This coming weekend the Warwickshire County Darts Organisation will be travelling south to take on Cambridgeshire in what will be their sixth fixture in their nine games season in the Premier Division of the BDO Inter County Championships. Following their two opening defeats at the beginning of the season they have now strung together three consecutive wins their most recent being a terrific 21-15 victory over second in the table Lancashire. Now fourth in the table Warwickshire will be hoping to open up a gap between themselves and their hosts who are fifth on 93 points just six short of Warwickshire.
Lining up for Warwickshire will be Men’s ‘A’:- Noel Grant, Jamie Hughes, Tom Aldridge, Antony Allen, Bob Nixon, Mark Westgarth, Mark Carter, William Naylor, Dean Stewart, Richard Foster, Mark Strong, Jamie Atkins, Men’s ‘B’:- Simon Power, Paul Deslandes, Simon Fairbrother, Tom Ryan, Rob Hawker, Carl Green, Mangal Singh, Peter Hughes, Luke Kennedy, Tom McGlone, Ian Shaw, James Hykin, Reserves:- Tom Martin, Dan Green, Prakash Jiwa, Matt Edgar, Ted Evetts, Women’s ’A’:- Trina Gulliver, Sue Gulliver, Melanie Hill, Wendy Adams, Natalie Gilbert, Kerry Bambridge, Women’s ‘B’:- Lisa Deslandes, Angela Jones, Marian Conway, Donna Pinch, Nina Bolt, Denise Keyte, Reserves:- Kat Spanswick, Lucy Keyte, Helen Rigg.
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In division two of the BDO Inter County Championships West Midlands after returning to the top of the promotion table will have a testing fixture this weekend when they travel south to take on Suffolk who with 103 points are just ten adrift of West Midlands and currently third in the table behind Berkshire who are on 108 points, West Midlands have 113.
Unfortunately once again the men’s teams have not been made available but thanks to Kim Fellows the ladies line up is Women’s ‘A’:- Sophie Singh, Sarah Roberts, Lisa Astbury, Debbie Loon, Katharine Jenkins, Gemma Barrett, Women’s ‘B’:- Heather Wright, Shellbie Simmons, Jacqueline Maiden, Samantha Maiden, Kim Fellows, Kirsty Shaughnessy, Reserves:- Claire Hobbs, Wendy Waine, Nicci McLaughlin, Roxanne Nicholls, Lizzy Arnold.
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The Sheldon and District Winter League staged the first round of their Punchbowl knockout in which there were no major shock results. Winning through to round two were, Saltley Amateur Gardeners, East Birmingham Allotment Holders Association, Ridgemere Social, Crown-Forget-Me-Not, Solihull Moors, Iron Horse, Highwood Arrows, Holy Souls, Crown at Shard End, Mackadown Social, Highwood KB’s, Castle Vale Residents, Crown at Olton, Langley Sports and Social Arrows, George V and Sheldon Dukes.
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Boldmere St Mikes 7-2 win at Old Oscott Arrows maintains their unbeaten run at the top of the first division table in the Four Oaks and District League. The Beehive continue to keep the pressure on the leaders their 6-3 win against Plough and Arrows leaving them trailing by just two points. Golden Hind are a further two points adrift in third place following their similar 6-3 win at Pint Pot Flights.
Bottom of the table Boldmere Sports and Social celebrated their first league points with a 5-4 victory at Red Lion to leave them just two points behind their hosts.
In the second division Golden Hind march on, a 9-0 whitewash over The Park taking their unbeaten run to ten games and also keeping intact their four points lead over second in the table Bishop Vesey who for the second consecutive week came from 4-2 down to go on and win 5-4, this week against The Fox.
Disappointment for Erdington Arrows whose 7-2 reversal at home to The Boot was their third defeat in a row and are now fourth on the same 12 points as third placed Lions who had a bye this week. Apparently the Magic Circle beckons for Brookvale Social who after going 4-1 went on to beat Boldmere Tap 5-4.
C.Perry (Boldmere St Mikes), J.Frost (Boldmere Sports and Social) and P.Smith (Plough and Arrows) all hit 180’s this week.
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The Untouchables, despite a very close 25-23 win over fourth placed Bulls Hitters in the Winmau Centre Monday Night League still managed to hold on to pole position with a total of 589 points, but the gap between them and the rest of the field is shortening as Misfits chalked up a huge 43-5 win over Where’s My Team to take over second place with 580 from What Are Thooose who won 27-21 against What’s The Point to give them 572 points. Misfits and What Are Thooose also have a game in hand on Untouchables and with fixtures now beginning to run out they could well be in danger of losing their title and handing the crown over to another team.
It was another week of top scores with no fewer than fourteen recorded, there were two each for Matt Hallett and Jay Hough plus one for Sam Guest (Misfits), two for Andy Busby (Untouchables), Mark Harvey hit one for Barney Army, Owen Maiden was another player to hit two (What Are Thooose) and there was also two for Bob Lockley and one each for Phil Clarke and Adam Teasdale (What’s The Point).
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The Harborne and District League played off their doubles knockout and taking the honours on the night with a final 2-1 victory over P.Green and P.Brookes were Ashley Hykin and Richard Hosey.
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The Camp Hill League have got their new season underway and the early season leaders are reigning champions Cotterills Lane Club who kicked off the season with a 6-1 win over newcomers Station Bar. Cotterills are closely followed by Grange Social Club and Holy Souls who in turn both won 5-2 against Devil’s Club and Lions.
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Just one result from division one of the South Birmingham League which saw Family Tree move off the bottom of the table with a 5-4 win at St John’s. There was a similar situation in division two as The C’s beat Smithswood Social 5-4 to lift them off the foot of the table. Leaders Banbury Flights have opened up a four points lead after beating second in the table The Dog 5-4, Banbury now undefeated in nine games.
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The Stourbridge and District Monday Night League staged round one of their doubles knockout and winning through were P.Thompson / T.Purslow (Stourbridge RBL), R.Pierce / J.Wrench, M.Bayliss / A.Vellender (Ten Arches ‘B’), T.Catton / M.Hughes (Kingswinford Conservative Club), I.Walker / D.Hunt jnr (Nird, Wordsley), S.Mills / M.Rollinson (Ten Arches ‘A), R.Purchase snr / M.Pye (Quarry Bank Conservative Club).
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Olton Crown strengthened their bid for the division one title in the Forest of Arden Winter League with a 7-2 win over Sheldon Marlborough Arrows while their nearest rivals Journeys End had a surprisingly close 5-4 verdict over their visiting opponents bottom of the table Greville Arrows to leave Journeys still four points off the top.
Just one result in from division two which saw the battle of the Highwoods as next to bottom Highwood Arms hosted divisional leaders Highwood KB, as expected the outcome was a win for KB but surprisingly it was a close 5-4 to put them two points ahead of second placed Sheldon Marlborough Flights, both teams having played six games.
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A 2-0 result in the final against M.O’Sullivan has seen C.Wyatt win the Captains Cup in the Small Heath League, the Secretaries Cup title went N.Parsonage who had a similar straight 2-0 win over L.Stanton in the final.
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Week three in the Shirley and District Monday Night League and just two of the starting twelve teams are able to boast a 100% record. Highwood lead the field on average from Legion Royals after their close 5-4 win over reigning champions Crown Jewels who drop from top to third in the table. Second placed Legion Royals also won 5-4 in their home tie with Blue Bell Bears. After the leading three teams comes a block of five all on four points.
Finding the three treble twenties this week were Solihull Sports Club man Craig Clarke who also had a 156 checkout, Mark Henderson (Plume Misfits), Dave Hesketh (Shirley Red Lion), Simon Edwards (Highwood), Trevor Carter (Shirley Legionnaires) and Chris Thomas (Blue Bell Bears).
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Cup semi finals were on the agenda for the Kings Norton League, first the League Cup in which third in the league table Kings Norton RBL suffered somewhat of a shock 4-3 defeat against West Heath who are placed sixth in the table.
In the Consolation Cup last four play-offs as expected the game between Bulls Head who are placed eighth and seventh in the table Coppice was always going to be close, the 4-3 scoreline went in favour of Bulls Head. The other game saw next to bottom Weoley Hill lose 5-2 to Kings Norton Ex Serviceman’s Club who are four places above their opponents in the league table.
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The Shirley Red Lion Thursday Night Premier League have got their new season underway and in week two after most of the 22 players have played four games Mick Bown heads the table with 12 points the same number as second placed Julian Harris but he trails slightly on average. In the latest fixtures Bown had 3-0 wins over Dave Hesketh and Mark Gwalchmai and so far has not dropped a leg while Harris won his second week opener against Tom Bent 3-0 and then was held to a closer 3-2 win by Brian Lawton.
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Although he has played two games more than second in the table Robert Pierce, Kevin Harris has opened up a twenty points lead at the top of the Winmau Centre Thursday Night Champions League. Week eight saw Harris win 6-1 against Chris Fox and then go one better and beat Steve O’Neill 7-0 to give him 75 points. Pierce meanwhile also opened with a 6-1 win over Tam Singh but was then held to a closer 5-2 win by Mick O’Neill.
Third in the table Mick Baker is still a player to keep an eye on, although he has only 52 points and is 23 off the top he has only played nine games and has a massive five in hand on leader Harris, the five could net him a possible 35 points.
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The Pip Club League staged round one of their Divisional Cups and in the division one games there were wins for Belgrave Club, Prince of Wales, Bulls Head ‘A’ (Polesworth) and Pip Club. Going through into the next round in division two are Globe (Tamworth), Globe (Wilnecote), Globe Trotters and Royal Oak.
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Week two of the Cradley Tuesday Night League has seen White Horse despite winning 5-4 against Brickmakers Arms lose pole position, replacing them in the number one spot is Members Club who had a convincing 8-1 home win over Hawne Lane Tavern to put them on the same four points as White Horse but with a one point average advantage. Also on maximum four points are Chop House and Crown (Station Road) who both won 5-4 in turn against Bulls Head and Rose and Crown.
A 5-4 win by Gate Hangs Well over Crown ‘Z’ has seen the former move off the bottom and up five places in the table, taking over at the foot of the table is Crown ‘A’ (Netherton) whose game away to White Swan is a late result.
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The Hilltop Friendly Tuesday Night League played the first round of their Blackcountry Windscreens Trophy and all of the top teams involved in the round progressed to round two, leaders Vine beating Sportsman 6-1, second placed Dewdrop winning by the same margin against Horsley Tavern and fifth placed Old Hop Pole beating Ivy Bush 4-3. Two bottom half teams Albion and Jolly Collier squared up to each other and saw the former win 4-3.
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Just five of the sixteen starters in the Brierley Hill Monday Night League are still able to boast a 100% win record after only two fixtures have been played. The Bridge followed up their opening 8-1 win with a 6-3 success against Blue Brick to put them just two legs of average ahead of reigning champions Dudley Sports C’ whose latest game saw them win by the same 6-3 scoreline against The Bell. High Acres and Pensnett Liberal Club share third place with the same points and average both of them had 5-4 wins this week against respective opponents Queens Head and The Swan.
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The Halesowen Friday Night League have changed their format going from a seven a side 501 team league to a singles league and in week one young fourteen years old Jamie Smith, despite losing 6-1 to Richard Hill recorded his very first league maximum in the game, one to watch out for for the future as he gains a little more experience.
The league is split into two divisions in group ‘A’ M.Rutter is the early leader after his 7-0 win over R.Langford and M.Hoult with the same result against A.Fletcher tops group ‘B’.
Other players to hit a maximum were T.Johnson, R.Lenton and A.Smith who also had a 130 outshot. R.Hill checked out on 104.
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With only one defeat in their first eight games Brickmakers Arms lead the table in the Brierley Hill Friday Night League, their 6-3 win at The Bell keeps them two points ahead of Miners (Wollescote) and Pensnett Welfare Club, Miners winning 7-2 at Netherton Cricket Club and the Welfare Club chalking up the league’s biggest win of the week when they won their home tie with The Cross (Oldswinford) 8-1, however they have played one game more than both teams above them.
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Sixteen teams began the new season in the Rowley Monday Night League and after just two weeks there are only three that remain undefeated. The Bell head the table their latest win being 7-2 at Britannia Inn, second place is shared by Haden Cross ‘Z’ and Springfield Social Club who are just one leg of average behind Bell, Haden Cross ‘Z’ won 6-3 at home against Whiteheath Tavern while Springfield beat Ex Serviceman’s Club ‘A’ 7-2.
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After playing 37 games in division one of the Wolverhampton Tuesday Night League, Wednesfield FC have wrapped up the title with a final 6-1 win over Wednesfield Conservative Club. ECC who are two points adrift of the champions will finish as runners up following their 4-3 win at Corpus, they ended the season twelve points ahead of third placed Victoria.
In division two its Whitmore Reans WMC who take the title, a 5-2 win at Woodfield Social giving them 60 points from their 35 games, second placed Roebuck lost 4-3 at Boat ‘B’ but have finished second four points to the good on third placed Pheasant.
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Congratulations to Dolphin Inn player Tracey Parris who for the first time in nine games has won in the Players League within the Tamworth League. Tracey won against Paul Smallwood (Wigginton ‘A’) who is four places above her in the table.
On the league front Prince of Wales ‘A’ are top after playing ten games their most recent win being 7-0 against Mile Oak Rovers giving them 86 points seventeen more than second placed Fox and Dogs who have a game in hand on the leaders.
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