West Midlands back at the top end again
The West Midlands are just a point off the top of the BDO British Inter-Counties Championship Division One after a hat-trick of match victories.
The county darters are on fire after beating visiting Cornwall in all four groupings of their latest outing last weekend,
They have bounced back from defeat in their first fixture after promotion and reeled off three straight successes to leave themselves well placed at the end of 2016.
A festive break can now be enjoyed before Dorset away comes onto the calendar, the trip scheduled for the weekend of January 21-22.
The West Midlands closed out their year in style with a home clean sweep at their base of Gilberts Bar in Willenhall.
The women's B teams were the first to the oche, with the hosts going and staying in front by virtue of a 4-2 win.
They saved the best for last, Jacqueline Maiden top scoring with an average of 18.90 in a 3-1 defeat of Emma Dow (19.37).
Dow's tally was the highest losing average, while Natasha Hancock (18.13) mustered Cornwall's best response taking a 3-2 last leg battle with Samantha Maiden (16.05).
The West Midlands surged further ahead through the men's B affairs, where they rolled over the visitors 9-3 to establish a commanding eight-point lead.
Whitewashes produced the best averages, with the home side's Daniel Nicholls racking up 28.26 in a 3-0 landslide over Reg Matthews (18 dead).
Carl Jeffrey got 26.84 for Cornwall in a 3-0 shut-out of Sam Guest (21.83), which was the first of their three replies.
The guests were left with a mountain to climb after the women's A ties, where the West Midlands came out on top by a 4-2 margin again.
The hosts' Sarah Roberts racked up 23.90 in a 3-1 vanquishing of Sarah Gill (20.54), while Cornwall's Sue Shepherd had 16.97 in a 3-1 verdict over Katherine Jenkins (16.51).
Cornwall needed a double-figure plus drubbing from the men's A finale to salvage any sort of result but, instead, went down 7-5. Play was upgraded to a best-of-seven legs format.
Shaun Carroll recorded the best average of the weekend for the West Midlands, racing to 29.65 for a 4-2 win despite the efforts of Simon Knowles, whose 32.61 was the highest overall.
Kevin Dunstan had opened in style for a battling Cornwall men's A line-up, notching 32.32 in a 4-0 whitewash of Jonathan Platt (20.23).
The West Midlands got over the line 24-12, the final result 27-12 counting three extra points for the winning county who are hot on the heels of leaders Hampshire.
