The fourth ranking tournament weekend of the 2024-25 season.
In the Winmau Classic on Saturday we had a fantastic group of death involving Darren Kennish, Ricky Chilton, Gavin Hibbert and Kevin Stringer Aka Beep Beep
Darren winning all his games 2-0 including a 73.32 average and a 16 dart leg in his victory over Ricky. Ricky went on to win his other 2 group games to book his semi final spot alongside Darren. in the other group Phil Lees was the dominant player winning all his group games to top the group, with Mick Jones taking 2nd spot in the group.
It was England vs Wales in both semi finals with England`s Darren Kennish defeating Mick Jones 3-0 and then Wales`s Ricky Chilton defeating Phil Lees 3-0 finishing it off with a 19 dart leg.
So we had our 1st England Vs Wales final of the weekend, the final started with both players holding throw for the first 3 legs and Ricky leading 2-1 then a tense 4th leg proved to be crucial with both players missing doubles and Ricky finally breaking the throw to take a 3-1 lead, in the very next leg Ricky held his throw and his nerve to take the Winmau Classic 4-1.
Onto day 2 and the Winmau Open, the first group was an all English affair with Darren Kennish winning all his games 2-0 to top the group, and the battle was on for the second spot which went down to the final game between Kevin Stringer and Nathan Butler , with Kevin being the stronger player and taking his place in the semi final with a solid 2-0 win.
In group 2 it was to be a very interesting battle, Ricky winning his game 2-1 2-0 2-0 2-0 to top the group, which meant a very tight battle was on for second place which saw the ever improving Steve Plimley move into the semis with a couple of crucial 2-1 wins.
The semi finals saw Darren Kennish defeat Steve Plimley 3-1 in a close game and Ricky Chilton defeat Kevin Stringer 3-0 to set up our second England vs Wales final.
In the final Darren raced into a 3-0 lead, but showing all his fight and showing there`s still life in the old dog yet, Ricky produced legs of 26 24 and 24 including a brilliant 110 checkout to take the final to a deciding leg. With many people thinking Darren was bottling yet another final (only joking Darren) but this time Darren held his nerve and hit big scores to leave 32 after 15 darts, after a few near misses he finally took the Winmau Open 2025 winning 4-3.
Highest Checkout of the weekend was a fantastic 110 by Ricky Chilton.
Thanks to all involved in making this tournament in St Helens a success for the 3rd year running.
Without the committee and the players these tournaments wouldn’t be possible.
onto the next BDDA in May the Welsh Open in Cwmbran hope to see as many of you there as possible for another great weekend.