Darts News – Alan Towe's The Line On Darts - Midlands Round Up
What a fantastic start to July for West Midlands man Scott Baker as first he and his team mate Dan Nicholls travelled to the Magna Centre, Rotherham to take part in the finals of the Gold Cup Pairs and actually went on to win the title, the first West Midlands representatives ever to win the competition.
In the best of seven legs semi finals both games went the full distance with Baker and Nicholls beating Josh Lewis and Mark Johncock while Cameron Menzies and Jim McEwan defeated Simon Stainton and Kev Tomlinson.
Still playing the best of seven legs in the final Scott Baker notched a couple of maximums while Dan Nicholls played his part with a 132 checkout and then in the fifth leg rounded off a super 4-1 win with a 119 game shot to proclaim he and Baker as champions with Menzies and McEwan runners up.
[caption id="attachment_23855" align="aligncenter" width="300"]
Gold Cup Men's Pairs Winners Scott Baker and Dan Nicholls.[/caption]
Just one week later and following his historical win Scott Baker travelled to the Gateway Resort, Millenium Coast, Bynea, Llanelli SA14 9SN to participate in the 2017 Gateway Welsh Masters.
From a starting line up of 128 players Scott made his way through to the quarter finals with wins over Welshmen Steve Smith (4-2), Mitch Butler (4-2), and Mikey Rees (4-1) before beating English representative Scott Mitchell 4-2 in the group final.
In the last eight Baker squared up to Netherlands man Richard Veenstra who despite taking him to a deciding leg lost out 4-3. The semi finals produced an all “Black Country” affair when West Midlands Scott Baker faced former West Midlands player and currently playing for Warwickshire Jamie Hughes and to reach the final Baker recorded his biggest win of the tournament when he handed out a somewhat surprising 5-0 whitewash to Hughes.
From the other half of the draw Welshman Dean Reynolds emerged as Scott Baker’s final hurdle. Reynolds had made his progress with wins against Richard Langlois (4-2), Dan Cole (4-3), Mark Leyton (4-3) and in the group final Kevin Thomas (4-2), he then won 4-3 against James Hurrell in the last eight and booked his final place with a straight 5-0 success against Brian Dawson in the semis.
The final was extended to the best of eleven legs and went the full eleven legs distance with Scott Baker taking the final leg for a close 6-5 win, the title and the top prize of £3,000 with Reynolds receiving £1,200. Each of the losing semi finalists had £500, there was £200 for joint fifth, £100 for joint ninth and £50 for joint seventeenth.
Landywood ‘A’ handed out a 5-0 whitewash to Crown ’B’ in their final game of the season in the West Midlands Men’s Super League to give them a total 180 points, rounding off a superb season in which they secured the title, their third such win in four seasons. The champion’s total of 180 points was four more than runners up and last season’s champions Crown ‘A’ who ended their campaign with a 4-1 win over Landywood ‘B’. The Pheasant finished in third place with 174 points just two points less than Crown ‘A’ before a drop to 143 points for joint fourth teams Chillingotn and Ten Arches who finished level on points and average. [caption id="attachment_23468" align="aligncenter" width="640"]
West Midlands Men's Super League Champions Landywood 'A'[/caption]
Landywood ‘A’ were also successful in the form of Shaun Carroll who from a field of 29 players in the West Midland’s County qualifier for the World Professional Tournament at Gilberts Bar, Willenhall beat Dave Redding from Crown ‘B’ 4-1 in the final with a 30.12 average. Both finalists came through a tough field, with Carroll’s run to the final seeing him account for Chris Hickman (Allens Sports Bar ‘B’), Rob Smith (Crown ‘A’), Owen Maiden (Chillington) and Dean Mills (Duke of York) while Redding booked his final spot after wins over Luke Jones (Olde Queens Head), Mick Baker (Chillington), Wayne Willis (Allens Sports Bar ‘A’) and Chris Hill (Staffordshire Knot). Gilberts Bar, Willenhall was the setting for the West Midlands play off of the Winmau World Masters and from a starting line-up of 39 players the four players going through to the regional qualifiers finals at Cambridge on the 27th August are Dan Haden (Crown), Dean Mills (Duke of York), Jamie Rollinson (Ten Arches) and Steve Gillam (Landywood), all four of them hoping to secure a place in the grand finals at Bridlington in September.
The Shirley Red Lion Premier League have completed their fixture card and finishing top of the table with 88 points was Paul Higgins who had already completed his programme before the last week of the season. Tom Bent began the final week in fourth place and although his evening didn’t get off to the best of starts when he lost 3-1 to Antony Daly he quickly recovered to win 4-1 against Craig Johnson and complete his fixtures with a 3-1 success against Nick Walker to finish as runner up on 87 points, just one short of Higgins. With the top four players going into a play off to decide the top four placings Mark Gwalchmai was fifth in the table with two to play, he won 4-0 against Mick Gorst and with a 3-1 win over Craig Johnson took his points tally to 86 and finished in third place. Making up the final four was Andy Thomas who had completed his fixtures the previous week and with 81 points despite dropping from second place to fourth made the final play off by being one point to the good on fifth in the table Lee Harris.
The inaugural Langley Hall Sports and Social Club’s knockout attracted some first class Midlands darts players including the likes of Nigel Heydon, Jamie Caven, Ted Evetts, Ian Jones, Liam Kelly, Mike Mcfall, Nick Fullwell, Ian McFarland plus many more top players, all chasing the top prize of £500. In the last eight Ian McFarlane and Mike McFall had close 4-3 win in turn against Jamie Caven and Liam Kelly, Ted Evetts won 4-2 against Nick Fullwell while Nigel Heydon had the biggest win of the round, 4-1 against David Pallett. The semi finals saw both eventual finalists chalk up convincing wins, Heydon 5-0 against Ian McFarlane and McFall 5-1 against Ted Evetts. The best of eleven games final saw Nigel Heydon beat Mike McFall 6-3 to clinch the top £500 prize with McFall receiving £200. Both losing semi finalists Ian McFarlane and Ted Evetts received £75. [caption id="attachment_24059" align="aligncenter" width="640"]
Langley Hall S & S Club Knockout - Nigel Heydon (Winner) and Jamie Carter (organiser)[/caption]
Darts players from the Red Lion, Shirley recently staged a charity 24 hours Dart-a-Thon in aid of Lupus UK, the very first such event put on at the Red Lion. The occasion proved to be hugely successful with the final amount raised being a little over £3,000 which all of the players and organizers are extremely proud of. Due to the enormous success of the Dart-a-Thon plans are already being put in place for a second similar event with all concerned hopeful they will beat the previous amount raised.
The Camp Hill League played off their doubles knockout and clinching the title with a final win over team mates Neil Parsonage and Matthew Cooper (Cotterills Lane Club) were Colin Wyatt and Nigel Davis. Losing semi finalists were Chris Stokes and Shay Darby (Holy Gulp) and Tom Humphries (Hay Mills Social Club Lions) and Bill Carter (Holy Gulp).
The Bilston and District League staged their Legends of the Oche competition which was restricted to signed league players only but paid out some big cash prizes. The best of three legs final went to the wire with Warwickshire county player Jamie Hughes just getting the 2-1 verdict over Tikey Gelder to give him the title plus the £200 top prize and Gelder £100. In the last four games Hughes beat Alfie Jacques while Gelder took out Cav Timmins each of the losing players picking up £50. [caption id="attachment_22956" align="aligncenter" width="225"]
Bilston and District League Legends of the Oche Champion Jamie Hughes[/caption]
[caption id="attachment_23854" align="alignright" width="190"]
Pip Club League Division Two Singles Winner Mark Hollyoake.[/caption]
The division one play off for the Belgrave Cup in the Pip Club League saw Queens Head lift the title with a final win over Winning Post while the division two title went to Globe (Wilnecote) with Royal Oak runners up.
The division one Shadow Cup was won by Belgrave Club after beating Sports Bar ‘180’ and in the division two final Old Liberal won against Progressive Club.
Winner of the division one singles knockout was Queens Head representative Adam Smith-Neale who in the final accounted for his team mate Sam Whittaker. Losing semi finalists were Daz Jones and Phil Daulman (Bulls Head ‘A’, Polesworth).
The division two singles knockout final brought together Grant Harris (Wigginton Arms) and the Pip Club’s own Mark Hollyoake with the title going to Hollyoake.
Losing out in the semi finals were Duncan Campbell (Progressive Club) and Paul Richards (Royal Oak).
[caption id="attachment_24057" align="aligncenter" width="294"]
Pip Club League Division One Singles Winner Adam Smith Neale[/caption]
The Wednesbury and Darlaston Wednesday Night League played off their Harry Tibbetts and Runners Up cups, in the former The Nutan beat Staffordshire Knot in the final while Horse and Jockey took the Runners Up title with Staffordshire Knot ‘B’ losing in the final.
Winmau Darts Centre at Wolverhampton Indoor Community Sports Stadium Big congratulations go to West Midlands player Mick Baker who for an exceptionally unbelievable third consecutive season has won the Winmau Centre Thursday Night Champions League together with the top prize of £300 together with yet another year’s sponsorship from Winmau. Yes Mick completed a unique hat trick of wins but this season’s win was his closest yet going to the wire with the title all depending on a final rearranged fixture for both himself and fellow West Midlands man Sam Guest as they went into the title clincher level on both points and average. Guest’s final game against fourth placed Chris Williams saw him win 6-1 while Baker took on Chris Fox who finished the season in tenth place the result was a much needed 7-0 whitewash to give him the title by just one point after a 42 games season. What a fitting climax to what has been a fantastically exciting hard fought campaign.
The Winmau Centre Monday Night League have just three fixtures remaining at the time of going to print and leading the field with 484 points from 13 games is What’s The Point who have not only a four points lead over second in the table Just The Tip but also a game in hand and look favourites to retain the title they won last season. Third in the table The Untouchables are a massive 41 points adrift of What’s The Point and despite having a game in hand on Just The Tip trail them by 37 points.
by Alan Towe Website: www.alantowedarts.co.uk
Gold Cup Men's Pairs Winners Scott Baker and Dan Nicholls.[/caption]
Just one week later and following his historical win Scott Baker travelled to the Gateway Resort, Millenium Coast, Bynea, Llanelli SA14 9SN to participate in the 2017 Gateway Welsh Masters.
From a starting line up of 128 players Scott made his way through to the quarter finals with wins over Welshmen Steve Smith (4-2), Mitch Butler (4-2), and Mikey Rees (4-1) before beating English representative Scott Mitchell 4-2 in the group final.
In the last eight Baker squared up to Netherlands man Richard Veenstra who despite taking him to a deciding leg lost out 4-3. The semi finals produced an all “Black Country” affair when West Midlands Scott Baker faced former West Midlands player and currently playing for Warwickshire Jamie Hughes and to reach the final Baker recorded his biggest win of the tournament when he handed out a somewhat surprising 5-0 whitewash to Hughes.
From the other half of the draw Welshman Dean Reynolds emerged as Scott Baker’s final hurdle. Reynolds had made his progress with wins against Richard Langlois (4-2), Dan Cole (4-3), Mark Leyton (4-3) and in the group final Kevin Thomas (4-2), he then won 4-3 against James Hurrell in the last eight and booked his final place with a straight 5-0 success against Brian Dawson in the semis.
The final was extended to the best of eleven legs and went the full eleven legs distance with Scott Baker taking the final leg for a close 6-5 win, the title and the top prize of £3,000 with Reynolds receiving £1,200. Each of the losing semi finalists had £500, there was £200 for joint fifth, £100 for joint ninth and £50 for joint seventeenth.
Landywood ‘A’ handed out a 5-0 whitewash to Crown ’B’ in their final game of the season in the West Midlands Men’s Super League to give them a total 180 points, rounding off a superb season in which they secured the title, their third such win in four seasons. The champion’s total of 180 points was four more than runners up and last season’s champions Crown ‘A’ who ended their campaign with a 4-1 win over Landywood ‘B’. The Pheasant finished in third place with 174 points just two points less than Crown ‘A’ before a drop to 143 points for joint fourth teams Chillingotn and Ten Arches who finished level on points and average. [caption id="attachment_23468" align="aligncenter" width="640"]
West Midlands Men's Super League Champions Landywood 'A'[/caption]
Landywood ‘A’ were also successful in the form of Shaun Carroll who from a field of 29 players in the West Midland’s County qualifier for the World Professional Tournament at Gilberts Bar, Willenhall beat Dave Redding from Crown ‘B’ 4-1 in the final with a 30.12 average. Both finalists came through a tough field, with Carroll’s run to the final seeing him account for Chris Hickman (Allens Sports Bar ‘B’), Rob Smith (Crown ‘A’), Owen Maiden (Chillington) and Dean Mills (Duke of York) while Redding booked his final spot after wins over Luke Jones (Olde Queens Head), Mick Baker (Chillington), Wayne Willis (Allens Sports Bar ‘A’) and Chris Hill (Staffordshire Knot). Gilberts Bar, Willenhall was the setting for the West Midlands play off of the Winmau World Masters and from a starting line-up of 39 players the four players going through to the regional qualifiers finals at Cambridge on the 27th August are Dan Haden (Crown), Dean Mills (Duke of York), Jamie Rollinson (Ten Arches) and Steve Gillam (Landywood), all four of them hoping to secure a place in the grand finals at Bridlington in September.
The Shirley Red Lion Premier League have completed their fixture card and finishing top of the table with 88 points was Paul Higgins who had already completed his programme before the last week of the season. Tom Bent began the final week in fourth place and although his evening didn’t get off to the best of starts when he lost 3-1 to Antony Daly he quickly recovered to win 4-1 against Craig Johnson and complete his fixtures with a 3-1 success against Nick Walker to finish as runner up on 87 points, just one short of Higgins. With the top four players going into a play off to decide the top four placings Mark Gwalchmai was fifth in the table with two to play, he won 4-0 against Mick Gorst and with a 3-1 win over Craig Johnson took his points tally to 86 and finished in third place. Making up the final four was Andy Thomas who had completed his fixtures the previous week and with 81 points despite dropping from second place to fourth made the final play off by being one point to the good on fifth in the table Lee Harris.
The inaugural Langley Hall Sports and Social Club’s knockout attracted some first class Midlands darts players including the likes of Nigel Heydon, Jamie Caven, Ted Evetts, Ian Jones, Liam Kelly, Mike Mcfall, Nick Fullwell, Ian McFarland plus many more top players, all chasing the top prize of £500. In the last eight Ian McFarlane and Mike McFall had close 4-3 win in turn against Jamie Caven and Liam Kelly, Ted Evetts won 4-2 against Nick Fullwell while Nigel Heydon had the biggest win of the round, 4-1 against David Pallett. The semi finals saw both eventual finalists chalk up convincing wins, Heydon 5-0 against Ian McFarlane and McFall 5-1 against Ted Evetts. The best of eleven games final saw Nigel Heydon beat Mike McFall 6-3 to clinch the top £500 prize with McFall receiving £200. Both losing semi finalists Ian McFarlane and Ted Evetts received £75. [caption id="attachment_24059" align="aligncenter" width="640"]
Langley Hall S & S Club Knockout - Nigel Heydon (Winner) and Jamie Carter (organiser)[/caption]
Darts players from the Red Lion, Shirley recently staged a charity 24 hours Dart-a-Thon in aid of Lupus UK, the very first such event put on at the Red Lion. The occasion proved to be hugely successful with the final amount raised being a little over £3,000 which all of the players and organizers are extremely proud of. Due to the enormous success of the Dart-a-Thon plans are already being put in place for a second similar event with all concerned hopeful they will beat the previous amount raised.
The Camp Hill League played off their doubles knockout and clinching the title with a final win over team mates Neil Parsonage and Matthew Cooper (Cotterills Lane Club) were Colin Wyatt and Nigel Davis. Losing semi finalists were Chris Stokes and Shay Darby (Holy Gulp) and Tom Humphries (Hay Mills Social Club Lions) and Bill Carter (Holy Gulp).
The Bilston and District League staged their Legends of the Oche competition which was restricted to signed league players only but paid out some big cash prizes. The best of three legs final went to the wire with Warwickshire county player Jamie Hughes just getting the 2-1 verdict over Tikey Gelder to give him the title plus the £200 top prize and Gelder £100. In the last four games Hughes beat Alfie Jacques while Gelder took out Cav Timmins each of the losing players picking up £50. [caption id="attachment_22956" align="aligncenter" width="225"]
Bilston and District League Legends of the Oche Champion Jamie Hughes[/caption]
[caption id="attachment_23854" align="alignright" width="190"]
Pip Club League Division Two Singles Winner Mark Hollyoake.[/caption]
The division one play off for the Belgrave Cup in the Pip Club League saw Queens Head lift the title with a final win over Winning Post while the division two title went to Globe (Wilnecote) with Royal Oak runners up.
The division one Shadow Cup was won by Belgrave Club after beating Sports Bar ‘180’ and in the division two final Old Liberal won against Progressive Club.
Winner of the division one singles knockout was Queens Head representative Adam Smith-Neale who in the final accounted for his team mate Sam Whittaker. Losing semi finalists were Daz Jones and Phil Daulman (Bulls Head ‘A’, Polesworth).
The division two singles knockout final brought together Grant Harris (Wigginton Arms) and the Pip Club’s own Mark Hollyoake with the title going to Hollyoake.
Losing out in the semi finals were Duncan Campbell (Progressive Club) and Paul Richards (Royal Oak).
[caption id="attachment_24057" align="aligncenter" width="294"] Pip Club League Division One Singles Winner Adam Smith Neale[/caption]
The Wednesbury and Darlaston Wednesday Night League played off their Harry Tibbetts and Runners Up cups, in the former The Nutan beat Staffordshire Knot in the final while Horse and Jockey took the Runners Up title with Staffordshire Knot ‘B’ losing in the final.
Winmau Darts Centre at Wolverhampton Indoor Community Sports Stadium Big congratulations go to West Midlands player Mick Baker who for an exceptionally unbelievable third consecutive season has won the Winmau Centre Thursday Night Champions League together with the top prize of £300 together with yet another year’s sponsorship from Winmau. Yes Mick completed a unique hat trick of wins but this season’s win was his closest yet going to the wire with the title all depending on a final rearranged fixture for both himself and fellow West Midlands man Sam Guest as they went into the title clincher level on both points and average. Guest’s final game against fourth placed Chris Williams saw him win 6-1 while Baker took on Chris Fox who finished the season in tenth place the result was a much needed 7-0 whitewash to give him the title by just one point after a 42 games season. What a fitting climax to what has been a fantastically exciting hard fought campaign.
| Final Table | |||||||
| P | W | L | F | A | Pts | £ | |
| Mick Baker | 42 | 38 | 4 | 233 | 61 | 233 | 300 |
| Sam Guest | 42 | 38 | 4 | 232 | 62 | 232 | 225 |
| Louis Burley | 42 | 35 | 7 | 221 | 73 | 221 | 180 |
| Chris Williams | 42 | 34 | 8 | 219 | 75 | 219 | 160 |
| Adam Quinton | 42 | 29 | 13 | 200 | 94 | 200 | 140 |
| Chris Manoila | 42 | 34 | 8 | 199 | 95 | 199 | 135 |
| Paul Boddison | 42 | 27 | 15 | 190 | 104 | 190 | 130 |
| Devinder Singh | 42 | 26 | 16 | 178 | 116 | 178 | 125 |
| Mark Bayliss | 42 | 24 | 18 | 175 | 119 | 175 | 120 |
| Chris Fox | 42 | 25 | 17 | 170 | 124 | 170 | 115 |
| Martin East | 42 | 23 | 19 | 164 | 130 | 164 | 110 |
| Craig Capewell | 42 | 24 | 18 | 160 | 136 | 160 | 105 |
| Sam Aitkens | 42 | 22 | 20 | 146 | 148 | 146 | 95 |
| Liam Baker | 42 | 18 | 24 | 137 | 157 | 137 | 90 |
| Rob Harris | 42 | 13 | 29 | 131 | 163 | 131 | 85 |
| Baz Pearce | 42 | 14 | 28 | 107 | 187 | 107 | 80 |
| Rob Montana | 42 | 14 | 28 | 106 | 188 | 106 | 75 |
| Shane Watters | 42 | 6 | 36 | 86 | 208 | 86 | 70 |
| Charlie Burley | 42 | 5 | 37 | 62 | 232 | 62 | 65 |
| Lisa Maiden | 42 | 4 | 38 | 55 | 239 | 55 | 60 |
| John Edwards | 42 | 4 | 38 | 33 | 261 | 33 | 56 |
| John Porter | 42 | 3 | 39 | 32 | 262 | 32 | 53 |
The Winmau Centre Monday Night League have just three fixtures remaining at the time of going to print and leading the field with 484 points from 13 games is What’s The Point who have not only a four points lead over second in the table Just The Tip but also a game in hand and look favourites to retain the title they won last season. Third in the table The Untouchables are a massive 41 points adrift of What’s The Point and despite having a game in hand on Just The Tip trail them by 37 points.
by Alan Towe Website: www.alantowedarts.co.uk