The Turf 4 – 6 Chelmsford

We had a very quiet night up in Consett tonight. The Turf struggled to put a full team out and by the time we kicked off it had all fallen a bit flat, with none of us enjoying the throw and generally not settling. No complaints though – this is all great experience, and not all throws will be ideal. I think the stark lighting and uneven floor put me off the most.

We again won the opening Team game. At this point in the season we have a very respectable 80% success rate in this 1001X game, which is a huge improvement on last season where we seemed to lose most of them.

Alan P and I lost our Doubles game, but at least I made amends for my defeat in the home game by getting a Singles win tonight. I think the D10 I hit was my only third decent shot of the night, and I was really struggling.

The rest of the games swung from team to team, with Roger needing to secure the win with the final Singles game of the night. Congratulations to their bar manager, who scored a 180 and won his earlier Singles game.

A taxi mix-up saw me walking back home and missing last orders in The Chelmsford. It was so easy when we had the coach!

An Interview With Nannette Brooks

L to R : Rosemarie Duff / John Lowe / Nannette Brooks

Nannette Brooks is the No.1 Trinidad & Tobago Ladies' darts player, and I'm really pleased that she has provided an interview for the blog. Over the last two events in Barbados that I attended she has shown a real determination to win which I hope I can learn from.

Nannette's darting honours include:

• MVP ladies at the Caribbean Championships 2006
• Caribbean Ladies singles1994 1996
• Americas Cup ladies singles 2002
• Caribbean Cup ladies doubles(with Ann Marie James Murray) 2006

ST : How do you overcome nerves in the big games?

NB: I have discovered that there is not much I could do about that as once you are playing darts the butterflies will be there. None the less I have found that as a game progresses or as a day of tournaments progresses it gets a lot easier. Hats off to those who can play without anxiety.

ST : What practice routines do you use?

NB : To be honest I do not practice very much. It is a bit of a joke among the Trini dart players. However, I will have no choice next year when the national team starts to practice in preparation for the Caribbean Cup. We start to prep in January and we have some long evenings of practice ahead of us. I look forward to seeing great strides in my game as a result.

ST : What is the darts scene like in Trinidad & Tobago?

NB : We have leagues all year round. There are twelve teams in the association and there are many young people becoming involved.

We host the Caribbean Championships next year so there is a lot to do as the event is one of the biggest in the region. The America's Cup will also be held here and this will include the USA and Canada....some formidable opponents!!!!!!! It really is one of the nicest events......very competitive, but at the end of the day we can all say we have seen great darts and renewed wonderful friendships.

Chelmsford 6 – 4 The Turf

Pictured : Three practice darts in the D18

We had an interesting game against The Turf on Tuesday night, taking the lead in the opening 1001 Team Game with an average throw of 71.5. This is our best Team Game in my memory, and The Turf had more than 300 points on the board as our winning double went in.

We raced to a 3-0 lead with the next two Doubles games, but from that point The Turf turned it around and started to take their chances to finish games.

I played OK in my Singles game but lost to a spectacular 110 finish in two darts (T20, Bull) leaving me to rue yet another messed up D20 finish. This was despite some heavy practice on D20 alone during the week.

This was the first time I had played against The Turf, who are currently directly below us in 6th place. We have a week off while the next round of the Team competition is played, but I'm looking forward to seeing what their place is like in the return leg on 18th December. There are quite a few characters in this team, so it should be a good one.

Witney - The Legends of Darts, Part 4

Here's that fabulous memento I was presented with in Witney on Friday.

Witney - The Legends of Darts, Part 3

Cliff Lazarenko collects his prize from Paul Booth

What a thrill I got on Friday night when Colin arranged for me to play on stage, partnered with the Witney's Mayoress (Chrissy Curry) against John Lowe and Eric Bristow. I threw some terrible shots before finally getting a steady 60. By that time the legends were miles ahead and John Lowe sunk the D5 to win.

This was my first time on a proper stage, and I was just as awful as I imagined I'd be!

It's weird – it's not the nerves, it's the total lack of connection with the dart board itself. All you can think of is what is happening behind you, and not the thing you are straining to hit with a dart!

Everything the Mayoress scored was doubled by MC Paul Booth, so by the time I hit the very ordinary 60 Eric Bristow whispered in my ear “So did he double that score for you?!” Absolutely class!

A magic moment in my life, and I will absolutely treasure the glass trophy I was presented with at the end of the evening. I'll post a photo of it on here soon – it is some classy work by the Witney Trophy Centre.

Witney - The Legends of Darts, Part 2

(left to right) John Lowe, Keith Deller, Eric Bristow, and Cliff Lazarenko

Congratulations to Cliff Lazarenko who was the very popular winner of the Witney Legends of Darts tournament on 30/11/2007.

Cliff is back from illness and started slowly with a few stray shots, before buckling down and grinding out a hard fought victory against Keith Deller in the final.

Best wishes to Cliff in his recovery and hopefully we'll see more trophies being collected by this true legend of the game.

Witney - The Legends of Darts, Part1

Organiser Colin Smith (left) with MC Paul Booth

What an superb personal success for Colin Smith : Witney's “An evening with the Legends of Darts” was meticulously organised by Colin over the last few months, and on Friday 30^th November 2007 it all paid off as Witney hosted a highly professional event which will live long in the memory of the 200 strong crowd who witnessed a little piece of history in the small Oxfordshire town.

Everything about this event gleamed, from the four darts legends on show (John Lowe / Eric Bristow / Cliff Lazarenko / Keith Deller) to the big screen video (John Richards of Phototechniques Ltd), the oche and lighting, the superb trophies (Witney Trophy Centre), the pumping rock 3 piece live music (The Dirty Earth Band), right through to the ultra professional graphics and printing work (Ken Smale / Blenheim Clolour Ltd Eynsham). This list is by no means comprehensive, and just shows the amount of work Colin had to go to in pulling this event together.