West Midlands are enjoying their return to the Andy Wheeler Fisheries Championship Division have chalked up two wins in their opening two fixtures, the first at home to Kent and the second away to Hampshire.
It was a good start to the Hampshire weekend as Shellbie Guest began the ladies ‘B’ match with a 3-2 win over Dawn Simmonds and doubling the lead was lady of the match Katherine Jenkins who won 3-0 against Laura Kedge with a 16.52 average.
The hosts pulled one back in the third when Laura Turner beat Jade Wellings 3-1 only to see the remainder of the match all go West Midlands way with Sarah Maybury beating Cara Rimmer 3-2 and both Kelly Aston and Hannah Davies in turn winning 3-1 against Emily Pratt and Neve Turner to give the Midlanders a super 5-1 start.
Like the ladies ‘B’. the men’s ‘B’ also had a fine start as Adam Teasdale and Martin Price put them two up with 4-2 wins over respective opponents Sam Dyke and Mike West. Jordan Craig took the score along to 3-0 with his 4-3 win over Ady Wright before Hampshire got their first stripe on the board when Andy Mitchell won the fourth game against Kieran O’Mahoney 4-1.
By the halfway stage the West Midlands men’s ‘B’ were leading 5-1 after further wins from Ian Stanton and Cameron Baird who in turn defeated Graham Chalk (4-0) and Dan Rosher (4-3).
The second session began as did the first with the visitors winning the opening two games, Jay Woodhouse beating Mark Bower 4-1 and Luke Griffiths winning 4-2 against Dale Burton. Mike Symes reduced the arrears to 7-2 with his 4-2 win against Rob Thompson only to see West Midlands record their man of the match in the tenth when Will Beaden beat Steve Lawrence 4-3 with a 29.56 average. Kian Rogers made it 8-2 with his 4-3 win over Ryan Groves, the final game of the day going to Hampshire when James Nicholson won 4-2 against Justin Evans to give a final score of 9-3 to the West Midlands.
Following a very successful start to the weekend, Sunday did not begin too well as the ladies ‘B’ slumped to a 5-1 defeat with Evonne Taylor the solitary winner when in the second encounter she beat Tracy North 3-2 with a 22.06 average.
Winners for Hampshire were Sue Power, Jo Rolls, Pennie Lewis, Jane Monaghan and Joanne Fox who in turn accounted for Gemma Barrett (3-0), Kat McLean (3-2), Jacqueline Maiden (3-1), Jacqueline Trott (3-2) and Claire Hobbs (3-1).
Four winners were all that were required from the men’s ‘A’ team to secure an overall win for the weekend and that was reduced to three in the very first game when Scott Baker beat Paul Walker 4-3. The next three games all went with the first throw advantage, Mike Gillet levelling the game with his 4-1 win over Gavin Baker before West Midlands took the lead for a second time when Daniel Hands won 4-0 against Dave Moule.
Justin Bradshaw was the second player to restore parity, his 4-0 win over Alex Simmons taking the score to 2-2. For the first time in the game, the hosts took the lead in the fifth, Kev Woodward’s 4-1 win over Paul Price giving the home team a 3-2 lead and with a further 4-1 win for Chas Barstow over Callum Parkes, Hampshire were 4-2 up at the midway point of the match.
Mark Craddock kicked off the second session with a 4-1 win over Tom Grantham, only to see Andy Jurd and Aaron Turner in turn win 4-3 and 4-1 against Ryan O’Connor and Jon Platt to give the hosts a 6-3 lead with the Midands side still requiring one further winner to secure and overall weekend’s win. That vital win came in the tenth encounter when the away side’s man of the match Jack Aldridge, won 4-0 against Sam Rooney with a 30.36 average, taking the score to 6-4 to Hampshire.
Richard Platt kept hopes alive for a draw when he beat Rob Doran 4-3, but it was not to be as the home team’s anchor man, Scott Walters won 4-0 against Neil Pointon to give Hampshire’s men’s A’ a 7-5 win.
The overall result for the weekend was a 20-16 win for the West Midlands which saw them move up two places in the promotional table to second place with forty-six points, just one short of leaders Cheshire.
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