The West Midlands went into their final game of the season in the Andy Wheeler Fisheries Championship Division away to Cheshire, knowing they had everything to play for as they were second in the league with 211 points and only one point behind leaders Middlesex.
The ladies ‘B’ didn’t have the best of starts as they were quickly chasing a 3-0 deficit as Sarah Goodwin beat Jade Wellings 3-2, Andrea Davis won 3-0 against Kelly Aston and Chloe Davenport won 3-1 against Claire Hobbs. The next two games both went to the wire with West Midlands players Jacqueline Simmons and Kat McLean winning 3-2 against their respective opponents Kerry Mundy and Lyn Marsden, Kat McLean collecting the match award for her 19.44 average. Shellbie Guest rescued a share of the points for the Midlanders when in the final game she won 3-1 against Adele Probin, the result 3-3.
Callum Parkes gave the visitors the early lead in the men’s ‘B’ match when he defeated Jeff Fisher 4-3, however with a 4-1 win for George Hough over Mark Craddock and 4-2 wins for both Alex Daniels and Chris Hough in turn against Kian Rogers and Cameron Baird the home side were 3-1 up. Dean Fullwood momentarily reduced the arrears when he beat Jacob Russell 4-0 but with a further 4-2 win for Mal Barrow against Sean Craig, the score at the break was 4-2 to Cheshire.
By the eighth game the match was level at 4-4 as Olly Garratt opened the second half for West Midlands with a 4-2 win over Ben Hewitt and then man of the match Justin Evans beat Dave Hart 4-3 with a 24.42 average. Unfortunately that was to be the last winner for West Midlands as Karl Woodward, Calum McCaffrey and Ben Lundstrom chalked up 4-1 wins over their respective opponents Kieran O’Mahoney, Martin Price and Connor Lucas, and with a final 4-2 win for Billy Blackmore over Ian Stanton, Cheshire’s men’s ‘B’ had won 8-4.
The ladies ‘A’ match followed the exact same pattern as the ladies ‘B’, losing the first three games and then winning the last three. Kirstie Corbett, Lindsey Ashton and Jane Stubbs in turn had wins over Jacqueline Trott (3-2), Jacqueline Maiden (3-1) and Hannah Davies (3-0). Evonne Taylor began the fight back for the Midlands side when she won 3-1 against Julie Whitehouse, lady of the match Gemma Barrett had a 3-1 win and 21.75 average against Emma Pearce and with a similar 3-1 win for Eloise Milburn over T.J.Mellor, the final score once again was 3-3.
Anthony Conroy gave Cheshire men’s ‘A’ an opening lead when he won 4-1 against Gavin Baker before West Midlands rattled off three consecutive wins thanks to Ryan O’Connor, Shaun Carroll and Jack Aldridge, who accounted for their respective opponents Matthew Shaw, Perry Davenport and Darren Downey with 4-2, 4-0 and 4-1 results. Although 3-1 up the score at the halfway stage was 3-3 as the hosts replied with 4-2 wins from Keith Croxford and Sean Wilkinson who won in turn against Daniel Hands and Richard Platt.
As in the first half the hosts won the opening game of the second half, Joe Rowland beating Jay Woodhouse 4-2. West Midlands man of the match was on at number eight, Scott Baker chalking up a super 34.55 average in his straight 4-0 win over Ozzy Ayers, From a score of 4-4 the home side then were assured at the worst of a draw as Jim Moston won 4-1 against Jon Platt and Allie Clark handed Will Beaden a 4-0 defeat. Hopes of a draw were kept alive when Adam Teasdale won the penultimate encounter against Shaun Walshe 4-3 and were realised when Dan Nicholls won the final game of the weekend against Joe Kelly 4-1, the result, all-square at 6-6.
The overall result for the fixture was a 20-16 win for Cheshire, but with Middlesex also surprisingly losing 24-12 at Kent, it was congratulations to West Midlands who not only achieved promotion but also won the divisional title with 227 points, three more than Middlesex who finished as runners-up.
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