This coming weekend Warwickshire will begin their ninth season in the premier division of the BDO Inter County Championships and for the ninth consecutive season their opening fixture will be against reigning champions Yorkshire. Hopefully this will be the season when they beat them.
Playing at home at the Bishopsgate Club, Foleshill Road, Coventry, CV1 4JJ Warwickshire have a couple of new additions to their squad Kyle Anderson and Kevin Painter plus they also welcome back Kevin Dowling and Ashley Hykin.
Selected to play in the first game of the season are, Men’s ‘A’:- Mark Westgarth, Jamie Hughes, Rob Hawker, Antony Allen, Tom Aldridge, Anthony West, Nigel Heydon, William Naylor, Kyle Anderson, Kevin Painter, Kevin Dowling, Simon Power, Men’s ‘B’:- Richard Foster, Ian Shaw, Graham Hall, Carl Green, Charlie Symons, Mark Strong, Matt Edgar, Ian McFarlane, Tom Ryan, James Hykin, Peter Hughes, Luke Kennedy, Reserves:- Mark Carter, Dean Stewart, Noel Grant, Ted Evetts, Andrew Foulkes, Tom Martin, Tom McGlone, Simon Fairbrother, Mangal Singh, Ashley Hykin, Women’s ‘A’:- Trina Gulliver, Sue Gulliver, Natalie Gilbert, Melanie Jones, Chloe McKevitt, Caroline Pike, Women’s ‘B’:- Nina Bolt, Donna Pinch, Angela Jones, Wendy Adams, Lisa Deslandes, Kerry Bambridge, Reserves:- Helen Rigg, Marian Conway, Ann Rogers.
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After gaining promotion from division one last season West Midlands will begin life in the premier division of the BDO Inter County Championships with an away game against Devon who finished their last season sixth in a premier league of ten teams.
Lining up for West Midlands will be, Men’s ‘A’:- Gavin Baker, Scott Baker, Shaun Carroll, Mark Craddock, Nick Fullwell, Ian Jones, Liam Kelly, Ash Khayatt, Glen McGrandle, Dean Mills, Danny Nicholls, John Platt, Men’s ‘B’:- Michael Baker, Reece Colley, Danny Coyle, Matthew Dicken, Sam Guest, Mark Hampton, John Morris, Neil Pointon, Paul Price, Mark Rollason, Robert Smith, Paul Wells, Reserves:- Christopher Williams, Jamie Rollason, Chris Hickman, Owen Maiden, John Mycock, Avtar Singh, Women’s ‘A’:- Sarah Roberts, Kath Jenkins, Gemma Barrett, Lisa Badger, Debbie Loon, Sophie Singh, Women’s ‘B’:- Jacqueline Maiden, Claire Hobbs, Shannon Hall, Heather Wright, Shellbie Simmons, Lizzy Arnold, Reserves:- Kim Fellows, Kelly Dolman.
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Sean O’Donnell suffered a setback to his title aspirations in the Sheldon Social Dukes In House League when in week 13 he lost 2-1 to Paul Curry, however despite the defeat O’Donnell holds on to second place with 27 points just one point behind leader Lee Molyneux. Also on the same 27 points as O’Donnell are Phil Ashford, Paul Curry and Paul Sunner but they have all played 13 games as opposed to O’Donnell having played 12.
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Paul Higgins began week eight of the Shirley Red Lion Premier League in style with a 4-0 win over Luke Coles but things then went from bad to worse as he lost 3-1 to Lee Harris and 4-0 to Mikey Harris. Nevertheless Higgins remains in pole position but only on average from Steve Sidwell who also began the night with a 4-0 win in his tie with Nick Walker, he was then held to a 2-2 draw by Jack Nason but ended the evening as he began with a 4-0 win, this time against Brian Lawton to put him on the same 50 points as Higgins but from 17 games whereas Higgins has played 16
Meanwhile Tom Bent has stormed up to third spot after playing four games and winning no less than 15 out of the sixteen legs he played beating Chris Thomas snr 3-1 and then adding three 4-0 wins against Antony Daly, Luke Coles and Andy Thomas to leave him just one point behind the top two players from his 16 games played.
The weekly £5 prize for the highest finish went to Ken Hopton who in his 3-1 win over Luke Coles checked out on 132.
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With only one week’s league fixtures remaining in the Small Heath League East Birmingham Allotment Holders Association have clinched the title with a 6-3 win away to Heartlands Club. The win has taken E.B.A.H.A’s points tally to 34 and their nearest rivals Gulp Tribe who won 8-1 away to Cob’s Bar have 30 points and will finish the season as runners up.
In the other game played Wagon and Horses beat Emerald Club 5-4, the latter having played and lost all 18 of their fixtures.
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The Winmau Centre Monday Night League have got their new season underway and the early pacesetters are Misfits who handed out a massive 45-3 defeat to Unleashed Warrior. Not far behind the leaders comes Just The Tip who won their tie with Make Mine A Double 42-6. One further point behind Just The Tip is What’s The Point who beat Keep It In The Family 41-7 and last season’s runners up The Untouchables are fourth and began the season with a 38-10 win against Full Monty.
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Big wins for the top two teams in the Stourbridge and District Monday Night League as leaders Ten Arches ‘A’ handed out a 9-0 whitewash to their visitors bottom of the table Hare and Hounds ‘A’ and second placed Ten Arches ‘B’ won 7-2 against Bird (Wordsley) to give them 42 points four fewer than their ‘A’ side.
Third in the table Gate ‘B’ are also on 42 points following their close 5-4 win away to Hare and Hounds ‘B’ while Brickmakers Arms lost their fourth place, dropping down to fifth after losing 5-4 at home to The Bridge who take over the fourth spot.
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A 9-0 home win over sixth placed Pensnett Liberal Club has seen Dudley Ex Serviceman’s Club open up a two points lead at the top of the Brierley Hill Monday Night League as second placed Bulls Head (Netherton) surprisingly lost their home game 5-4 against Brickmakers Arms who move up from twelfth to ninth in the table but are still 16 points adrift of their opponents.
With a 6-3 home win over Roebuck third placed Delph Bell are now on the same 38 points as Bulls Head and trail by just a couple of points of average. Mount Pleasant’s 7-2 win at New Talbot keeps them within two points of the two teams above them in third place.
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Only one game was played in the first round of the Forest of Arden Summer League’s Consolation Cup which saw Highwood Exiles win 9-0 against Kingshurst Knights.
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The Silver End Sunday Morning League have completed their league fixtures and taking the title with a final 6-2 win against Old Star was Woodside who amassed a total of 71 points throughout the campaign five more runners up Brickmakers Arms ‘A’ who ended their programme with a similar 6-2 win over The Bridge.
Brickmakers finished twelve points to the good on third in the table Dudley Sports ‘B’ who also brought down the curtain with a win, 7-2 at Dudley Ex Serviceman’s Club.
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Warwickshire Youth Darts Organisation began their first season in the Western division of the Northern Youth Darts Organisation with an away trip to Stoke where they took on Staffordshire.
It was a brilliant start for the young bears winning all three sections with an overall victory of 11-4.
The under 18s got the ball rolling by recording a magnificent 6-1 victory with Matthew Cain taking the man of the match award with his 2-0 win over Kyle Cooper in which he had top scores of 2×100,110 and 137 to average 22.77.
The ladies section was a tighter game but once again the bears prevailed with a 2-1 scoreline. Lucy Kyte with top scores of 100,140, and 174 in a 2-0 win against Kim Rattcliffe collected the lady of the match award for her 16.98 average.
To finish proceedings the Under 21 boys had a real hard game but eventually took the honours when in the final game Adam Paxton beat Dan Key hitting 5×100,101,135 and 140 to win 3-2 and take the match award with a superb 24.89 average.
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It may have been a close 5-4 win but it was enough to keep Dudley Ex Serviceman’s Club top of the Netherton Thursday Night League with a nine points lead and a game in hand on their nearest rivals Riddins Tavern. Ex Serviceman’s won away at Bulls Head who are in the bottom half of the table and Riddins with the same 5-4 result beat Hill and Cakemore.
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Week seven was a crazy week for results in the Brierley Hill Friday Night League as in the twelve team league leaders Brickmakers Arms ‘A’ were the only winners in the top seven teams and there were wins for all of the bottom five.
Brickmakers Arms ‘A’ won 5-2 away to second in the table Netherton Cricket Club ‘A’ who are now four points off the top. Miners (Wollescote) lost their third place and dropped to fifth after what was an amazing 7-0 defeat at the hands of the Brickmakers ‘B’ team who are three places off the foot of the table. Miners are now on 8 points so are Pensnett Welfare Club ‘A’ and ‘B’, Dudley Sports and Delph Bell.
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The Winmau Thursday Night Champions League has kicked off their new season and leading the way after his first two fixtures is newcomer to the league Tony Randell who has 12 points three more than both Chris Williams and another newcomer Jordan Ward.
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The fixtures for the Rowley Monday Night League produced a top of the table clash between leaders The Bell and second placed Ex Serviceman’s ‘A’. Playing on the Ex Serviceman’s board the close 5-4 result went in favour of the away team to see The Bell open up a four points lead over their rivals with a total of 44 points.
Third and fourth placed Cradley Liberal Club and Ivy Bush remain locked together on 34 points after the Liberal Club won 8-1 away to Yeltz Bar and Ivy Bush had a narrow 5-4 verdict at Tividale FC.
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Results from match 21 in the two divisions of the singles leagues of the Wolverhampton Tuesday Night League did not alter the league tables at all and there was very little change in the doubles leagues. One significant change in division one of the doubles league was that of Riley’s ‘B’ losing the top spot after going down 2-1 at home to their local rivals Riley’s ‘C’ and replacing them in the number one position is Wednesfield Conservative Club who had a 2-1 win away to Pavilion to put both of the top two teams on 30 points with Wednesfield having a slender one leg of average advantage.
In the division two doubles league just one change which saw Riley’s ‘D’ swap places with Dog and Partridge and move up from sixth to fifth after they won 2-1 against Yale Club and Dog and Partridge lost by the same margin at home to Ukrainian Club.
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The Vine were the only losers in the top four teams in the Hilltop Friendly Tuesday Night League going down 4-3 to Ivy Bush who are sixth in the table. Vine drop down one place to fourth and are now 14 points short of leaders Dewdrop who added a 6-1 win over Horseley Tavern to their tally to give them 46 points and a lead of eight over second placed Waggon and Horse who won 5-2 at The Wonder.
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The South Birmingham League have played their last week of scheduled fixtures but there are still outstanding games to be played in both group s two and three but group two is the only one that these results could affect the winners of the group . Currently The Dog are top of group two with 14 points and have completed their full ten fixtures. Second placed Pavillions are also on 14 points and they have one game still to play.
Raven have won group one and the group three title has gone to Erdington Members Club.
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ECC ‘A’ and Whitmore Reans WMC are first and second in the Tettenhall Wednesday Night League respectively and in week 26 both were 4-3 winners in turn against middle of the table Riley’s and Cleveland Arms. ECC ‘A’ have 44 points to Whitmore’s 40 but Whitmore’s win was a vital one as their opponents are just behind them in third place now six points adrift.
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