Warwickshire’s eighth fixture in the UKDA National League Cosmo Darts Premier Division, an away tie against Hertfordshire was brought forward by a couple of weeks but the weekend didn’t get off to the best of starts as the hosts ladies ‘B’ side raced into a 3-0 unassailable lead with Vicky Rannow winning 3-1 against Denise Keyte, Jodie Clarkson beating Donna Pinch 3-0 and Kirsty Bond winning 3-1 against Kacie O’Connor. Warwickshire’s lady of the match Courtney Hine stopped the home team’s charge when she won 3-0 against Kerry King with a 16.52 average. The win however, for the visitors proved to be just a delay for Hertfordshire claiming the victory as in game five Debs Jones won 3-1 against Chloe McKivett-Saunders and with a similar 3-1 win for Jo Kitchen in the final game over Nina Bolt the home side won 5-1.
Trailing 5-1, a win from the men’s ‘B’ was now vital to keep Warwickshire in the game but they also weren’t too quick out of the blocks as the home team’s Lee Barrow won 4-2 against Lee Miller and Bradley Clark added his 4-0 success over Adam Hancock to their tally to put them two up. Liam Divall looked all set to make it 3-0 when he opened up a 3-0 lead over Jnr Joyce but the Warwickshire man stuck to his task and fought back to go on and win 4-3. The two games buffer was restored for the hosts in the fourth when Paul Squirrell beat Ryan Jackson 4-2. In the fifth game Steve Hine (Warwickshire) handed out a 4-0 whitewash to his opponent Daniel Wood but by the midway point Hertfordshire were leading 4-2 after Ben Smith closed the half with a 4-2 win over Dave Hill.
It was a better start to the second session for Warwickshire as Mark Strong beat Gerry Mooney 4-1 and man of the match Mark Faulkner levelled the score at 4-4 with his straight 4-0 win over Ian Clarkson, Faulkner averaging 25.69. For the first time in the game the visiting team went ahead in the ninth, Karl Reynolds winning 4-1 against Dre Hajimina to put Warwickshire 5-4 up. With a further 4-0 win for Jack Wareing over Matt Creed, Warwickshire had now staged a super fight back to ensure at the worst a draw, but a draw was never going to be on the cards as in the final two games Mark Martin won 4-3 against Luke Ely and Zac Prince beat Terry Andrews 4-2 to give Warwickshire’s men’s ‘B’ a tremendous 8-4 victory.
Once again in the ladies ‘A’ match like the ladies ‘B’ it was Hertfordshire who chalked up the first winners as Rachel Egleton won 3-2 against Kirsty Hinchliffe, after the away player had gone 2-1 up and making it 2-0 was Louise Pearson with her 3-0 win over Jodie Rigg. Caroline Pike (Warwickshire) after winning the opening leg against Grace Ferridge then trailed 2-1 but went on to win 3-2 to reduce the arrears to 2-1. Stacey Aylesbury won the opener against Hannah Meek, but Warwickshire’s lady of the match then went on to win 3-1 with a 19.88 average. Leading 3-2, the home team’s Kerry O’Connor then went ahead twice against Marian Conway, but the newly appointed General Secretary for Warwickshire held her nerve and went on to win 3-2 to earn her team mates a share of the spoils in a 3-3 draw.
The opening four games of the men’s ‘A’ match all went with the first throw advantage Danny Lauby and Nigel Heydon twice putting Warwickshire’s noses in front as in turn they won 4-1 and 4-2 against Mason Teese and Brad Phillips. Replying for Hertfordshire were Damian Green who won 4-1 against Sam Whittaker and Daniel Varney who had a 4-2 success against Jack Wareing. The sequence was broken in the fifth when the home side took the lead for the first time when Rex Cole had a 4-1 win over Martin Tonks, but by the halfway stage the score was level at 3-3 as Kevin Dowling added his 4-1 win over Lewis Pearse to the visitors tally.
Warwickshire took the lead for a third time in game seven when Samuel Price won 4-0 against Liam Durston. However the lead didn’t last long as the home side won two-in-a-row thanks to their Thomas Banks and Josh Jones who in turn defeated Matty Washbrooke (4-0) and Wayne Mynard (4-3), Mynard taking the lead three times before succumbing to defeat. Trailing 5-4 Warwickshire now needed something special to keep in the game and providing that special touch was man of the match Jamie Hughes who came from 2-0 down to Jarred Cole and went on to win 4-2. Hughes won the third leg in eighteen darts with a super 116 game shot, he then went on to seal his win with further winning legs of 19, 16 and 15 darts giving him a great 30.49 average. A 4-3 win from Gareth Braham over Joe Croft kept hopes alive of a win for the away side but it was not to be as Hertfordshire’s Jack Pledger won the last game of the weekend against Noel Grant 4-2 to put the score at 6-6.
The overall result for the weekend was all-square at 18-18 which after all the scheduled game nine fixtures were played saw Warwickshire placed fourth in the division with 165 points, twenty-two points short of second placed Lancashire but with a game in hand.
Hertfordshire 18 Warwickshire 18:Hertfordshire MA 6-6 Warwickshire MA:Men’s ‘A’:- Mason Teese (27.79) 1-4 (30.43) Danny Lauby, Damian Green (25.15) 4-1 (26.08) Sam Whittaker, Brad Phillips (24.22) 2-4 (26.00) Nigel Heydon, Daniel Varney (27.31) 4-2 (25.11) Jack Wareing, Rex Cole (25.51) 4-1 (25.29) Martin Tonks, Lewis Pearse (22.78) 1-4 (24.24) Kevin Dowling, Liam Durston (25.69) 0-4 (27.45) Samuel Price, Thomas Banks (25.05) 4-0 (23.77) Matty Washbrooke, Josh Jones (27.16) 4-3 (26.52) Wayne Mynard, Jarred Cole (30.62) 2-4 (30.49) Jamie Hughes, Joe Croft (26.44) 3-4 (25.51) Gareth Braham, Jack Pledger (24.28) 4-2 (28.15) Noel Grant,:Hertfordshire MB 4-8 Warwickshire MB:Men’s ‘B’:- Lee Barrow (24.33) 4-2 (24.65) Lee Miller, Bradley Clark (20.45) 4-0 (19.86) Adam Hancock, Liam Divall (22.69) 3-4 (22.10) Jnr Joyce, Paul Squirrell (26.45) 4-2 (25.96) Ryan Jackson, Daniel Wood (24.41) 0-4 (25.37) Steve Hine, Ben Smith (25.82) 4-2 (26.68) Dave Hill, Gerry Mooney (23.19) 1-4 (23.95) Mark Strong, Ian Clarkson (22.63) 0-4 (25.69) Mark Faulkner, Dre Hajimina (20.01) 1-4 (23.54) Karl Reynolds, Matt Creed (21.68) 0-4 (25.69) Jack Wareing, Luke Ely (22.00) 3-4 (22.63) Mark Martin, Terry Andrews (21.19) 2-4 (22.81) Zac Prince, Hertfordshire WA 3-3 Warwickshire WA:Women’s ‘A’:- Rachel Egleton (16.20) 3-2 (15.86) Kirsty Hinchliffe, Louise Pearson (20.59) 3-0 (18.03) Jodie Rigg, Grace Ferridge (20.18) 2-3 (18.38) Caroline Pike, Stacey Aylesbury (19.10) 1-3 (19.88) Hannah Meek, Danielle Fry (22.22) 3-1 (19.35) Wendy Adams, Kerry O’Connor (18.77) 2-3 (17.83) Marian Conway, Hertfordshire WB 5-1 Warwickshire WB:Women’s ‘B’:- Vicky Rannow (16.48) 3-1 (13.36) Denise Keyte, Jodie Clarkson (20.88) 3-0 (18.94) Donna Pinch, Kirsty Bond (18.27) 3-1 (15.87) Kacie O’Connor, Kerry King (15.46) 0-3 (16.52) Courtney Hine, Debs Jones (17.40) 3-1 (16.65) Chloe McKivett-Saunders, Jo Kitchen (18.79) 3-1 (17.26) Nina Bolt.
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