THE COMMENCEMENT of the 2022/23 Darts Corner National League saw the Premier Division boasting a new sponsor following a three-year deal with Japan-based darts manufacturer, Cosmo Darts.
Premier Champion’s Yorkshire were dealt an early blow in their campaign as they travelled to Warwickshire in their opener. The visitors had a narrow 10-8 lead after the Women’s B drew 3-3 and the Men’s B won 7-5. This lead was extended following a 4-2 win for Yorkshire’s Women’s A, before an inspired Men’s A performance from Warwickshire saw them run out 10-2 winners, and 20-16 winners overall.
Stand-out performances came from Jamie Hughes (32.04) for Warwickshire, the highest in the entire Premier Division and from the current Women’s World Champion Beau Greaves (Yorkshire), fresh from her successes at the recent Women’s Series, who registered a 27.33 average.
Greaves’ average was only surpassed by Glamorgan’s Rhian O’Sullivan (28.90) in a fixture that saw the Welsh side lose 23-13 to Lancashire. Lancashire dominated on day one, with the Women’s B winning 4-2 and the Men’s B 10-2.
Glamorgan’s Women’s A secured a 4-2 victory, with their Men’s A narrowly denied a draw as David Evans took the last match of the tie to ensure a 7-5 win, producing the fixture’s highest average in the process (30.14).
Cornwall currently top the table as they ran-out 23-13 winners over newly promoted Staffordshire. Cornwall’s Women’s B got off to a strong start with a 5-1 win over the visitors, followed by a 7-5 victory for Cornwall’s Men’s B.
Staffordshire denied Cornwall a win in the Women’s A, with Emma Pearce seeing off Maria O’Brien in the sixth match to secure a 4-2 win and the Women’s top average of the fixture (23.29). The top Men’s average came by the way of Cornwall’s Michael Jones (29.25) in a dominant team performance which resulted in a 9-3 victory for the home side.
With two matches rearranged, the final Premier fixture of the weekend saw Hampshire play host to London.
Hampshire’s Women’s A and B emerged 5-1 winners to give the home side a big advantage, with both the Men’s A and B securing 6-all draws resulting, in a 22-14 win for Hampshire’s ‘Blue Army’.
Top performances of the fixture were Hampshire’s Jane Monaghan (23.10) in the Women’s A and Scott Walters (30.83) in the Men’s A.
Laura Turner is highly ranked in the PDC Womes Series, recently played the inaugural Women’s World Matchplay, and is a commentator and pundit for a variety of media. For her comments on the rest of the UKDA Opener click here
—–ENDS—–
This piece was originally published in Darts World Extra 5
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