Our darts teams both opened their BDL Summer League accounts last night. The A Team had a tough opening match against, on paper, one of the best teams in their division in Batchley Club and the B Team faced another good team from Redditch, South Redditch Mallards
In the opening game, Geoff Nokes squared off with a player that peppered the treble 20 with 3 tons and 2 140’s + a 90 finish to seal it 0-2 in commanding style. In Game 2, captain Jason Evans played well with 4 ton+ scores himself but still lost his game 0-2 such was Batchley’s quality. In Game 3, Russell Tolley opened Lickey’s account with a 2-0 win which included a fabulous 108 finish on the bull. In Game 4 Paul Prince lost the opening leg but bossed leg 2 with back-to-back 140’s but a scrappy last leg saw Batchley squeeze it. It was another close one in Game 5, Gaz Troth narrowly losing it 1-2 and again in Game 6 with Steve Groves losing his match 1-2 aswell.
Into the doubles and Steve and Paul teamed up for the first doubles match in game 7. A combination of scoring well and taking their doubles saw them get over the line comfortably 2-0. Gaz and Jason lost game 8 0-2 but in the final match Russ and Jim Mildner played a solid match with Jim taking out both doubles to win 2-1. Final score 3-6 to Batchley but it was a night that left Lickey pondering what could’ve been but demonstrates good form for the rest of the season
In Game 1 for the B team, Dylan Rowe lost 2-0 but Alvin Holland restored parity in Game 2 with a nice 0-2 win in his match. Mallards turned up the heat in Games 3 and 4 with Dean Caswell and Billy Cowsill both taken out 2-0. In Game 5, Craig Jones kept Lickey in it, with a 1-2 win but Jack Hemmings lost Game 6 2-0 to make it 4-2 going into the doubles.
Alvin and Jack paired up for Game 7 but lost 2-0. It was a similar scoreline for Craig and Colin McKinley in Game 8 and a loss in the final match with Dean and Billy 2-1 made the final score 7-2.
Not a great night for Lickey with losses each but some great individual play in there amongst the scorelines
