Warwickshire County Darts Organisation began their new campaign in the Cosmo Darts Premier Division of the UKDA National League with three opening defeats but since then have chalked up four consecutive victories, the latest of which could not have been more morale boosting as it was a 20-16 away win over second in the division Yorkshire.
Yorkshire, whether home or away is never an easy fixture but the weekend began with the visitors taking a 4-2 lead by defeating the home team’s ladies ‘B’. After trailing 1-0 lady of the match Chloe McKivett-Saunders levelled the game with her straight 3-0 win over Lyn Horne and took the match award for her 19.27 average. Adding to Chloe’s win were Nina Bolt and Wendy Adams who in turn beat Jody Hancock and Sonia Porter. The hosts pulled one back in the fifth but a 3-1 win for Angela Jones over Ann Waslin in the final game gave Warwickshire the win.
Mark Carter gave the men’s ‘B’ the early lead when he won the opener against John Walton 4-2 after Walton had gone 2-0 up. Yorkshire then won the following four games before William Naylor reduced the arrears in the sixth with his 4-1 win over Ash Taylor to take the score to 4-2 at the halfway stage. As the second half got underway the hosts stretched their lead to 5-2, only to see Warwickshire’s man of the match Martin Tonks reduce the arrears in the eighth when he won 4-1 against David Calvert, Tonks chalking up a 29.39 average. Despite Yorkshire then taking an unbeatable 6-3 lead the result was not decided until the final game after Dave Hill won 4-1 against Adi Morris and Adam Hancock beat Jack Hill 4-0. Anchor-man Samuel Price looked all set to give Warwickshire a share of the spoils when he opened up leads of 2-0 and 3-1 against Graham Elvidge but it was not to be as Elvidge won the final three legs for a 4-3 win for him and a 7-5 success for his team.
Despite going 2-0 up with wins from Kirsty Hinchliffe and Marian Conway Warwickshire’s ladies ‘A’ team had to wait until the final game to salvage a share of the points when their Courtney Hine produced a lady of the match performance by beating Linda Porter 3-1 with a 21.61 average to give a final score of 3-3.
A win for the men’s ‘A’ would now secure an overall victory for the weekend and with wins from Jenson Walker, Nigel Heydon, Danny Lauby, Kevin Dowling and Samuel Whittaker they stormed into a commanding 5-0 lead. Dowling was taken to a deciding leg by Martin C. Atkins but won it in thirteen darts to not only give him the 4-3 verdict but also the man of the match award for his superb 31.44 average. Danny Lauby became the first-ever American to play for the Bears and he could not have got off to a better start winning 4-1 against Sam Spivey with a 31.20 average. Brian Hallas pulled one back for the home team in the sixth to take the score to 5-1 at the break. Further wins from Danny Dutson and Tom Sykes kept the hosts in the game but with a 4-3 win for Matty Washbrooke they then fell 6-3 behind. Although a win for Carl Wilkinson in the tenth kept hopes alive of a draw for Yorkshire further wins for Warwickshire from Steve Hine and Jack Wareing secured an 8-4 win and an overall 20-16 victory.
Despite the win Warwickshire remain fourth in the division, however they have a game in hand on third placed Glamorgan who are only four points ahead of them.
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