Black Country opener in the L-Style Division One was a home tie against Derbyshire but it didn’t get off to a very good start for the ladies ‘B’ as the visitors stormed into an unbeatable 3-0 lead as Samantha Evans won 3-0 against McKenzie Raine, Louise Rawson beat Paige Robbins 3-1 and Rach Bird won 3-0 against Stella Sims.
Black Country’s first win came in the fourth as Doreen Hunt accounted for Emily Jones with a straight 3-0 win. Lady of the match Sarah-Jane Parker reduced the deficit even further when she won 3-2 against Jax Sweet with a 16.75 average and salvaging the draw was Demmi Titley who beat Lisa Davie 3-2 to put the final score at 3-3.
Sam Bissell opened up for the men’s ‘B’ and gave the home side the early lead with a 4-0 win, over Gary Fenn. A 4-2 win from Wes Smith over Mark Rollinson levelled the game before the hosts won the next two games 4-2 thanks to Andy Garratt and Matthew Lloyd who in turn defeated Ian Allcock and Marc Ellis. Lee Stanley pulled one back for Derbyshire when he beat Al Smith 4-3 but by the break Black Country had opened up a 4-2 lead as Mark Jones closed the half with a 4-3 win over Mick Smith.
As the second session got underway, Rhys Butler increased the home team’s lead to 5-2 when he won 4-2 against Dan Jackson and with a further 4-1 win from man of the match Ian Townsend who won 4-1 against Jamie Waterfield with a 24.56 average to guarantee, at the worst a draw as they were now leading 6-2. The win was delayed as Ben Holmes (Derbyshire) won 4-1 against Neil Steventon but only delayed until the tenth game as Wayne Hobday beat Jay Knowles 4-1 to open up a 7-3 lead. The last two games went to Derbyshire, Carl Frith winning 4-3 against Danny Chiswell and Jack Ryder beating Jake Shipley 4-2 to give a final score of 7-5 to Black Country.
For the Black Country’s ladies ‘A’ it was a weekend to quickly forget as the went down 5-1 with Chez Allcock the sole winner as she opened up with a 3-1 win over Carol Western with a 16.96 average. The remainder of the game was all Derbyshire’s as Jane Densley beat Kirsty Shaughnessy 3-1, Rachel Ayres won 3-2 against Tammy Chance, Jo Oldershaw had a 3-1 win over Abbey Hunt, Rose Mort won 3-0 against Heather Wright and Rebecca Hoyland beat Grace Angell 3-0.
The first two games of the men’s ‘A’ match both went to Black Country as Trev Brennan beat Nigel Daniels 4-3 and Jamie Rollinson won by the same margin against James Ruff. The following two games went to Derbyshire, Dan Ford and Paul Williams both winning 4-3 against respective opponents Dan Homer and Reece Colley. The last two games of the half once again went to the hosts as Michael Powell beat Darron Brown 4-3 and Alfie Busby won 4-0 against Steven Thompson.
As the second half began Steve Jones took the home side’s lead to 5-2 when he won 4-0 against Paul Redfern but the lead was reduced to 5-3 as Liam Ryde beat George Willetts 4-2. Harry Williams (Black Country) had a 4-3 win against Sean Lambert to put the home team within an ace of victory, a victory that was achieved in the very next game as man of the match Tom Bissell beat Jamie Hill 4-2 with a 29.34 average. The penultimate encounter went to Derbyshire as Dominic Harrison won against Aaron Colley only to see Keiron Bridgewater beat Jack Ryder 4-0 in the last game of the weekend to give Black Country an 8-4 victory.
The 19-17 win for Black Country sees them placed fifth in the league with twenty-two points which is just three behind leaders Merseyside.
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