With their opener to the new season in division one of the UKDA National League, a home tie against local rivals Black Country postponed West Midlands first fixture played was an away game against newly promoted from division two, Clwyd. It was not a good weekend for the ladies as the ‘B’ side lost 4-2 and the ‘A’ went down 5-1. Winners for the ‘B’ team were Shellbie Simmons who defeated Jayne Andrews 3-0 and collected the match award for her 15.34 average, and Gemma Barrett who won 3-2 against Abby Hamilton. Evonne Taylor was the sole winner for the ‘A’ side, beating Nia Price 3-2 and averaging 16.13.
The men’s ‘B’ earned a 6-6 draw after trailing at one stage 5-1 and then 6-3, man of the match Ash Khayat winning the very last game of the day to seal the draw. Khayat won 4-0 against Chris Dobbins with a 29.47 average with other wins coming from Will Beadon, Karl Hughes, Martin Price, Shane Price and Glen McGrandle. The men’s ‘A’ lost and after going down 4-1 did well to keep the final deficit down to 7-5. A 29.47 average and a 4-2 result over Rob Lawrence earned Shaun Carroll the man of the match award. The other winners were Rob Thompson, Kevin Bambrick, Richard Platt and Gavin Baker.
The overall result for the weekend was a 22-14 success for Clwyd who are third in the division with thirty-eight points, seven short of leaders Middlesex while West Midlands who have only played one fixture are lying next to bottom of the table with fourteen points, bottom placed Buckinghamshire are yet to play a game.
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