2011-01-01

Since last going to print West Midlands have played two further fixtures in the Riley’s BDO Inter Counties Championships, the first of these was a home tie at Gilberts Bar, Willenhall against Gwent. After a curtain raising home win over Middlesex followed by an away defeat at the hands of the Oxfordshire team West Midlands were hoping for a quick return to winning ways, unfortunately it was not to be.
The men’s ‘A’ suffered their first taste of defeat this season as they finished on the wrong side of a 7-5 scoreline. Mick Savvery and Paul James put Gwent two up, but their advantage was quickly erased as Dean Stewart and Jamie Hughes in turn beat Alan Walker and Martyn Freeman. Gwent’s two game lead was restored thanks to Christopher Jones and Peter Johns, only to see once more it cancelled out and actually go behind as Ian Jones (27.00) beat Phil Daniels, Neil Pointen (26.53) won against Nick Kenny and Andy Forrester not only beat Adrian Rees 3-1 but also won the man of the match award with his superb 30.22 average.
With a lead of 5-4 West Midlands saw their opponents step up a gear as Brian Barne and Phillip Evans each had 3-1 wins over Ian Stanton and Chris Hickman. The result was secured for the visitors when anchor man Stephen Cake beat Peter Wyse 3-2 to give Gwent their 7-5 win.
The men’s ‘B’ side reversed their previous result and chalked up a fantastic 10-2 win. They trailed 1-0 to an opening Carl Lloyd win and after going 2-1 up with wins from Gavin Baker and Paul Price they were pegged back to level terms by Steve Challenger. From 2-2 they never looked back, Viv Gould, Lance Hackett, Richard Platt, Martin Angell, Greg Parkes, Chris Stanley, Trevor Carter and Mark Lloyd all adding to the score to produce the 10-2 victory. Taking the match award was last one on Mark Lloyd, who beat Russell Fletcher 3-1 to finish with a 28.74 average.
So the two men’s sides amassed a 15-9 total leaving the ladies to win just four games to clinch an overall victory. For the second successive match the ladies ‘A’ suffered a 6-0 whitewash and sadly the ‘B’ side went down 5-1 with Kim Fellows (16.41) the sole winner. So the final score was 20-16 to Gwent.
The second of the games and the final fixture for 2010 saw West Midlands take the long journey to the south west to take on Somerset.
There were mixed fortunes for the ladies, for the ‘A’ side it was another disaster as they went down for the fourth time in as many games, again a 6-0 whitewash their third consecutive one. However, it was good news for the ‘B’ side. With three previous defeats they began in style, Jenna Couch got the ball rolling with her 3-1 win over Adele Taylor and although Natalie Harrison lost 3-1 to Barbara Dyke, there was a return to wining ways when Doreen Kaye beat Marianne Bisset 3-1. Kim Fellows made certain of at least a share of the spoils when she accounted for Sue Lane in a five legs affair to take the score along to 3-1 in West Midlands favour.
In the penultimate game Somerset pulled one back through Kay Bisset who won 3-1 against Gemma Poole to leave the result hinging on the final encounter between Gillian Butler, for the hosts and Jacqueline Maiden.
Jacqueline got off to a good start by winning the first leg with a 16 outshot. Gillian responded by winning the second with a 35 game shot. Leg number three went to the West Midlands player when she finished in the mad house on double one. She then went on to win the fourth leg and the game 3-1 with her opponent way back on 208. Jacqueline’s win gave her team a 4-2 victory, their first of the season and her 15.64 average earned her the lady of the match award.
The gents had a great weekend, kicking off with the ‘B’ side who fresh from their 10-2 win over Gwent were eager to continue in the same vein. They could not have wished for a better start as Matt Dicken romped to a 3-0 win over Simon Fouracres and was followed by Richard Platt who won his tie with Russell Lippett 3-1, after losing the first leg. The third encounter was the West Midlands match of the day, Chris Stanley taking on Somerset’s Dave Winter in a five legs thriller. Stanley, with three tons won the first leg in eighteen darts, Winter replied by winning the second. Chris Stanley went ahead again in the third, this time in sixteen darts hitting 2×140’s. Winter bounced back again with top shots of 140, 125 and 100 to force a deciding leg. With first throw advantage Chris Stanley made full use of this hitting a maximum, which he followed with a ton. After a throw of 41 he then hit 140 and with a further score of 40 left himself on double twenty. Three more darts were all the West Midlands man required to grab a winning fifteen darts leg, a 3-2 win and a man of the match winning 29.43 average.
Played three won three and it just kept getting better, Greg Parkes took on Jason Woodyard at number four, he went one up 2-1 down and finished the game a 3-2 winner. Viv Gould actually went within an ace of a straight defeat when he lost the opening two legs to Darren Godfrey. However, Viv, with three tons won the third leg, 140 and 170 won the fourth leg to level the game and then went on to win the decider hitting a further two tons to move the score along to 5-0 to the West Midlands.
The home team’s first winner came in the shape of Chris White in the sixth game against Mark Lloyd. White won the first two legs, in 27 and 24 darts. He then lost the third as Lloyd on double four won it in 19 darts. Lloyd then squared the game as he won the fourth leg in 17 darts after hitting 3×100, but he could not continue in that sort of form and as he left himself on double nine, White checked out on 32 for a 3-2 win.
Somerset then had their best run of the match, Ryan Palmer had a straight 3-0 win over Mark Watkiss and Dave Griffin beat Paul Price, after at one stage trailing 2-1 to bring the running score along to 5-3 to the west Midlands.
Paul Wright got the visitors back on track when he won 3-2 against Sam Bell, assuring his side of, at the worst a share of the spoils. However, a share was not to be enough as in the very next game Danny Coyle chalked up the winning seventh game with his 3-0 defeat of Adrian Scott. West Midlands were once again on a roll and Martin Angell made it 8-3 when he added yet another convincing 3-0 win over George Gardner to the tally and rounding up the day and the match was Lance Hackett to make it 9-3 with a 3-1 success against Paul Blackwell.
The men’s ‘A’ match began with the home side winning the first game. Steven Johnson, against the throw beat Ian Stanton 3-0. The lead was short lived as Andy Forrester’s 3-1 success over Derek Pratley and a similar scoreline from Dean Stewart over Lee Horsfall gave the away side a 2-1 lead.
Parity was restored in the fourth when Lee Gregory won for Somerset, a gain a 3-1 decision over his opponent Chris Plumpton. Nick Fullwell (West Midlands) despite being pegged back to 2-2 after leading 2-0 by Steve Willard went on to win 3-2 and put the visitors noses in front again, before Ryan Palmer (Somerset) levelled the game at six each by beating Chris Hickman 3-1.
For the first time since the opening game Somerset took the lead again, Neil Raikes winning 3-0 against Lol Frazer, only to see Peter Wyse win a five legs affair against Adam Ward 3-2 to put honours even once more. Trevor Higginson was another player to win against the darts when he beat Jamie Hughes 3-1 to give his team a 5-4 advantage and put them within one game of getting something out of the match.
Three to play and for the West Midlands Mark Rollinson took the oche against Steven Lane, despite being pegged back to 2-1 Rollinson won the fourth leg and the game 3-1. Avatar Singh recorded a duplicate of Rollinson game, wining the first two legs against Matthew Bake, losing the third and then clinching the 3-1 verdict in the fourth to take the score along to 6-5 to West Midlands.
Leigh Taylor raised Somerset’s hopes of a draw when in the final game he went 1-0 up, but the away side could not have wished for a better anchor man than their most experienced player Ian Jones. Jones with a 96 game shot levelled in 18 darts. He then went 2-1 up with a 17 darts leg including 3×100 and 123, after Taylor had scored a similar 3×100 and a 137 and missed out on his finishing doubles. In the fourth leg Taylor did not get down to a double as Jones hit double twenty with his sixteenth dart, hitting 180 and 123 in the process. The final score 7-5 to the West Midlands and an extremely pleasant way to end the year with an overall 20-196 victory to move them up the table.