Cornwall enhance promotion hopes with London win

CORNWALL remain on course for promotion to the premier division after an excellent British Inter County Championship victory against London at Mount Charles Social Club, St Austell, in what was their final home fixture of the campaign.

The Ladies’ B team laid the foundations with a 4-2 victory, having Sandra Allen (16.16) winning in three straight legs and Becky Curnow (15.82), Claire Irons (19.38) and Natasha Hancock (17.38) all achieving 3-1 victories.

Fred Goldsmith (24.32) pushed the scoreline out to 5-2 when winning 3-2, claiming the fifth and deciding leg in 17 at the start of the Men’s B encounter and there were also wins by the narrowest of margins for John Mann (20.19) and Mike Beard (23.97).

Danny Robinson (23.92) and David Mills (19.39) both won 3-1 before Mark Odgers (25.34) caught the eye in a gutsy 3-2 success followed by a man of the match performance from Matt Knowles (26.37) who won in three straight legs.

MAN OF THE MATCH: Neil Meneer achieved a man of the match average of 27.93 when coming from 3-1 down to win 4-3, inspired by an excellent 11-dart leg.

Cornwall carried an 11-7 advantage into the second day but that was wiped out as early as the Ladies’ A encounter when the hosts were defeated 5-1.

Nikki Furse (23.12) was Cornwall’s only successful player when she defeated former England international Mandy Solomons without dropping a leg which included a 15-darter which she finished with a kill of 116.

That defeat brought the overall scoreline to 12-12 and much depended on a winning performance from the Men’s A side to claim the match and the three winning bonus points.

London won two of the first three encounters with Gareth Griffiths (25.68) winning set two by a 4-1 margin before Cornwall kicked on by taking three on the bounce.

Simon Knowles (26.22) won 4-1 taking the fifth leg in 15 with an outshot of 103 and Mike Jones (26.67) also won 4-1, aided by a finish of 104.

Dave Copplestone (25.45) hit his double in the seventh and decisive leg for a well-earned 4-3 success before the visitors halted Cornwall’s rhythm when taking the seventh set before the Duchy secured overall victory when winning the next four sets.

Kevin Dunstan (23.93), who was making his 50th appearance in the Black and Gold shirt won 4-1 aided by a checkout of 127 followed by a man of the match performance from Neil Meneer (27.93).

Meneer hit a 13-darter but despite trailing 3-1, bounced back with a leg in 16, followed by an 11-darter which he finished in two when requiring 100, before winning the last in a gutsy performance.

Greg Hambly (23.58) won in four straight legs followed by a 4-3 victory from Dennis Bryant (25.13), which began with an opening leg in 15, which enabled Cornwall to win by a 20-16 margin.

Cornwall remain in second place, 15 points behind leaders Oxfordshire who have only one match remaining, compared to Cornwall’s two.

Those two fixtures will take place away to County Durham (April 7/8) and finally Essex over the weekend of April 21/22.