Tuesday, April 22, 2008

The Darts / Dominoes Cup Competition

We had a night off tonight as Chopwell and Cricketers entertained us with a great game up at our place in the Team Darts / Dominoes competition. Our small bar was packed with both competing teams and the usual regulars, and I thought the atmosphere was great for darts.

The darts are played to a slightly different format in this competition ; The two teams of six play games of 1001 DS/DF, and Cricketers took a 1-0 lead in a really high scoring game.

The second leg was a bit more subdued. Cricketers couldn't get off with a starting double, and Chopwell had problems in finishing. Chopwell finally hit the D1 to equalise despite an agonisingly close miss from Timmy Richardson on a 126 Bull finish as they tried to make amends for taking more than 6 attempts to start.

In the next game Cricketers were far more focused and won to make it 2-1. Meanwhile the dominoes decided the game, with Cricketers winning the final game of the night and progressing to the next round.

180's from Chris (Chopwell) and Davey Gill (Cricketers), plus two close misses on high bull finishes from Timmy Richardson were the highlights.

Tuesday, April 15, 2008

Chelmsford 6 - 4 Derwentside

A practice shot

We played a far better game tonight, and managed to win some evenly matched games to make amends for last week's defeat.

I was much happier with my own game despite a wobble on the finishing and feeling some heavy nerves on the end game. Alan and I were both down to a finish after about 15 darts, but we both ended up in the Mad House to spoil it somewhat.

Norman was his usual self, stringing together some consistently high scores with his 12 grm darts, and hitting a great Bull finish in his Singles game against Mark H.

Collie was unavailable, and we saw Darren step in and continue the good form that has seen him win a long string of Singles games. He was just short of beating Peter on the night though.

It was great to see the Derwentside team up here again, and I'm really looking forward to a good Friday night practice with them this weekend.

Wednesday, April 09, 2008

Derwentside 7 - 3 Chelmsford

The Derwentside team

We were up in Blackhill last night, taking on The Derwentside. Sadly for us it didn't go too well, with only Peter and Alan able to win any points for us. Peter won his Singles and Doubles game, so was our man of the match on a night where we struggled to put any pressure on Derwentside.

Far too many of my own darts were missing the 20's, and although I didn't play that badly I didn't do enough to beat Craig in my Singles game.

John was new to their team, and I thought he built some good scores. He was unlucky to face Peter in his Singles game, and will probably win a fair few points in future games.

So yet again we have shipped points in the opening away leg, and will need to take every chance we get next week. I noticed Alan from Derwentside was very focused on the night, and I just hope I can again get back into that frame of mind on Tuesday.

Sunday, April 06, 2008

The Unicorns

I'm really starting to warm to the Unicorn Hero 95%'s I've been tinkering with for the last couple of weeks. I've taken the metal file to them again, and they are now throwing really well for me. In the picture the first dart was the wayward T5 (very nearly a lucky T12), and the other two made the correction. They're all hitting the board at this nice angle now, and I've tested to ensure I don't get any benefits from changing from the current Medium / Standard config.

I was also trying some 26grm Alan Glazier Sharks, but I found that D20 seemed to be a difficult target to hit. Surely just 1grm can't make any sort of tangible difference, but even if it was psychological it was still definitely "there". The Heros are good at the high and low doubles though, and I've been getting some good consistent shots in at the Bull as a medium height target.

Maybe I'll try them up at The Derwentside on Tuesday, but I'll take the Magnums along just in case. I just wish I got more competitive games to try these sort of changes. Dimensions wise the only difference between the two is the Heros are less than 1mm wider - a tiny difference, but it's strange how I immediately knew they were wider just by looking at them.

Wednesday, April 02, 2008

Chelmsford 2 - 8 Delves Club

My first maximum with the Unicorn Hero 95s

Although this return match against Delves ended with the same score line, we played a far better game. The opening 1001 Team Game was our worst showing, and we had 300 points on the board as they took the point against the throw.

It was a comprehensive point for them, and it got worse for us as we lost all three of our 701 Doubles games to trail 0-4.

Our best chances for points came in the 501 Singles games. Mark H was very unlucky not to beat Dave Crawley (what a scalp that would have been - Dave has now won all 18 of his Singles games I think), and Alan P too had the chance to finish his game with a really interesting end game ; with 86 remaining he hit S18. That left 68, and instead of going for a straight S18 he aimed just inside the double wire on the 18 knowing that either a single or a double would leave a finish. It strayed into the D18, but he couldn't hit the D16. I would've probably aimed for the T18 as I'd be fearful of missing the board altogether by aiming around the double, so it's not an approach I could try in a game.

Near misses aside we fell behind 0-7 before Peter played a great game against the darts to pull one back and avoid the dreaded whitewash. I was next up and thankfully throwing with the darts (i.e. throwing first). A 123 start and some decent score building put me in a good position. The nerves kicked in as I realised I could get something, but I held it together to finish on 48 in two darts.