Season Review 2007 / 8

The Good

The opening 1001X team game: We always seemed to fare badly in the first match of a League meeting, but this season we notched a respectable 57.69% success rate. It was even in the 80's at one point, but we couldn't maintain it.

The Doubles games: I don't hold the percentages for team members, but I know that my success rate in the Doubles games this season was an improved 53.85%. I always feel the pressure in Doubles games as I don't want to let my partner down, so I'm relieved to have won more than we lost.

The Singles games. I've smashed my existing record, and this season's win rate will be my new standard to aim for in future seasons. The number's not important for the blog, as it just heaps the pressure on me – a good tip learned from Graham of The Derwentside last season.

Paul : Our new player for the first half of the season made a great impression and did really well. It's a pity that he wasn't available for the second half of the season, but I hope he can play for us at some point in the future.

The Bad

No 180's for me in League games this season, and very few close misses either. I know I'm unlikely to ever win the 180 trophy, but in previous seasons it was good to at least see my name on “the list”.

Travel : I really miss the team coach we had last season. Getting into as many as three taxis is just not the same. There are signs this may be resolved for next season.

Pressure : The nerves were there for me this season. I've had to wave goodbye to the care free days of my first season. I'm now well aware of the high standard around me and the need to just get on with my own game rather than worry about how good the other players are.

The Ugly

My game against Dave Crawley of Delves Club towards the end of the season. I had well more than 200 points remaining as he sunk the winning double – and I threw first! It was an absolute horror show from me, and I usually at least raise my game when I'm up against the leading players.

Chelmsford 2 - 8 Chopwell

The Chelmsford

Too little too late in the race for 5th spot I think, but I'll check for news from Jay (Wheatsheaf) after their game with The Turf. Strangely we played better than last week but didn't collect the points.

I had an awful Team game (40 average on the optimistic side), but cranked it up to win my Doubles game with Peter. I cranked it up even further in my Singles game but couldn't overcome Norman's two 140 shots with him throwing first. If he'd missed his winning double I'd have been looking at 34, so I certainly didn't bottle it.

Peter won his Singles game to get our other point, but there were near misses galore for us on a night where we played the game properly, but were just short of that finishing touch in hitting the doubles.

A fitting end to the season with us competing and making our opponents win the points rather than giving them away, and despite falling back to 6th or 7th in the League I really feel we showed ourselves to be a proper team this season. I should be a spin doctor or something :o)

All good things . . .

The 2007/8 season ends tomorrow night when we sign off with a home game against Chopwell Central. Regardless of the result this has been a great season for us – the best in my three years with The Chelmsford, and I'd like to think we've raised the bar for future seasons.

During the close season I'll continue with the practice and trips up to The Derwentside to see if anyone is playing up there on a Friday night, and I'll also post a few reviews of what went well / badly for us this year. In the meantime I'll get some practice in for tomorrow night, and we'll be doing all we can to hold on to 5^th position in the League.

Chopwell Central 6 - 4 Chelmsford

Practice darts / Alan

This was about the best result we could have hoped for against Chopwell, as they play to a very high standard. They scored a 180, with several near misses on further ones.

We almost had the chance to win the team game, and I would have been looking at 98 if Chris had missed their finish. The average throw from them including the finish was only 55.6, but they got back to their usual form in the following games.

I was pleased with my own game after a poor week on the practice board, but these 4 points may not be enough to allow us to hold on to 5th place; we are now just 3 points ahead of The Wheatsheaf, and if they can repeat their 9-1 scoreline from Tuesday night we'll find it very hard to get the points we need next week.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

Unicorn Hero 95%

Unicorn Hero 95% Tungsten, 27 grms

These are the new Unicorn Hero 95% 27 grm darts I've been trying for the last few weeks. They're waiting in the wings in case I lose my Harrows Magnum 27grm, which are no longer manufactured.

I accidentally selected the "Latinum" option when I ordered them. It's hard to find out exactly what Latinum actually means, but one site described it as "New Unicorn Latinum Tungsten Technology Gives Smooth Release & Soft Feel".

"Smooth release and soft feel" is a bit of an understatement! They always felt greasy and wet, and I couldn't actually grip them properly. It's like a fine satin finish, and really hard to explain until you actually hold them. Anyway, to counter this I've taken a metal file to them and roughened them up a bit. You can see the effect in the picture. This makes all the difference, and I can throw them quite well. Also, I took 3mm off the points to make them exactly 2.5cm in length, which is the length on all of my favourite sets (Hi-Tec, Alan Glazier Shark, Magnum).

You'd be wise to avoid the Latinum finish unless you really need this silky smooth finish on your darts, but apart from this I'm quite pleased with them. They are individually laser etched with "26.9g", so I didn't file that bit :o)

My odds of ever hitting a nine darter

Pictured : The bad news

My odds of achieving a 9 dart finish in a game of 501X are an absurd 18 million to one.

Using my DartPro data from the last 1,207 legs of 501 I've been able to work it out:

I get a 180 every 300 shots, so an opening score of 180 would be 300 / 1

To follow it up with another 180 I'm assuming the odds would be roughly the same, give or take a few extra nerves when it dawned on me that the 9 darter was "on".

That would leave 141. I only hit finishes as large as this this at a rate of once every 200 games, so that's 200 /1

This gives us the 18 million to one (300 X 300 X 200 = 18,000,000)

I probably play around 70 games per month, which is 840 per year. I can therefore confidently predict that I should finally have my 9 darter in the year 23,437

Doubles Cup, 2008

Pictured : Practice darts. Only two of these "count"

Roger and I competed in the last 16 of Doubles cup competition last night at the Coach & Horses, Leadgate. We were knocked out in the first round 2-1, but we both played a decent game and made sure that our opponents (Stevie and Chris Chivers) had to beat us rather than us giving them anything. I felt a lot more stable following that practice routine I'll be explaining later in the week, and I got a fair few steady 60's, 59's and a couple of tons over the three legs. I missed a 112 finish by an inch on the last dart, but Roger finished the D10 I left.

Jay Coulson played his first game after a shoulder injury and did well to get into the second round, before losing to Tim Richardson and Davy Gill. There was the usual high standard on display at this stage of the competition, and several players seemed to be scoring several consecutive tons and showing just how well you have to play to progress into the final 8 teams.

The oche in the Coach & Horses was perfect, despite the stepped walk up when retrieving the darts. The lighting seemed to be the main factor, and I was able to totally concentrate on the board with no distractions in peripheral vision. Nights like these are a real highlight of the season, and Roger and I both enjoyed the event. I just wish I got more competitive matches like this to bring my game along.