2010-03-01

A home tie against Buckinghamshire that was West Midlands fixture to kick off the New Year in division two of the Rileys BDO Inter Counties Championships, and what an important fixture it was. Prior to the match West Midlands were in seventh position in the table and the opponents tenth at the foot of the table. So with only one win from three games it was obvious the Midlands side, with home advantage required nothing less than a win.
Saturday’s games got off to a good start as the ladies, despite going one down when Karen Lan beat Claire Hobbs 3-2 then stormed into an unassailable 4-1 lead. Tammy Chance began the run when she recorded a straight legs 3-0 win over Sue Smith. Next to the oche was Kim Fellows. Kim was made to fight the full five legs distance by Angela Cook but eventually came out on top the 3-2 winner. Guaranteeing at the worst a share of the spoils was Claire Ford who had another straight 3-0 win in her game against Jane Sobey and taking the score beyond Buckinghamshire’s reach was lady of the match Jacqui Simmons (16.36). Jacqui lost the opening leg to Sarah Orchard and levelled in the second. She then went 2-1 down, but came back to level terms once more in the fourth. The decider could have gone either way but it was Jacqui who clinched not only the leg and the game with her 32 outshot but also made sure of a win for her team mates.
It looked as though the final score would be 5-1 to the West Midlands when Heather Wright first went 1-0 up and then 2-1 up, unfortunately for Heather her counterpart, Amanda Kuling won the last two legs to give her a 3-2 win and put the result at 4-2 to the hosts.
As with the ladies match the men’s ‘B’ went one down, Mark Watkiss losing 3-2 to Adam Mould. However by the midway point of the game it was the West Midlands who were able to boast a 5-1 advantage. Peter Edmonds cancelled out the opening loss as he beat Eamon Halfpenny 3-1. Trevor Carter and Paul Price then added two 3-0 wins to the tally as in turn they defeated Peter Smith and Damien Kidd to open up a 3-1 lead. The following two games each went the full five legs distance, first Neil Pointon, who went 2-0 up against Phillip Glenister only to see Glenister pull back to 2-2 before he went on to win the final leg. Then came Richard Platt, whose five legs all went with the darts advantage. Richard won the first in 17 darts, his opponent Peter Fenneymore the second in 20. Platt went ahead again in 24 darts and Fenneymore replied in 25. In the fifth leg Platt kicked off with two scores of 140 and went on to win the leg in 17 darts with a 60 outshot leaving the Buckinghamshire man way back on 181.
Craig Cox pulled one back for the visitors in game number seven. West Midlands man Matt Dicken began brightly as he won the first two legs, but two consecutive 18 darts legs from Cox brought him back to level terms and in the decider with the first throw advantage he won the game on double ten.
As in the previous fixture against Norfolk Richard Foster again turned on a man of the match performance, stretching West Midlands lead to 6-2. Playing against Peter Kenny Foster took the first leg in 19 darts, Kenny squared the game in 26 darts before Foster upped his game hitting a maximum in the third leg he checked out on 40 for a seventeen darts leg and then produced his best leg of the tie a 15 darts leg. After scores of 125, 59, 43 and 140 he then won the leg and game in style with a 134 game shot, clinching a 3-1 win and the match award for his 26.19 average.
With only four game remaining Buckinghamshire then produced their best run of the match winning two in a row. Robert McConnell was first with his 3-0 win against Ian Stanton and with a 3-1 success over Ian Hartland by Paul Orchard Buckinghamshire were given a lifeline, the score standing at 6-4 and two to play, they were still in with a shout for a draw.
Any hopes of a draw were erased in the penultimate game when Viv Gould, after trailing 1-0 to Lawrence McAlinney went on to win 3-1 and secure the all important seventh winning game. The final score was 8-4 to the West Midlands when anchor man Martin Angell chalked up another 3-1 win over his opponent Lee Rose.
Sunday and the ladies ‘A’, like their ‘B’ side were looking for the first win since their opening day win against Suffolk in October.
The ‘A’ side actually got off to a better start than what the ‘B’ had had the previous day. Kath Jenkins was first on and was made to fight all the way for her 3-2 victory. Ann Wakefield won the first and then went ahead again in the third after Jenkins had taken the second. The home player made it two each in the fourth and then won the fifth to seal her win.
Kath’s team mate, Leanne Jennings was at number two and she also was taken the full five legs distance by Fiona Carmichael. Leanne, with the darts won the first and third legs, Carmichael the second and fourth and indeed the Buckinghamshire player could have won the decider after Leanne missed her finishing doubles, but fortunately for the home player it was not to be and she went on to win the leg and the game 3-2, her average of 20.43 earning her the lady of the match award.
After such a bright beginning then came the downside. Sarah Robbins was well on the way to securing a share of the points as early as the third game when she won the first two legs against Barbara Legge, but then lost her way with finishing doubles and in stepped the Buckinghamshire player to snatch a 3-2 win. Those elusive finishing doubles were also the downfall of both Diane Tolley and Jayne Stubbs as they in turn both lost 3-1 to Kirsty Hayfield and Suzanne Smith.
The outcome now rested on the final encounter between Lisa Astbury (West Midlands) and Kate Drake. Lisa, with the throw advantage appeared to have the edge as she went ahead in the first and then in the third, but on both occasions Kate cancelled out her lead to take the game to the final leg. With a 32 checkout Kate Drake secured a 3-2 win for herself and a 4-2 victory for her team.
The men’s ‘A’ well what can you say about the men’s ‘A’, unbelievable, great , fantastic, superb in fact every complimentary adjective could be used to describe their performance, understandably so when they did a tremendous clean sweep handing out a 12-0 whitewash to their opponents, dropping just nine legs in the process.
Danny Coyle began the slaughter when he beat Kevin Locke 3-1 and with a neat 3-0 win over Adam Mould, Dean Stewart made it 2-0. That was the pattern for the first half, first 3-1 then 3-0, Chris Plumpton winning 3-1 against Paul Orchard, Andy Forrester beating Stuart Robinson 3-0, Lol Frazer the 3-1 winner against Phillip Simpson and Steve Farmer won his tie with Sean Ross 3-0. However, Steve’s 3-0 success does little to show the manner in which he won. He completed the opening leg in a magnificent ELEVEN darts hitting 95, 180, 180 and checking out on 46. The second leg, with top scores of 140 and 100 he won in 20 darts and then in the third he hit 140, 83, 100, 140 and 22 to leave double sixteen which he found with his sixteenth dart to give him an average of 31.98 to give him the man of the match award.
Game seven and Avtar Singh was made to work for his 3-2 win. Trailing 2-0 to Damien Fyffe he fought back to win in 18, 21 and 18 darts. Mark Rollinson added his 3-1 win against Paul Farnes to move the West Midlands tally along to 8-0 and with two straight wins from Nicky Bache and Ian Jones against respective opponents Robert Dell and Alan Syphas the whitewash was well and truly on.
In the penultimate game Peter Wyse was another player who was taken the full five legs distance this time by Paul Stefanovic. Ironically Peter won all the legs when the darts were against him, the first, third and last. The pressure was now firmly on the shoulders of Jamie Hughes, 11-0 up and playing last for the Midlands side, he just did not want to be the odd one out, the only loser. However, when John Tarbox won the first leg in just 14 darts it looked a distinct possibility. Hughes kept his nerve and levelled in 17 darts and then went ahead in 19. Despite scores of 140 and 100 in the fourth leg it was a nervy affair as Hughes missed double twenty and left himself on double seven as Tarbox hit 140 to leave 46. Nevertheless, Jamie Hughes then stepped up to the oche and with two darts won the game 3-1, the match 12-0 and the weekend’s fixture 26-10.
What a difference a big win makes, beginning the match in seventh position and after the win leaping up the table into second place, fifteen points behind London, West Midlands next opponents!!!