Cumbria v West Midlands
What a great season West Midlands are having in division two of the BDO Inter County Championships having won seven and lost just one of their eight games and making that eight wins in their latest fixture away to Cumbria, they are now in a top two place with only one game to play and are looking good for promotion to division one.
The weekend’s game at Cumbria got off to a slow start as the ladies ‘B’ lost the opening two games 3-1 when Lydia Kerr and Lesley Pattinson in turn defeated Claire Hobbs and Shellbie Simmons, but then the Midlands side got their act together as Jacqueline Maiden came from one down against Ann Scholey to win 3-1, Heather Wright beat Hilary Kirkbridge 3-1 and Kirsty Shaughnessy won 3-0 against Christine Stockdale.
The final ladies game was a five legs thriller with advantage going one way then the other as Roxanne Litherland (Cumbria) won the first leg then Samantha Maiden took the next two. Litherland came fighting back to win the fourth but lost out as Samantha Maiden sealed a personal 3-2 win and a team win of 4-2 in the final leg at the same time with a 19.08 average earning herself the team’s match award.
Paul Wells lost West Midlands opening game 3-1 to Scott Tippett and although they levelled when Neil Pointon beat Ron McCoubrey 3-0 Cumbria were back in front in the third when their Darren Armstrong beat Daniel Nicholls 3-2. Neil Linford with a 3-0 win over Paul Price gave the home side a 3-1 lead but with a 3-2 win from Mark Rollinson over Lee Tyrer and a 3-1 success by Ashe Khayat against Derek Forster West Midlands were back in the game at 3-3.
The home side forged ahead again in the seventh game when Brian Fawcett after losing his 2-0 lead when John Mycock battled back to level the game but then won the decider for a close 3-2 victory and with John Murray beating Gareth Watts 3-1 Cumbria were 5-3 up.
Robert Smith (West Midlands) was on at number nine against his namesake Wayne Smith, Robert went 2-0 up in 18 and 17 darts, Wayne’s response was a 19 darts leg in the third, but a 15 darts fourth leg with a 106 checkout gave the West Midlands man not only the 3-1 verdict but also his second consecutive man of the match award for his 28.08 average.
Taking the score along to 5-5 was Richard Platt who levelled the game for the Midlands team with a straight 3-0 win over Gerald Stockdale, Platt winning the first leg with a 107 outshot.
Kenneth Park got the better of a 3-1 scoreline against Danny Coyle to put Cumbria within one game of winning the match but a share of the points was salvaged by West Midlands man Mark Allen-Watkiss as he beat Colin Hargrave 3-2, Mark winning the first two legs, Colin the next two and Allen-Watkiss getting the result after Hargrave missed his doubles. The final score 6-6 to make it four wins and four draws for the season so far.
The ladies ‘A’ like the men’s ‘B’ were unbeaten with three wins and four draws and they got off to a brilliant start when they stormed into a 3-0 lead Lisa Astbury opening with a 3-1 win over Stacey Thame after Thame had won the first leg. Sophie Singh made it 2-0 with her straight 3-0 win over Val Hargrave and adding the third win was West Midlands in form player Sarah Roberts who took her lady of the match awards for the season to six, making it three consecutive wins with her 20.16 average and 3-1 win over Mary Paine.
Michelle McGimpsey was Cumbria’s first winner but she was pushed all the way for her 3-2 win by Kath Jenkins and then with a further 3-0 win from Janice Wilson (Cumbria) over Gemma Barrett the home team were back in the game at 3-2.
Debbie Loon (West Midlands) with scores of 100 and 140 won the first leg against Sas Bode and then went 2-0 up before Bode won the third with a 158 checkout. However it proved to be just a minor delay in a 3-1 win for Loon to give West Midlands a 4-2 win.
All that was required from the men’s ‘A’ team was five winners for an overall victory for the weekend but despite Cumbria’s lowly position in the promotion table they were not going to give up those wins easily and their first two players emphasised that point when opener Andrew Foster after going behind 1-0 and 3-2 to Gareth Watts continued to battle on for a 4-3 win and Steven Jackson who lost the first leg to John Morris added his 4-1 win.
Cumbria’s third man on Sean Miles looked all set to increase their lead when he won the opening two legs against Keith Allman but Allman stepped up a gear and went on to win 4-2. Again in the fourth game it was the home player that got the better start as Terence Houghton took 1-0 and 2-1 leads against Matthew Dicken before Dicken won the last three legs for a 4-2 win.
West Midlands took the lead for the first time in the fifth when Sam Guest beat David Turnbull 4-2, Guest going 1-0 up then 2-1 down before winning the game. It was all square at the sixth when David Carr won 4-3 against Nick Fullwell, Fullwell forcing a decider when he checked out on 143 in the penultimate leg.
The second half began with a man of the match performance from West Midlands Mark Craddock his second of the campaign in which he took a 1-0 lead against Michael Sowerby, went 2-1 down and then won 4-2 with a 29.56 average. Michael Baker opened up 1-0, 2-1 and 3-2 leads over Alan Armstrong but in the end it was Armstrong who won 4-3 to take the running score to 4-4.
Again in the ninth game it was the home player that took the early lead Trevor Watters going two up against Shaun Carroll but the new England International Carroll came back in style with legs of 19,13,19 and 18 darts for a 4-2 win
Lewis Venes was another player who had to fight his way back into the game in his encounter with Ricky Winder as Winder won the first and then levelled in the sixth to force a seventh leg, a leg which was won by Venes to put his team 6-4 up.
Despite the lead and with two to play the West Midlands men’s ‘A’ team were unable to wrap up a victory as Andy Goodfellow beat Avtar Singh 4-2 and in the final game of the weekend there was a surprising 4-1 win for Richard Hall over Ian Jones who many, many times has won vital games for the West Midlands, but unfortunately on this occasion he was unable to and the final score was 6-6.
With both men’s teams finishing all square and the two ladies teams winning the overall result was a 20-16 win for the West Midlands which keeps them in second place in the table and takes them another step closer to promotion to division one as they are now eleven points clear of third placed Berkshire and only four points behind leaders London who they play next in what will be the final game of the season.
Full results:Cumbria v West Midlands (16-20):(Cumbria names first): Men’s ‘A’:- Andrew Foster 4 Gareth Watts 3, Steven Jackson 4 John Morris 1, Sean Miles 2 Keith Allman 4, Terence Houghton 2 Matthew Dicken 4, David Turnbull 2 Sam Guest 4, David Carr 4 Nick Fullwell 3, Michael Sowerby 2 Mark Craddock 4, Alan Armstrong 4 Michael Baker 3, Trevor Watters 2 Shaun Carroll 4, Ricky Winder 3 Lewis Venes 4, Andy Goodfellow 4 Avtar Singh 2, Richard Hall 4 Ian Jones 1, Men’s ‘B’:- Scott Tippett 3 Paul Wells 1, Rob McCoubrey 0 Neil Pointon 3, Darren Armstrong 3 Daniel Nicholls 2, Neil Linford 3 Paul Price 0, Lee Tyrer 2 Mark Rollinson 3, Derek Forster 1 Ashe Khayat 3, Brian Fawcett 3 John Mycock 2, John Murray 3 Gareth Watts 1, Wayne Smith 1 Robert Smith 3, Gerald Stockdale 0 Richard Platt 3, Kenneth Park 3 Danny Coyle 1, Colin Hargrave 2 Mark Allen-Watkiss 3, Women’s ‘A’:- Stacey Thame 1 Lisa Astbury 3, Val Hargrave 0 Sophie Singh 3, Mary Paine 1 Sarah Roberts 3, Michelle McGimpsey 3 Kath Jenkins 2, Janice Wilson 3 Gemma Barrett 0, Sas Bode 1 Debbie Loon 3, Women’s ‘B’:- Lydia Kerr 3 Claire Hobbs 1, Lesley Pattinson 3 Shellbie Simmons 1, Ann Scholey 1 Jacqueline Maiden 3, Hilary Kirkbride 1 Heather Wright 3, Christine Stockdale 0 Kirsty Shaughnessy 3, Roxanne Litherland 2 Samantha Maiden 3.