Warwickshire’s seventh fixture in the UKDA National League’s Cosmo Darts Premier Division was a tough home game against current divisional leaders Yorkshire who began the day with 161 points from seven games whereas Warwickshire were on 127 and placed fifth.
The weekend could not have got off to a much worse start for the home team as their opponents stormed into a winning 5-0 lead with wins from Ann Waslin, Linda Moorhouse, Jayne Conboy, Jane Hawtin and Michelle Binns who in turn defeated Denise Keyte (3-0), Kacie O’Connor (3-0), Courtney Hine (3-2), Jodie Rigg (3-1) and Nina Bolt (3-2). The final game saw Warwickshire get their one and only winner when Caroline Pike beat Sonia Porter 3-1 to take the lady of the match award for her 20.12 average.
Trailing 5-1 the hosts now required a decent result from the men’s ‘A’ match but it didn’t begin too well as Yorkshire’s Sam Spivey won 4-2 against Ryan Jackson and Adi Morris beat Lloyd Jackson by the same 4-2 margin. William Naylor stopped the visitors charge as he won the third game against Graham Elvidge 4-1 but the away team’s two games buffer was restored in the fourth when Ash Taylor won 4-3 against Mark Carter. Lee Miller pulled one back for Warwickshire in the fifth with his 4-2 win over John Walton, however by the midway point the away side were leading 4-2 after Steve Blower added his 4-0 win against Karl Reynolds to their tally.
Mark Martin (Warwickshire) fell behind three times in his game with Mick Ridge but he won the seventh and final leg to seal a 4-3 win. By the eighth game the score was level at 4-4 as Jnr Joyce, after trailing 2-0 to Jack Hill went on to win 4-3 with scores in the deciding leg of 100, 139, 132 and a 130 game shot for a superb 4-3 victory which at the end of the day earned Joyce the man of the match award for his 28.70 average. Adam Hancock went 1-0 down to Tony Calvert and was pegged back to 3-3 after leading 3-1 but with a win in the final leg he won 4-3 and for the first time in the match Warwickshire were leading with the score at 5-4. Mark Strong opened up leads of 1-0 and 2-1 against Darren Weaver but it was Weaver who won the last three legs for a 4-3 win to level the game at 5-5. A draw for Warwickshire was assured in the penultimate game as Jack Wareing beat James Robins 4-3 and the win looked to be on the cards as anchor-man Dave Hill opened up leads of 1-0 and 2-1 against James Waite but with wins in the last three legs it was Waite who got the 4-3 result and at the same time he earned his team-mates a share of the points with the final score at 6-6.
For the ladies ‘A’, it was a complete turn-around from the ladies ‘B’ game as Warwickshire raced into an unassailable winning 4-0 lead. Kirsty Hinchliffe got the ball rolling when she opened up with a straight 3-0 win over Emma Lockwood, lady of the match Natalie Gilbert doubled the lead when she also handed out a straight 3-0 defeat to Sally Whiting with a 22.43 average. Moving the score along to 3-0 was Wendy Adams who had a 3-1 success against Jody Hancock and with a further 3-0 win for Hannah Meek against Taylor Field the game was won. Yorkshire got their one and only stripe on the board in the fifth when Marie Fitton won 3-0 against Donna Pinch but with a final 3-1 victory for Marian Conway over Linda Porter the result was 5-1 to Warwickshire.
Going into the men’s ‘A’ game the overall score was level at 12-12 with both teams having everything to play for.
Yorkshire got the better of the first half going 2-0 up when Lewis Pride won 4-3 against Wayne Mynard and Keith Flint beat Steve Hine 4-0. Danny Lauby turned on a man of the match display against Tony Darlow beating him 4-0 in 15,17,14 and 19 darts to earn him the match award for his 30.83 average. The visitors then won another two in a row as Tony Molyneux and Dan Outwin in turn won 4-2 against Kevin Dowling and Gareth Braham before the half was closed with a win for Nigel Heydon (Warwickshire) who got the better of Josh Clough in a seven legs affair.
The second half got underway with the hosts trailing 4-2, the deficit halved as Samuel Price won 4-3 against Sam Spivey but from 4-3 down the home side then found themselves trailing 6-3 and within an ace of defeat as Andy Harland beat Sam Whittaker 4-2 and Alex Jacques won 4-3 against Matty Washbrooke. Now with their backs to the wall Jamie Hughes kept Warwickshire in the game beating Garry Simpson 4-1 with winning legs of 20,17,18 and 13 darts to see him narrowly miss out on the match award with a 30.81 average. Martin Tonks took the result to the final game when in the penultimate encounter he came from one down against Brian Hallas to go on and win 4-2. Last on for Warwickshire was Noel Grant and for Yorkshire, Martin C. Atkins. Atkins won the opening two legs in 19 and 17 darts only to see Grant bounce back and take the following four legs in 15,17,21 and 21 darts to clinch a 4-2 personal win, a 6-6 draw for his team and an overall result for the weekend of 18-18.
Warwickshire were made to fight all the way for what was a tremendous draw which sees them move up one place in the table to fourth on 146 points, twenty-two points short of second placed Lancashire but with a game in hand.
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