Season two of the UKDA National League has got underway and the early pacesetters in the Cosmo Darts Premier Division are Cornwall following their opening 23-13 home victory over newly promoted Staffordshire.
Reigning champions Lancashire were also 23-13 winners playing away against Glamorgan and are placed second while last season’s runners-up Warwickshire for the second successive season beat title rivals Yorkshire, on this occasion the scoreline was 20-16 to put them fourth in the table three points off the top and two behind third placed Hampshire who won 22-14 at London.
In the Andy Wheeler Fisheries Championship Division its Dorset who lead the way following their 21-15 win over Sussex with newly promoted Gwynedd on the same 24 points after their 21-15 home win over Gwent. With just one point fewer than the top two teams is third placed Oxfordshire who beat Cambridgeshire 20-16.
Worcestershire and Derbyshire are the top two teams in division one, the former winning 21-15 at home against Somerset while the latter won by the same margin at County Durham. After the top two comes three teams all on 22 points, Leicestershire, Suffolk and Buckinghamshire who in turn accounted for West Midlands, Surrey and Merseyside.
Norfolk top the division two table, their 21-15 win over Gloucestershire giving them a one point lead over both Clwyd and West of England. Clwyd and West of England were 20-16 winners against respective opponents Cumbria and Black Country.
Breconshire and Middlesex are both on 27 points at the top of the division three table both teams recording 24-12 wins in their games against Pembrokeshire and Montgomery and Radnor.
This is how the newly promoted and relegated teams fared in their opening games. Firstly the promoted teams, in the Premier division Kent lost their home tie with Essex 19-17 while Staffordshire went down 23-13 at Cornwall. In the Championship Gwynedd came up trumps handing their visitors Gwent a 21-15 defeat while Cleveland, the other promoted team lost by a close 19-17.
Leicestershire adjusted well to life in division one beating West Midlands, who were relegated from the Championship, 19-17. Not such a good start for County Durham as they lost their home tie with Derbyshire 21-15.
Black Country had a huge success story in their inaugural season in division three running away with the title but they were bought down to earth in their first division two game when they lost 20-16 at West of England. Gloucestershire didn’t have the best of starts in division two either as they finished on the wrong side of a 21-15 result at Norfolk.
The relegated sides from the Premier saw Devon lose 19-17 at home to Humberside while Northamptonshire finished all square at 18-18 at home against Hertfordshire.
Buckinghamshire are looking for a quick return to the Championship as they kicked off their season with a 19-17 home win over Merseyside while West Midlands found the going a little tough and lost by the same scoreline at Leicestershire.
Mixed results for the two teams relegated from division one as Clwyd won 20-16 in their home game with Cumbria and Nottinghamshire lost 19-17 at Tyne and Wear.
The two teams relegated from division two Middlesex and Montgomery and Radnor actually played each other in the season opener with the somewhat convincing 24-12 result going in favour of Middlesex.
—–ENDS—–
Alan Towe writes with the support of Red Dragon darts
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