Warwickshire v Devon
It was a disappointing end to the season for Warwickshire in the premier division of the BDO Inter County Championships as they surprsingly lost their home fixture against Devon and also the chance of finishing third in the table.
Starting the weekend in third place in the premier table Warwickshire didn’t have the best of days on Saturday as the ladies ‘B’ found themselves trailing 2-0 when Karen Matthews and Jodie Hawton in turn beat Donna Pinch 3-2 and Lisa Deslandes 3-1. Angela Jones stopped the rot with a 3-2 win over Cat Callard but she was made to fight all the way for her win as Callard won the opening two legs.
Nina Bolt (Warwickshire) opened up a 2-0 lead over Sarah Brown in the fouth game but it was the Devonshire player who got the 3-2 result to put her team into an unassailable 3-1 lead.
It tokk a lady of the match performance from Kerry Bambridge to halt the visitors progress, Kerry winning with a straight three legs result against Tracy Ware to give her a 19.03 average and with a similar 3-0 win from Wendy Adams in the final game against Sharna Eva Warwickshire had salvaged a 3-3 draw.
Charlie Symons gave Warwickshire the opening win in the men’s ‘B’ game as he accounted for Liam Spear with a 4-1 scoreline, however the hosts lead was short lived as Mark Shears beat Luke Kennedy 4-2 after Kennedy had twice taken the lead and with a 4-1 win for Philip Goodwin over Simon Fairbrother Devon were 2-1 up.
The advanatge changed for a third time when Matthew Edgar and Peter Hughes in turn won 4-2 against Lewis Dare and Darren Tilley to restore Warwickshire’s lead at 3-2.
Once again the visitors fought back as Mark Hatherley won 4-2 against Tom Martin, Kevin Winter beat Richard Foster 4-3 and with further 4-3 wins for Liam Goyne and Paul Millford against Mark Carter and James Hykin Devon opened up an unbeatble 6-3 lead.
Ian Shaw kept hopes of a draw alive for the home team when he won 4-1 against Gary Phillips but it was all over in the penultimate game when Terry McDermott won 4-1 against Carl Green after Green had won the first leg.
Warwickshire kept their best till last as Thomas Ryan stepped up to take on Darren Collis and in 15 darts with a 101 finish Ryan went 1-0 up, he doubled his lead in 18 darts checking out on 86, then with another 15 darts leg and a 113 finish went 3-0 up and rounded off a tremendous 4-0 win with his third 15 darts leg and a 120 outshot to give him a fantastic 31.81 average, the best ‘B’ team average of the weekend.
The final score 7-5 to Devon.
Amazingly the ladies ‘A’ have not won a game all season, in fact they haven’t won since January 2016 when they were 5-1 winners at home to Lancashire and their latest fixture didn’t see them get the best of starts once again as Chloe McKivett lost 3-1 to Anna Johnson and Sue Gulliver was beaten 3-2 by Merryl Dennis.
Trina Gulliver MBE stemmed the tide as she not only won 3-0 against Lisa Hughes but at the same time took the match award, her fourth of the campaign with a 21.47 average.
Natalie Gilbert looked all set to level the game when she won the first two legs against Maria O’Brien but unfortunately lost the next three to go down 3-2.
A 3-1 win over Hayley Brant by Melanie Hill kept Warwickshire in the match, Hill checking out on 117 in the third leg, but it was all over in all respects when Michelle Andrews beat Caroline Puke 3-0 in the final game to give Devon a 4-2 win.
Nothing less than a 9-3 win from Warwickshire’s men’s ‘A’ team would now be good enough for an overall victory for the weekend. The pattern of the first four games saw all of the results going with the first throw advantage Devon going ahead twice first through Mike Pearce in the opening game when he won 4-2 against Mark Westgarth and again when Scott Hutchinson won 4-3 in the third against Noel Grant. Meanwhile levelling the game for Warwickshire were Nigel Heydon who won the second game against Neil White 4-3 and Bob Nixon with a 4-2 win in the fourth over Glyn Wells after Wells had gone 2-0 up.
For the first time in the game the home team took the lead in the fifth when Jamie Hughes recorded his second successive man of the match average beating Mark Turner 4-1 with winning legs of 15,15,14 and 13 darts to give him a fabulous 32.96 average. Nevertheless by the halfway mark the scores were level at three each when Phil Stewart replied for Devon with a 4-1 success against William Naylor.
As the second half got underway it was Devon who quickly gained the advantage Shaun Dring taking their tally to 4-3 with his 4-0 win over Ted Evetts. Simon Power squared the game at 4-4 with his 4-1 win over Thom Humphrey after the Devon man had won the first leg, but the visitors came bouncing back once more and giving them a 5-4 lead was John Imrie with his 4-2 success against Dean Stewart and when Mark Vellacott added his straight 4-0 win against Tom Aldridge the away team had gone into an unassailable 6-4 lead.
Antony Allen (Warwickshire) put the pressure on the final two players when he won 4-1 against Martin Horn in the penultimate game, then with a similar 4-1 result Anthony West defeated Daniel Belsten to put the final score all level at six each.
Unfortunately the rally by the men’s ‘A’ team was not enough as the overall score for the weekend was 20-16 to Devon which meant that Warwickshire would lose their third place and finish the season fifth, seven points behind third placed Lincolnshire and five points adrift of Cambridgeshire who finished fourth.
Premier Division:Warwickshire v Devon (16-20)🙁Warwickshire names first):Men’s ‘A’:- Mark Westgarth 2 Mike Pearce 4, Nigel Heydon 4 Neil White 3, Noel Grant 3 Scott Hutchinson 4, Bob Nixon 4 Glyn Wells 2, Jamie Hughes 4 Mark Turner 1, William Naylor 1 Phil Stewart 4, Ted Evetts 0 Shaun Dring 4, Simon Power 4 Thom Humphrey 1, Dean Stewart 2 John Imrie 4, Tom Aldridge 0 Mark Vellacott 4, Antony Allen 4 Martin Horn 1, Anthony West 4 Daniel Belsten 1, Men’s ‘B’:- Charlie Symons 4 Liam Spear 1, Luke Kennedy 2 Mark Shears 4, Simon Fairbrother 1 Philip Goodwin 4, Matthew Edgar 4 Lewis Dare 2, Peter Hughes 4 Darren Tilley 2, Tom Martin 2 Mark Hatherley 4, Richard Foster 3 Kevin Winter 4, Mark Carter 3 Liam Goyne 4, James Hykin 3 Paul Milford 4, Ian Shaw 4 Gary Phillips 1, Carl Green 1 Terry McDermott 4, Tom Ryan 4 Darren Collis 0, Women’s ‘A’:- Chloe McKivett 1 Anna Johnson 3, Sue Gullliver 2 Merryl Dennis 3, Trina Gulliveer 3 Lisa Hughes 0, Natalie Gilbert 2 Maria O’Brien 3, Melanie Hill 3 Hayley Brant 1, Caroline Pike 0 Michelle Andrews 3, Women’s ‘B’:- Donna Pinch 2 Karen Matthews 3, Lisa Deslandes 1 Jodie Hawton 3, Angela Jones 3 Cat Callard 2, Nina Bolt 2 Sarah Brown 3, Kerry Bambridge 3 Tracy Ware 0, Wendy Adams 3 Sharna Eva 0.
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Congratulations to Sutton Sports who in a very close finish in the Warwickshire Men’s Super League, clinched the title with 133 points, exactly the same number of points as runners up Coventry Bishopsgate with Sutton taking the crown by virtue of them having won one game more than Coventry.
After confirming the league title the two top teams met in a thrilling final of the Team Cup Knockout which saw all seven games go the full distance of five legs but it was Sutton who made it a fantastic double by beating their rivals 4-3.
Eight teams had battled it out on the night with Stockton and Warwick the unfortunate losing semi finalists, Stockton losing 4-3 to Sutton Sports while Warwick went down 5-2 to Coventry Bishopsgate.
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