughes accounted for Wayne Davies with a straight 4-0 result. The final game of the day went to the home side as Ron Morgan came from 2-1 down to Tom Martin to win 4-2 and put the result at 9-3 to the visitors.
The men’s ‘A’ side raced into a 3-0 lead Antony Allen beating Sean Fisher 4-1, Mark Westgarth winning 4-2 against Jeff Bass and Jamie Hughes with a 4-1 result winning against Shaun Dibbs.
Unfortunately the winning streak came to an end as Wayne Davies won 4-2 against Dean Stewart, and levelling the score at the halfway stage at 3-3 were David Rogers and Tim Jones who in turn beat Simon Power and Richard Foster 4-1.
The second half began completely opposite to the first as the home side won the first three games through Dale Hughes, 4-0 against Mark Strong, Lee Richards 4-2 over Mark Carter and Keirion Carter who beat Rob Hawker by a very close 4-3 margin.
William Naylor stopped Glamorgan’s charge when he handed out a 4-0 defeat to Justin Davies then in the penultimate game Nigel Heydon beat Richie Edwards 4-1 with a superb award winning average of 30.48 to keep hopes of a draw alive.
Unfortunately those hopes were dashed as Clive Langford won 4-2 against Bob Nixon in the last game of the weekend to put the score at 7-5 to Glamorgan and an overall win for the home team of 20-16.
Despite the two consecutive defeats Warwickshire hold on to their fifth place and are just three points behind fourth placed Cheshire and only nine adrift of third in the table Cambridgeshire and with two more fixtures to play a top three finish could still be on the cards.
Full Results: Glamorgan v Warwickshire (20-16)🙁Glamorgan names first):Men’s ‘A’:- Sean Fisher 1 Antony Allen 4, Jeff Bass 2 Mark Westgarth 4, Shaun Dibbs 1 Jamie Hughes 4, Wayne Davies 4 Dean Stewart 2, David Rogers 4 Simon Power 1, Tim Jones 4 Richard Foster 1, Dale Hughes 4 Mark Strong 0, Lee Richards 4 Mark Carter 2, Keirion Carter 4 Rob Hawker 3, Justin Davies 0 William Naylor 4, Richie Edwards 1 Nigel Heydon 4, Clive Langford 4 Bob Nixon 2, Men’s ‘B’:- Ashley Pascoe 3 Anthony West 4, Cavan Phillips 4 James Hykin 3, Chris Thomas 2 Matthew Edgar 4, David Neads 4 Ian Shaw 2, Ray Johnson 1 Mangal Singh 4, Mark Dacey 2 Carl Green 4, Paddy Murphy 2 Graham Hall 4, John Davey 2 Tom Ryan 4, Jeff Thomas 3 Simon Fairbrother 4, Lloyd Browning 2 Charlie Symons 4, Wayne Davies 0 Peter Hughes 4, Ron Morgan 4 Tom Martin 2, Women’s ‘A’:- Danielle Cabble 0 Natalie Gilbert 3, Rhian Edwards 3 Sue Gulliver 1, Alannah Waters 3 Caroline Pike 1, Michelle Jones 3 Donna Pinch 0, Heather Mowat 3 Melanie Hill 0, Paula Clemett 3 Kerry Bambridge 1, Women’s ‘B’:- Eve Watson 3 Angela Jones 0, Iris Powell 3 Nina Bolt 0, Donna Thomas 3 Chloe McKivett 1, Sandra Quinn 3 Helen Rigg 0, Lisa Clyant 3 Marian Conway 1, Joanne Pugh 0 Melanie Hill 3.
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