Practice Night at The Derwentside

Pictured : A nice, steady 60

I had a good night with the Derwentside people on Friday night. As promised, there were plenty taking part (including Dave and Chris from The Cricketers), and I got to play against some really strong players. I lost a fair few games, but I won a few too and really enjoyed it.

I might do a few more Fridays nights up there if they'll put up with me.

Darts for the new season

I've just received my new darts for next season. The other sets have taken some hammer and have lost a bit of their grip, so I've picked up a set of direct replacements ; Hi Tec “The Vice” 27grms. My attempts to move down a few grammes didn't really work for me. 26grms was OK, but 25grms was a step too far so I'll stick with the ones I've been throwing for the past two years since I moved up here.

This set are particularly well machined. The tips are perfectly true with no wobble when spun in the point protector. Also, the shark grip is far neater than the other ones. The points are 3mm longer, presumably because they have never been sharpened. I'll have to watch out for this and not overdo the sharpening.

The Harrows Natural Aluminium stems in the picture have been well and truly tried out by me, but I'm not going to use them any more. Aside from the usual problem of them becoming loose no matter how hard they are initially tightened they actually become bent on certain bounce outs when they hit the floor. I went through three of them in just one day, so it's back to the nylon ones for me. Sometimes the simple designs are the best, and if I go to Barbados again this year I don't want gear which will let me down.

Derwentside 4 – 6 Chelmsford (10/4/2007)

After last week's drubbing it was great to end the season on a high note and get just a bit of pride back.

Roger got us on track with a 44 finish in the opening Team game (12, D16 in two darts). Next, Peter and Alan won their team game to make it 0-2, but Mark/Roger and myself/Jean lost our Doubles games despite competing well and pressing.

We fared better in the Singles games though, with wins for Peter, Alan, myself, and Jean.

I was up against Andrew, but thankfully he wasn't on the same form with which he dumped me out of the Singles competition earlier in the year, and I was able to take advantage and finish on 40.

What a bizarre end to the season in the final game of the night; Jean was slugging it out as her opponent couldn't hit his D1. When she hit her D4 there was just silence – it didn't seem to be “in” from our positions. She took a few steps forward and announced “it's in” before the silence was finally broken in the pub.

Our Man of The Match was Peter, who scored a 180 and led the line as usual.

Graham (their captain) was saying they have good Friday night sessions on the darts board, and I'll join them up there soon now that the season is over.

The season is over for a few months, and I ended up winning 48% of my Singles games, and 40% of my Doubles games . I'm actually quite pleased with that, given the quality of the oppos and the strength of the league. And anyway, it's just supposed to be a fun night out – if you're gullible enough to believe that ;o)

Chelmsford 1 – 9 Derwentside (3/4/2007)

Pictured : The Derwentside

An awful drubbing for us, playing at home against a team who are immediately above us in the league. I don't think any of us were battered in our games, but we were found short in nine of the of the games, so the result has to be accepted.

So, you either win or you learn, and here's how the education went! :

We quickly fell behind in the scoring in the 1001X Team game. It set the tone, and we lost the next 5 Doubles and Singles games before Alan grabbed our only point of the night in his Singles game.

I played against Norman in the Singles, and was up against someone who was hitting the T19's with regularity with his 12grm darts. I didn't play badly though, and might have hit my finish if I'd thrown first.

An extremely disappointing result, and a real low point to approach the end of the season with. We've only been beaten by this margin on two occasions by Castleside and Cricketers this season, so to do it against the team just above is in the League effectively consigns us to 12th from 14.

Chelmsford 7 – 3 Commercial (20/3/2007)

Pictured : Practice darts

A great result for us, and we managed to reverse the previous week's defeat by exactly the same margin. It was absolutely no thanks to me though, and I was the only one not to win my Doubles or Singles game.

Roger and I were beaten in our Doubles game by virtue of a spectacular 157 from John.

Mark Henderson continued his impressive form by sinking the D1 in the team game which got us on our way. He also finished another D1 in his Singles game.

Special mentions to Mark, Jean, and Peter. They all won both their Doubles and Singles games.