Black Country’s eighth fixture in the L-Style Division One of the UKDA National League was a home tie with bottom of the table Buckinghamshire, the home side riding high in third place.
The ladies ‘B’ game saw the lead go one way and then the other as Alexandra Dorney gave the visitors the early lead when she won the opener against Kirsty Shaughnessy 3-0. Lady of the match Paige Robbins squared the game with her 3-2 success over Lisa Webb, Robbins averaging 15.50 before the hosts took the lead in the third when Leanne Wilson beat Courtney Amos 3-1. Lorraine Brown had a 3-0 win against Grace Angell to restore parity but only to see the home side forge ahead again in the fifth when Amy-Leigh Tolley won 3-2 against Remi Martin. The result was taken to three each when Janet Weedon (Buckinghamshire) won the final game against Sarah-Jane Parker 3-2.
The men’s ‘B’ could not have wished for a better start as they roared into an unbeatable 6-0 lead in the first half of the game. First on for the Black Country was Mark Rollinson who won 4-1 against Clive Wilford, Wayne Hobday doubled the lead with his 4-3 win over Jack Arnold before the home team’s man of the match Rob Smith made it 3-0 when he defeated Gary Price 4-2 with a 27.42 average. Moving the score along to 4-0 was George Willetts with his straight 4-0 success over Dan O’Donnell and with a 4-2 win for Rich Bowen against Steve Reed, followed by a 4-1 victory for Sam Bissell over Tim McGarry the Black Country had made it a clean-sweep for the first half.
The win came as early as the first game in the second half, Neil Steventon winning 4-1 against Liam Maughgan and taking the score to 8-0 was Mark Jones with his similar 4-1 win over Matt Heffer. Buckinghamshire got their first stripe on the board in the ninth, Karl Higgins winning 4-3 against Andy Garratt and they then won the next two games as Colin Singleton beat Al Smith 4-2 and Darran Butters won 4-1 against Ian Townsend. The last game of the day went to Black Country when Jake Shipley beat Paul Stefanovic 4-2 to put the final score at 9-3 to the hosts.
The first five games of the ladies ‘A’ match all went against the first throw advantage as Stella Sims was first on beating Kelly Rose 3-2 and for the visitors Barbara Legge levelled the game with her 3-1 win over Maxine Prosser. The hosts went ahead again in the third when Heather Wright won 3-1 against Gerry Johnson, only to see Buckinghamshire draw level for a second time when Kirsty Gibbs beat Doreen Hunt 3-2. For a third time Black Country took the lead, this time thanks to a 3-1 win from Abbey Hunt over Kelsey Battams before the sequence was broken when the home team’s lady of the match Chez Alcock won 3-1 against Ann Wakefield with an 18.70 average giving Black Country a 4-2 win.
With an overall 16-9 lead, just three wins were required from the men’s ‘A’ to secure an overall victory for the weekend and those three wins came in the very first three encounters as Steve Jones and Martin Greenwood in turn beat Steve McLeod and Steve Vaughan 4-3 before Cayden Smith chalked up the all-important third win when he handed out a 4-0 whitewash to Craig Cox, Smith’s 30.83 average earning him the match award. The away side won the fourth when John Woodbridge beat Dan Homer 4-3 but with 4-2 results in the last two games of the half going to Black Country’s Michael Powell and Harry Williams over respective opponents Liam Maughan and Martin Hill, the hosts men’s ‘A’ had a 5-1 lead at the break.
After five out of six wins in the first half for the home team it was the turn of Buckinghamshire in the second session as they won five of the six games. The opening three games were all straight 4-0 wins for Leo Beechey, Damien Fyffe and Glen Young who in turn accounted for Dave Edwards, Aaron Colley and Al Smith. John Ayris had a 4-2 win against Jamie Barrowman before Black Country got their single winner of the half when Trev Brennan beat Stuart Robinson 4-1. The last game of the weekend went to the visitors as Karl Deacon earned a 6-6 draw for his team-mates when he won 4-0 against Alex Howells
The result for the weekend was a 22-14 win for Black Country which saw them move up one place in the promotion table to second with 177 points, fifteen short of leaders Middlesex and just one to the good on third placed Merseyside.
———————————