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Round the boards

John Gwynne
15/ 7/2004

THE GARDENERS, Sandy Lane, and the Woodman won through to the final of the Middleton Monday League's combined darts and crib knockout.

The Gardeners went into their second leg semi-final against Cotton Tree with the tie delicately poised at 5-5. They cruised into the final, though, with a 5-2 win on the oche and a 2-1 success on the table.

Benny Shades, Jimmy Mulholland, Peter Delaway and John Fairbrother gave them a 4-0 lead in the darts match before John Wilde pulled one back for the Cotton Tree.

Gary Dukes made it 5-1, but Keith Earnshaw gained a last-game consolation win for the Cotton Tree.

The Woodman had a 6-4 advantage over Anchor going into their second leg on Monday of last week and, even though they lost on the oche by the odd game in seven, the 2-1 win they enjoyed with the cards was sufficient to see them through.

Middleton's Tony Jones had an excellent winter season in the Lancashire GMC Super League. Playing for Rochdale, "Jonah" won 10 of his 13 matches for them in the county premier division, finishing with a creditable 74.90 average.

The figures, released to the Guardian last week, show the Rhodes-based hot-shot finished 20th in the overall averages from a field of nearly 200. Jones won two and lost two of his four appearances for the county B side.