Black Country began their weekend away against high-flying Clwyd in seventh position in the L-Style Division One table and their hosts top of the table some forty-nine points ahead of them but from having played one game more.
Clwyd’s ladies ‘B’ were first out of the blocks as their Judith Williams won 3-0 against Kirsty Shaughnessy, however a lady of the match performance from Chez Allcock in her 3-0 win over Alex Foulds levelled the score, Allcock taking the match award for her 20.31 average. Scarlett O’Sullivan gave Black Country a 2-1 lead when she won 3-2 against Charlie Walker-Woods only to see the home side win two-in-a row to open up a 3-2 lead as Hayley Street beat Sarah Tromans 3-2 and Sharon Jones won 3-1 against Jodie Rowlands. Saving the day and a share of the spoils for the Black Country was Demi Titley as she won the last game against Rachel Simpson 3-1 to give a final score of 3-3.
First on for Black Country in the men’s ‘B’ game was Andy Garratt who put his team one up with a 4-1 win over Gary Williams. Pete Watkins levelled the score when he won 4-0 against Mark Jones but for the remainder of the half it was all Black Country. Sam Bissell and Matt Coleman in turn had 4-2 wins over Phil Jones and Andy Alker, Danny Chiswell beat Nick Hailes 4-3 and to round off the first half Rich Bowen not only won 4-0 against Dan Alker but in the process earned himself the match award for his 27.45 average.
From 5-1 up, Black Country then were pegged back to level terms as Ed Jones won 4-0 against Mark Rollinson, Shaun Thompson beat Matthew Lloyd 4-3, Craig Billingsley had a 4-2 win over Neil Steventon and Derek Williams made it 5-5 with his 4-3 success over Ian Townsend. Wayne Hobday put Black Country 6-5 up with his 4-2 win against Luke Smith and with a 4-1 success for Jake Shipley over Terry Bagby, the away side won the tie 7-5.
The overall 10-8 lead for Black Country was extended to 11-8 when Stella Sims won 3-2 against India Edwards but that lead was quickly eroded as Clwyd won the remainder of the ladies ‘A’ games. Becky Jones won 3-1 against Grace Angell, Nia Price had a 3-2 win against Doreen Hunt, Bethan Jones and Rachel Kingdon, in turn won 3-0 against Heather Wright and Sarah-Jane Parker and rounding off the 5-1 win was Leanne Topper with her 3-1 success against Abbey Hunt. As the sole winner, Stella Sims took the match award with a 14.88 average.
Going into the men’s ‘A’ match, the running score was 13-11 to Clwyd, both teams still having everything to play for.
As on many occasions, the first throw advantage was decisive and this was no exception as the first six games all went that way with Black Country taking the lead three times and parity restored on each occasion. A 4-2 win over Chris Dobbins saw Steve Jones give Black Country the early lead only to see Adam Paxton beat Jordan Grainger 4-1 to level the game. The lead was restored for the away side by their man of the match Tom Bissell who had a superb average of 33.97 in his 4-0 win over Phil Hughes. For a second time it was level pegging when Ben Walker won 4-2 against Michael Powell and then for a third time the visitors went ahead when Trev Brennan handed out a 4-0 whitewash to his opponent Jodie Challinor. The score was 3-3 at the midway point, Baz Tym ending the half with his 4-2 win over George Willetts.
For the first time in the match the hosts went ahead in the seventh when David Davies beat Paul Wells 4-0, however for a fourth time the match was levelled, this time it was Reece Colley’s 4-2 win over Luke Newport that made it 4-4. Clwyd then opened up a 6-4 lead when Paul Alley won 4-2 against Dan Homer and Mark Leach beat Harry Williams 4-0. Jamie Rollinson kept hopes alive for a draw for the Black Country when he won 4-0 against Rhys Edwards but it was a 7-5 win for Clwyd as Deian Roberts won the final game against Kieron Bridgwater 4-3.
The overall 20-16 defeat saw Black Country drop one place to eighth with 111 points, and although they have a game in hand on the top three teams they trail leaders Clwyd by some forty-nine points.
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