It was not a happy journey south for the Warwickshire county darts squad as they travelled to take on Essex in the third of nine fixtures in the premier division of the Kaliber BDO Inter Counties Championships. Saturday’s games began with a 4-2 defeat for the ladies, Donna Pinch (18.71) taking the match award. The men’s team lost 8-4, their third consecutive defeat of the campaign. The top player for the men’s ’B’ side was Ian Scattergood, who recorded a 25.95 average.
Sunday’s results were better, but only just. The ladies, thanks to wins from Trina Gulliver, Clare Bywaters (25.47, lady of the match) and Betty Sinnett earned themselves a 3-3 draw. Unfortunately the men were unable to capitalise on the ladies draw and finished on the wrong side of a 9-3 result, giving the hosts a comfortable 24-12 victory. Tom Aldridge took the ’A’ teams match award with an average of 30.21.
———————————-
League fixtures took a back seat this week in the Four Oaks and District League as the second round of the Brian Goodman Cup and the first round of the Ken Rust Cup were played off. In the Brian Goodman Cup four of the five games resulted in 5-4 wins. Red Lion Flights, Boot Flights and Old Oscott WMC in turn getting the better of Hardy Spicer, Old Oscott Arrows and Anvil Nomads. Only Midland Red broke the sequence as they won handsomely by 8-1 at home to Deer’s Leap.
The Ken Rust Cup saw the Plough record an 8-1 win at home to the Acorn, while not far behind them was Sportsmans Rest who beat Bromford Lions 7-2, and to complete the round Boldmere Sports took out Hill Social by the narrowest of margins 5-4. Barn Social had a bye.
———————————-
Six points is now the gap between first placed Ian McFarlane and Mark Birch, who is second in the Brook Meadow Individual League. 3-0 wins over Martin Cooper and Terry Blakemore, plus a 2-1 success against Warren Rudd has given McFarlane a total of 120 points. Meanwhile, Birch, who only played two fixtures beat Jason Evans 2-1 and Bill Cadby 3-0, both players have played 29 games.
Simon Winters had a good 3-0 success against Terry Blakemore, hitting a maximum and recording a fourteen darts leg in the process. In addition there were 180’s this week for Ian McFarlane, Ross Macken and Martin Cooper.
———————————-
Midland Red were on song in the Harborne and District Winter League as P.Brotherton and D.Bourne both hit a maximum, plus Bourne chalked up a nine darts leg as the Red’s handed out a 9-0 whitewash to Avenue Social. Another player to find the three treble twenties was P.Hewitt as his side, Raven won 6-3 at home to Quinborne. A 7-2 win at Bartley Green Social Club maintains pole position for the George, who are ahead on average from Smethwick Labour Clubafter their close 5-4 win at Thurlestone.
The Pheasant lost their unbeaten record as they went down 6-3 at the Stonehouse, while both Bartley Green F.C. and Cock Inn had 5-4 wins against respective opponents Harborne Stores and New Inns.
———————————-
Finals in the Pip Club League saw Dolphin’s Mark Martin take the division one singles title with a final 2-1 win over team mate Wynn Ashton. The division two crown went to Bob Mills from the Glascote. A 2-0 margin over Neil Warner (Tamworth Sports Bar) gave Mills the final verdict. The doubles knockout was won by brothers Simon and Adrian Caswell (Three Horse Shoes), who proved to be too strong for the Dolphin duo Sid Bradley and Matt Wilkinson as they won in two straight legs.
———————————-