Cricketers Ladies 1 - 6 Chelmsford (Friendly)

Luckily the big boy (pictured with Deb) is now big enough to be left alone for a few hours hours, and I was able to take part in a great Friendly game up at The Cricketers. I think Bracken must have been crossed with a bear or something.

I think we surprised them by taking a 2-1 lead in their favoured game of Coits (throwing two rope circles at a spindle), and we then won the remaining darts games (three games of 501X Doubles, plus a 1001X team game). Dominoes were also planned, but we ran out of time on a very relaxing night out up at Blackhill.

The Cricketers laid on a nice spread of bar snacks and we had a brilliant evening away from the League, while we sat out a game due to the uneven number of teams in the league. I think we'll be playing them in the close season too, and we're all looking forward to another night like this.

The Crickters men's team arrived back from their game at Coach & Horses with a 9-1 win under their belts, plus a 3-2 win in the dominoes. They are well poised to win both the darts and the doms titles in their final two games against Delves, so good luck to them and we'll see what happens.

Cricketers Ladies 3 -6 Chelmsford (Cup game)

Roger advises we got the points we needed to go through to the next round on Thursday night. Alan P was probably our best player, scoring nothing under 60 in his Singles game and finishing well.

They all had a great time and stayed behind after the game to play some friendly games. Looks like I missed all the fun, but I hope to be available for the last two league matches.

No darts for me tonight

I'll have to miss the return leg against Cricketers Ladies tonight. I've just got this great little puppy and I don't want to leave him with anyone until he is settled.

He is a 10 week old Labrador called Bracken.

Roger will pass the match news for me to post tomorrow. We're 9-0 up from the first leg, but I'm sure nothing will be taken for granted in tonight's game.

Cup : Chelmsford 9 - 0 Cricketers Ladies

Practice darts from Peter Mc

This was a surprise game that I only found out about last night. It's a cup competition much like the ones we enjoyed so much last season. A nice diversion from the League and a chance to meet other teams.

Stevie and his girlfriend were there, but the rest of the team were entirely new to me. Really great people though, and the scoreline flatters us in that at least five of the games were all down to the finishing double and we were just a bit better at hitting the doubles.

I played a really poor Singles game, but a solitary 125 and quick finish allowed me to nick it after a long string of scores which didn't even average 40. Junk from me, and very annoying after a bit of progress on the practice board this week.

I thought we would be playing the usual Cricketers team, and decided to try the Unicorn Hero 27g / 95T's in anger. I'd hit some decent stuff with them in practice, but nothing much of note in this game, so I'm still undecided as to whether they're the ones for me. We'll see. It's amazing how just that 0.5 mm in width can make them feel so different to the Harrows Magnums. More than ever with these darts they need to be held right at the tip and "pulled" towards the board rather than pushed.

The return leg is on Thursday, and it is the only thing going on at the moment as we have another couple of weeks off in the League.

Thanks to our Landlord Lyndon for laying some food on when the kitchen was closed and he wasn't expecting a game on - very much appreciated as always.

Chelmsford 6 - 4 Commercial

Practice darts with the Unicorn Hero 27's

We managed to equalise last week's 6-4 defeat to make it honours even over the two legs tonight. I thought Commercial showed a few weaknesses to allow us in after surely the worst opening team game we have ever played. I can't even remember our scores in this game (denial!) but they were terrible, and we went down 0-1.

From that point we played better and the games swung around evenly, with Peter winning the final game to make it 6-4.

It was great to speak to Stevie on their team. He doesn't normally play for them, but he recognised my Banks Beer polo shirt and we were able to share memories of drinking this admittedly ordinary beer in the admittedly outstanding place of Barbados :o)

Two weeks break for us before our final games against Chopwell Central, and then this blog can finally get back to the minor stuff of my practice routines and mental tortures ;o)

Commercial 6 – 4 Chelmsford

We had a close game up in Leadgate with the scoreline remaining even until the last couple of Singles games when The Comercial pulled away to notch a won.

We lost the opening Team Game but from that point we matched them quite well.

I had an indifferent night, but at least I raised my game from a really poor 1^st three throws in the team game to compete fairly well despite losing my Singles game to Alan. It was just a struggle though.

Great hospitality as always from The Commercial, and we're well set up for the return game on Tuesday.

Bank Holiday Special

We had a Bank Holiday “special” at The Chelmsford this weekend. Peter and Lena organised the events, and Lyndon and Sue were great hosts as usual.

Peter laid on a brilliant Quiz, with some really interesting questions. Sian's Superstars won this by a margin of only one point (Deb, Simon, Caroline, myself).

In the Dominos competition Tracy was the victor. She doesn't play in public that often, but has learnt a shrewd game playing with Jean and Gareth in the home.

Coming totally out of left field I surprised everyone (not least myself) by winning the Pool competition. I put it all down to watching the Snooker World Championship on the TV until Lena pointed out that I watch the darts too, so that doesn't make any sense :o)

The Darts competition was won by Peter, who beat our barman Chris. Good darts from Chris, and I was unbiasedly impressed with Debs' 128 against Peter in the Semis.

There was also a Curry competition, where about 10 different dishes were laid out for us to taste and judge. A split prize was given for this, due to all the entries being so good.

We had a great day, and we travel to The Commerrcial tomorrow night as the darts league nears its end.

League Update

.1) Cricketers ....... 191 . 22
.2) Delves Club ...... 182 . 22
.3) Chopwell Central . 171 . 24
.4) Coach & Horses ... 143 . 22
.5) Chelmsford ....... 131 . 24
.6) Commercial ....... 108 . 22
.7) Shotley Club ..... 104 . 22
.8) Wheatsheaf ....... 100 . 22
.9) Derwentside ....... 94 . 22
10) Leadgate CC ....... 93 . 22
11) Jolly Drovers ..... 88 . 22
12) Smelters .......... 86 . 22
13) Turf .............. 85 . 22
14) Stanley Masons .... 67 . 22
15) Castleside Inn .... 37 . 24

As feared, Jay's old team the Coach & Horses have overtaken us since last month's table. They've played two games less than us, so to be realistic all we can hope to do in the remaining four games is to try and keep fifth spot. Our games against sixth placed Commercial on 6/5 and 13/5 will be crucial.

The guys from The Commercial sometimes read this blog, and they'll be interested to know we have a tough challenge against Chopwell Central in the final two games. Still, it's good to have something to play for right to the end of the season, and there aren't a lot of points seperating the middle third in the table.