Trevor

Trevor (2nd from left)

I've had some very sad news from Nannette at the Barbados Darts Festival 2010 : Trevor from the Cayman Islands Darts Association died suddenly while over there from what appears to have been a massive heart attack.

I really enjoyed his company on my three trips to this tournament and he was always at the centre of the evenings' entertainments. Very sad news and he will be deeply missed by all who had the pleasure of knowing him.

Movember

Just a quick post to ask for your support during Movember, where my work colleagues and I will be growing 'taches during November in aid of prostate cancer.

Please visit my Mo Space page, rate it, leave a coment, and if you think the 'tache is any good a small donation would be really gratefully received. Don't worry about handing any cash to me - It's all automated so only trustworthy people get the donations :o)

The picture on display is a "Day 1" picture and will be updated each Monday. If the 'tache is particularly tastless I may even keep it.

Chelmsford 6 - 4 Leadgate Cricket Club

Leadgate CC played a strong game last night and will have felt unlucky to trail 4-0 in the opening games. They were scoring well, throwing in some useful tons, and often finding themselves 200 points in the lead.

They got their reward in the Singles games though, taking 4 of the 6 points on offer to give a fair scoreline.

No Man Of The Match emerged for us as it would be hard to choose between Kris and Peter Mc. They both collected two Brownie Points for their finishes, influencing the result on a night where we were often being outscored and needed to rely on the finishing.

How It's Made - Darts

Have a look at this. The first 40 seconds are a bit cheesy, but the rest is fascinating. I'll never look at a set cheap brass darts in the same light again.

I think the yellow flights in the film are the R4X type that I use because you can see some small black text at one end of them. I'd love to be able to use the aluminium stems they've shown, but they always seem to need constant replacement.

Leadgate CC 4 - 6 Chelmsford

Three of our regular players were unavailable for the game last night, but the players who stepped in did well. We won the opening couple of games, and this proved to be an important start for us, as from this point the matches were shared quite evenly.

Leadgate's board was causing quite a few bounce outs for all of the players, but Alan suffered the most, bouncing off the T20 wire in three consecutive throws. The board itself seems to be a promotional item from the Wurth company, but they must prefer this board as there was a boxed Nodor put to one side.

Our Man of The Match was Willie, for his excellent Singles win. Alan remains top of the Brownie Points leader board.

Chelmsford 5 - 5 Turf

Picture courtesy of W/\NG

Our play slipped a bit on Tuesday night and we found it hard to put steady scores together. The Turf on the other hand were playing really well. They improved quite noticeably from their showing in the Away game a fortnight ago and were good value for the points they won.

After finding ourselves 0-3 down we managed to win the final Doubles game and four of the Singles games to scrape a draw, with Mickey B scoring the last point of the night to ensure we remained unbeaten on our new board.

Peter C played his first game since I've been with the team. He won an important Singles point, and I'm sure he'll be real asset.

Team Cup, 1st Round

Alertness, a wet nose, and a glowing coat. But enough about The Girlfriend :o)

We had a very successful evening at The Derwentside against their "B" Team to progress to the second round. I've never known us play so confidently through three Team games, coming down from 1001 with a double start like we did tonight, and The Derwentside were very complimentary about our game.

I'll give a single Brownie Point to Alan for finishing two of the games, because we didn't spoil any of the finishes and this needs to be acknowledged. It is so easy to let let good leads slip if the finishes are not taken quickly, and we made our leads count tonight.

Turf 1 - 9 Chelmsford

Practising in The Mad House

Three consecutive 9-1 wins are really going to help us in the league placings, so no complaints with the result. However, it was quite a slow paced game up at The Turf on Consett's Front Street and neither team got into any sustained rhythm.

We scored well in the opening Team Game and our Doubles games were reasonable, but a few of the Singles games were slightly low key, and there were at the very least 2 more points in this game for The Turf but for poor finishing.

The Consett League were playing next door in the main bar, and we had the Lounge which faces the main road to ourselves. Their board is an excellent Unicorn Eclipse Pro, but it could do with turning as the 20 bed is quite worn. The only bounce outs seemed to be darts slapping the board after a deflection and I really think this is the board to get if you want to minimise bounce outs.

Our Man Of The Match was Alan, who again hit three of our finishing doubles.

Chelmsford 9 - 1 The Cricketers

We again scored some good points in the return game against The Cricketers, but I have to admit they were not rewarded for increasing their scoring since the earlier game and meeting us down on the finishing doubles in most of the games.

Their opening score was a 140, and they also hit plenty of decent scores to put pressure on the games.

Despite the scoreline I didn't think we were as consistent as the previous week, but our finishing seemed to compensate for the slack shots.

Cricketers 1 - 9 Chelmsford

The Cricketers are fielding a new team of young players this season and there were many new faces from my point of view. Also, they are under new management and there is a really well designed beer garden at the back.

The game went well for us last night and we settled into some fairly consistent throwing. I felt we were hitting a few more trebles than in the previous games to equalise our lower scores, and we were generally getting down to the finishes first.

They have Unicorn board but not one of the models I'm familiar with. The Cricketers had a couple of bounce-outs on it, but none from us for a change. As always it is a nice spaceous throw up there, with plenty of room to play in and watch the games.

Man of The Match was Alan, who hit three of our winning doubles.

Clarification - The Brownie Points Thing

Oh, you want that don't you, fat boy

Just a bit of clarification regarding The Brownie Points Thing. Brownies are not cakes. I think people are confusing our outward bound youngsters with chocolate cake or something?

I've got one of these little black vacuum cleaners. Animal, vegetable, or mineral - It's all just food to a Labrador Retriever. He quite literally does summersaults as I bring the food bowl over. Or a stone, or a plant.

The Brownie Points Thing

In the new arbitrary Brownie Points system for the Player Of The Season trophy there are points to be won and we'd better all know how it is done, so here goes: Brownie Points are collected for any of the following, plus anything noteworthy that anyone wants to bring to the table. That's why its arbitrary I suppose:

• A Man Of The Match award
• Scoring a 180
• Hitting a winning double in Team / Doubles / Singles games
• A 9 darter (hey, it could happen)
• More realistically, a 15 darter
• Consecutive ton forties

If anyone feels they have scored a Brownie Point which is not detailed here please come and see me after the game and talk to the hand. It's not that arbitrary for Juninho's sake :o)

Chelmsford 5 - 5 Blackhill Club

We had all three tonight - all of us

What a relief to get some points on the board at last. It is so difficult writing a blog with a 10-0 thrashing to try and summarise on the opening day of the season. You just see a big empty screen and somehow try to write something.

I must mention our sincere thanks to the new management for supporting the team so well. Angela bought us a new Winmau Diamond board which is great, and a buffet was laid on even though The Kitchen is being refurbished.

Kris got us off to the best possible start with a 180 for the first throw of the game. Hard to follow, and from that point onwards I thought we were perhaps 10 - 20% lower in the scoring than last week, but this time we were given a few more throws at finishing doubles by a Blackhill team who didn't hit their usual game.

They still made a tough game of it though, and after taking a 2-0 lead we traded points all night until we won the last two Singles matches to secure a draw, and as Roger jokingly said remain unbeaten on the new board.

Kris was Man of the Match for us and he leads the points table for our Player Of The Season Trophy - more details of this to follow. In a change to last season's competition others picked up Brownie Points too :o)

Shirt Idea

Picture courtsey of Rags

I love this shirt idea. I've had some great advice over the years. I've had a World Champion watch my throw and tell me what was wrong. International players from Trinidad & Tobago like Nannette Brooks and Rose, plus Bajan seniors such as Clyde. Closer to home Graham and the Derwentside crew at Blackhill and the seniors from our team like Parky and Peter.

They really helped me out and spent time with me to go through a few things. And then there's the other. The absolute bo****ks you get from well meaning yet clueless idiots who don't "walk the walk" themselves. They'll criticise your finishing strategies while shouting out "something big down the bottom" like it is some sort of gem?

Please, if you're not mentioned in the first paragraph do us all a favour and STFU!

Blackhill 10 - 0 Chelmsford

This was not what it is all about . . .

Stephen Hawking has been asking some profoundly searching questions recently regarding the meaning of life and the universe(s). Well, I can confidently relay to Mr Hawking that last night's result against Blackhill Club is certainly not what it is all about. The Hokey Kokey is nearer to what it is all about than last night's outing!

We lost all of the dominoes games too, so basically it was a 16-0 thrashing, and it hurts. It's not that we played badly. In seven of the games we were looking at finishing doubles and only the Davey Gill 14 darter could be described as truly emphatic. But on nights like this one you just have to admit that if we want to take points from a team like BC we've got to raise it just that bit further.

There are perfect throwing conditions up there, with good lighting, an oche with no distractions and an assured aluminium strip, and an Eclipse Pro board with the box marked "Tuesdays Only". They're great people too, and rounded off with a superb pint of Samuel Smiths bitter it wasn't such a bad night after all.

Friendly : Chopwell 7 - 3 Chelmsford

Picture from last season by Simon Dixon

Tuesday saw our final friendly game prior to the start of the new season on 7th September, and thankfully we improved our performance despite the losing scoreline.

Chopwell Central is a great place to play, but there were quite a few bounce outs on their board. In one throw I had 120 points on the floor. Michael had one particular bounce out where he said he was actually aiming for the T20 wire, so no complaints on that one!

The fixtures are out but I didn't get a chance to see them. I'm looking forward to it though after a steadier performance from us and hopefully we can build on this for next Tuesday.

Shotley Bridge CC 3rd Annual Beer Festival 1010

We had a great Saturday, enjoying a very well organised Beer Festival down the road at Shotley Bridge Cricket Club. There were an impressive 46 ales on offer, with the vast majority of these being priced at £1 a half. The super strength ones were £2 a half, but I never bother with these in case I need the use of my legs later on.

The stand-out ale for me was Village Idiot 4.1% from White Horse Brewery. I said to Deb that it was quite ironic for me to drink a beer with such a name, but she observed it was even more ironic that I had earlier drank The Stud 4.3% :o)

My five favourites are pictured on the left. In the coming season there will be special shout-outs for any bar which serves a cask conditioned ale. Its always a nice touch when a bar gives you something new to try rather than just the usual suspects.

Friendly : Chelmsford 6 - 4 Shotley Club

Picture from last season by Simon Dixon

We had a better result than in last week's leg, but the standard was still a little rusty from both teams. We actually played the return "home" leg up at their place due to the inability to plan with certainty while The Chelmsford changed hands.

Both teams would probably like a little more time to ease into the new season, but we're not going to get it so we'd better hit those practice boards if we want to hit the ground running.

Next Tuesday we have a final Friendly game at Chopwell Central, and then the season begins. I'll post a list of the teams taking part as I think there have been a few changes but I believe we still have the same total number of teams.

Friendly : Shotley Club 7 - 3 Chelmsford

Picture from Simon Dixon

Two bit of news : Firstly, The Chelmsford is opening again tomorrow night 18/8/2010 at 16:00 hrs after the recent change of ownership. I hope a good few of us can be there to get it off to a good start.

Also, we played a Friendly game tonight away at Shotley Club. Both teams were a little rusty and the standard wasn't too impressive, but Shotley Club made a better job of the finishes when they arose so we'll just have to take the result on the chin and try to close the games out a little better in the return game next week. We then have another Friendly up at Chopwell Central.

Changes

Chu Chu Chu Chu Chu Chu Changes. Turn to face the strange.

Lyndon (the Landolord) is leaving our pub after a 5 year stint which coincided with my own arival in Ebchester.

All the best to Lyndon and good luck to him in whatever he does next.

Close Season

Peter (Left) collects the Player Of The Season Trophy

There's not a great deal happening at the moment. Finishing School has been running and has been quite a success. There are usually around five people taking part, and Kris is keeping track of all the points on the night.

It is a real challenge to finish the scores in just three darts, and there are a few different approaches which don't always adhere to the recognised outshots. I'll give you an example: on 65 you may choose the T17 route to leave D7. This would be a stupid way to go in a game of 501, but splitting an uneven double doesn't matter in Finishing School where there is no second throw, and hitting the S17 leaves 48 which gives an almost guaranteed shot at a familiar double (D16/D20) when you aim for the wire between S16 and S8.

Presentation Night 2010

Colin collects the Dominoes Singles trophy

I have a few pictures from Tuesday's Presentation Night and I'll post them on here over the next few days. Pride of place however must go to Colin Carr's achievement in winning the Dominoes Singles Cup this year.

Winning a dominoes trophy in this league is no mean feat - there are some real sharks out there! So congratulations to Colin and thanks for bringing a trophy back to The Chelmsford this year.

Finishing School

Last night was our induction into the Finishing School which Kris has organised for our close season Tuesdays. A points system and leader board is being used and there'll be a modest prize for the eventual winner.

The aim of the competition is to check out from high finishes (last night it was 100 to 90) in just three darts. There is no point in getting down to 32 or 40 for example, as missing the finish with three darts is simply a fail and you start again on the next throw.

I think we were a little surprised at just how difficult this can be. When throwing for 100 a stray shot into the S1 is simply "throw over", and quite a few times a good first two darts were let down by the final dart. It was hard work, and it makes a welcome change from just bashing away at the T20 - although admitedly that was the main target with the first dart!

Finals Night 2010

We were very well represented in Finals Night up at Leadgate Cricket Club last night, and with so many of us taking part it would have been a shame to walk away empty handed. And thankfully it was Colin who won our only trophy in the Dominoes Singles competition.

Myself and Roger went out of the Doubles competition 3-1 in the first game of the evening, only to be followed by Peter and Alan. I really enjoyed the game though, and this will be one I'll remember just like the Singles game against Davey Gill last season.

Our best chance of a darts trophy was in Peter's Singles game. He forced a 2-0 lead against Ray but ran out of steam slightly to lose 3-2. There was a high standard of game as you'd expect from these two.

Well done to Colin in the doms though, and this season's cup competitions have been very eventful for The Chelmsford.

Result - Player of the Season 2009/10

The trophy

I've totted up the Player of the Match awards from the season just gone and the first winner of this new award is Peter. He and Kris matched each other throughout, and between them they took an impressive 60% of the weekly awards, excluding the 4 occasions when an award was not made.

In the end Peter won just by just two points and congratulations to both of them for a great contribution this season.

Chopwell 4 - 6 Chelmsford

Our season which started against Blackhill Club back in September 2009 came to an end last night at Chopwell.

Although we didn't really play any better than last week we got a far better result. It started poorly for us though, going 3-0 down. With both teams finding it difficult to hit the T20 with any regularity most of the games could have gone either way, but thankfully we managed to get the points in the final Doubles game and five of the six Singles game.

Man of The Match this week goes to Kris for a spirited Singles win in one of the higher scoring games. I'll now count the MOTM awards and announce the winner of the Player Of The Season trophy very shortly.

We may have some friendly games in the close season and I'll wait for the details before posting anything. Also Kris is keen for a Finishing School competition on spare Tuesday nights.

Chelmsford 5 - 5 Chopwell

After a disappointing start to the game where we threw away a large lead in the opening Team Game we did quite well to match Chopwell and take some good points against a team which we normally struggle against.

Chopwell were not playing quite as consistently as usual and we traded points throughout the evening, with the draw being a fair result.

On a good night for us it was difficult to choose The Man Of The Match, but I feel Peter just shaded it for sinking two of our five winning doubles. Regarding the Player of the Season title : With only one game to go I'm purposely avoiding the previous stats to ensure my judgement will not be affected. If there is a tie between two or more players I will use the MOTM awards which were awarded during our worst defeats (9-1, 8-2 etc) on the premise that on such nights at least one of us was trying to lead the way.

We're all looking forward to the final game of the season up at Chopwell Central, which is a great place to play darts.

Chelmsford 3 - 7 Cricketers

I was unable to attend the game on Tuesday night due to a chronic case of the Brad Pitts, and the other end wasn't faring much better I'm afraid.

The feedback I've received from Mickey B was upbeat for a losing scoreline though, and he enjoyed the game. Sadly we've moved down a place in The League but I feel there is a lot of learning going on this season and its good to hear such positive feedback about the night as a whole rather than just regret for the final score.

I fully acknowledge Kris' award of Man Of The Match to Mickey on his site, but Mickey himself has graciously told me he'd prefer it to go to Roger for finding the T20 so often and playing to the full. So I'll give it to Roger on gut feeling. And I've had plenty of that this week!

Cricketers 5 - 5 Chelmsford

It feels like Summer already up here

After a very strong start to this game it was disappointing to lose so many of the final six Singles games. There are a few new but familiar players in the Cricketers team this season and they played well as a team.

Bounce outs were a very common feature of the game, and I think Cricketers were suffering more than us on this count. There were at least 10 bounce outs, and I really think round wired boards with staples at the intersections have had their day. I could play all night on my Eclipse and not get a single bounce out, and for very little extra cost this type of board would make a real difference in League games.

At least three of our team were level pegging for the Man Of The Match award after the Team and Doubles games, but in the final Singles game of the night I felt it was Peter who edged forward to take the title with a good display and a 93 finish (T19, split D18, D9) to make it 5-5.

Player of the season 2009/10

Ebchester Darts Player of the Season trophy

The end of the season us nearly upon us with just four games to go against The Cricketers and Chopwell Central. The person who collected the most Player Of The Match awards will be picking up the little beauty in the photo.

I honestly don't know for certain who is in the lead as it my subconsciously affect the awards in the final games, but I think there'll be three players in contention. I obtained concensus awards for the games I missed, so this really will be the prize for a hard season's graft for one of us.

I wanted to try something a little different than the usual style trophies, and Darts Corner came up trumps with this design. It is quite small but heavy, and I can't see anyone's partner objecting to it being on display in the Living Room. You see, a lot of thought goes into this :o)

I'll ask Lena to present it on Trophy Night and get a pic for the blog.

Dominoes Singles Cup Night 2009/10

There were no League darts on Tuesday night and most of us competed in the 2009/10 Dominoes Singles Cup. A few of us got quite far in the five rounds which were played, but only Colin from our team made it to the finals themselves on Finals Night. Very well done to Colin, and it is further Chelmsford interest in Finals Night.

We were playing at Chopwell Central which is one of my favourite venues. We play them at the end of the season and I'll try and get some photos to put on here.

Chelmsford 1 - 9 Commercial

A night to forget for us, but more points piled on by a determined Commercial team. If anything, they dropped the pace from last week, but we were really struggling to build the scores and apply any sort of pressure.

It didn't start too badly either. Although we lost the opening team game we quickly equalised in the first Doubles game. However, that was to be the end of our scoring on the night and we have to take a heavy defeat on the chin.

Man Of The Match was Kris. He was the only one of us to find the T20 regularly and play a strong game.

We have just four more games this season against The Cricketers and Chopwell and I really hope we can end the season on a higher note than this pair of games against Commercial.

Commercial 7 - 3 Chelmsford

Spring has sprung up here

The Commercial played a very solid game last night and it has to be said they were good value for their 7 points. Four of their six players in particular were throwing some very steady darts. On two of the points we lost things were going fairly well for us, but both times they closed out the game with Bull finishes on the last dart.

After losing a close opening Team game we fared well in the Doubles games to pull it back to 2-2, but we lost most of our Singles games against a Commercial team who were looking very comfortable.

Our Man Of The Match was Michael. We'd have got a better result if we all played as well as he did.

Doubles Cup Night

The Chelmsford were very well represented in last night's Doubles Cup Competition up at Blackhill Comrades Club. We had three Pairs there bidding to get into the semi finals to played on Finals Night.

It went very well for us with Peter and Alan plus myself and Roger making it through to the Semi Finals. It was very hard luck for Kris and Michael though, as they played a strong game to get past the first round only to then allow Roger and I to really ride our luck against them in the next round.

You never want to be drawn against team mates, but if it happens again on Finals night The Chelmsford would either be guaranteed a finalist, or better still a trophy.

Chelmsford 8 - 2 Jolly Drovers

A Winter 2009/10 shot by Simon Dixon

We had another good result against The Joly Drovers in the Home leg last night. Usually I'd say it is the finishing which is the most important aspect, but last night our steady score building got us down to the doubles first and allowed the finishing to be without pressure in several games.

I had a chance to use the 3 dart 90 finish discussed by Zeeple, and for once the theory paid off for me in a League game. Definitely this time last year I would have gone T18 almost as a reflex, but I now don't think D15 should be avoided if it is part of a percentage shot like the T20 route which gives a few options during the throw. I must admit in a Doubles game I'd be mindful of not wanting to leave "15 to go" for my partner though.

Man of The Match was Peter, who opened our six Singles game with a very assured 18 darter to set us on our way.

The Chelsmford Race Night

Photo by Simon Dixon

Thanks to Lena, Jimmy, and Glen for holding a race night at The Chelmsford on Bank Holiday Monday 5th April 2010. The event raised over £200 for the darts team, and money was also collected for the fund which Lyndon has organised for a girl who has cerebral palsey.

This was at least the third one of these Race events I've been to that have been run by Jimmy and Glen, and they're always a good laugh. There was quite a good crowd there too, and it was a successful event.

Jolly Drovers 1 - 9 Chelmsford

A picture of nearby Whittonstall by Simon Dixon

The Jolly Drovers won a closely contested opening Team game to take the lead. In the following games a few stray shots crept in from both teams, but we always seemed to find the odd high score to get to the finishing double first.

The Jolly Drovers have their dartboard in an alcove which means although it can sometimes feel a bit cramped during the game there are no distractions while throwing.

Player of the Match was Lena who scored well and finished quickly in both of her games.

Team Cup Night

There was no game for us on Tuesday as we were knocked out in the first round of the Team Cup competition which was playing. Chopwell took on Shotley Club B at our place though so we still had a good night in The Chelsmford with a packed bar.

Both teams were playing just a bit below their usual standards but there were still some good individual performances and high scoring. The darts games alternate with dominoes games in this competition until a winner is found. The dominoes are somewhat of an equaliser so you don't get just the usual suspects dominating.

With a double start needed there is tension from the very start, and both teams took it in turns to struggle with a starting double. This was at odds with their excellent practice shots at doubles, and it just goes to show what a bit of pressure on the double can do.

Chopwell won it on the darts, ironically in a leg which they had trouble starting. I'll be dropping a couple of posts about "doubles" over the next few days.

Chelmsford 4 - 6 Derwentside

Practicing on the 19's

Although we raised our game a little from last week's Away leg, Derwentside did too with plenty of 80+ / 100+ shots.

Most of the games were quick, with no problems on the finishing. By the time the Team and Doubles games were over the score was evenly matched at 2-2, but we dropped off a touch in the Singles games.

Peter was our Player Of The Match, gaining a very assured point in the first Singes game of the evening.

Derwentside 7 - 3 Chelmsford

Practice on Bob's 27 : Two and a marker

The Derwentside started well and quickly hit a consistent note. There were a few new faces in their team from my point of view (including their new Landlord) and they all seem to have settled in well.

I prefer where they have their board now in the side bar. It gives more space for people who like to stand to the left when throwing and there's a good atmosphere for darts.

On a disappointing night for us I still thought we had joint Players Of The Match nonetheless ; Peter and Kris both played well enough to win their Doubles and Single points. Without these performances it could have been even worse for us.

Congratulations to Alan / Mark / Craig and crew, and we look forward to seeing them in the return game.

Singles Cup, the last 16

Peter, Kris, and Alan represented The Chelmsford in the last 16 of the Singles Knock-out Cup up at The Derwentside last night. Sadly, Kris and Alan were knocked out despite them both finding the trebles and putting up a strong challenge.

Kris was getting a good number of 100+ shots and Alan seemed to be on his way to a win before his opponent made up a lot of ground with a 180 to snatch the winning leg.

Better news with Peter though, who made it through to the last four for the big match on Finals Night. Although he didn't reach his own high standards there was nothing wrong with the important part of the game - the finishing. If he takes his A Game up there he'll match anyone, so fingers crossed and well done Peter.

Chelsmford 5 - 5 Moorcock "B" Team

Although we played well in the opening Team game to take a lead it all went wrong from there. We lost all three of the Doubles games and the first Singles game to find ourselves 1 - 4 down despite some reasonable play from us.

Player of The Match though was Lena, who won a very important Singles point to steer us back on track and make it 2-4. Trailing 1-5 down would have been difficult to overcome, and thankfully we were able to win 3 of the remaining Singles game to secure a draw.

The Moorcock "B" Team are above us in the league, so these 11 points over the two games will be useful.

Moorcock "B" Team 4 - 6 Chelmsford

The Moorcock B Team are a good bunch of young players so these 6 points were a good result for us. We were really disappointed to lose the opening 1001X Team game after building up a decent lead but failing to finish, but by the end of the three Doubles games we were back to 2-2.

Although neither team really hit top form I thought Peter, Alan, Kris, and Mick were all doing well for us, and I'll hold back on a Man Of The Match this week because there was little between them.

Simon D took his camera and I hope to have some better shots for the blog from him, because even I'm geting sick of the dart board pictures I take.

Cup "Doubles" Night

Roger and I squeezed into the next round of the League's "Doubles" competition last night. I don't yet know the results from the rest of our team's games, as things ran a little late for us up at The Coach and Horses. It was midnight as Roger and I played the final game of the evening so I'm realy pleased we managed to get a result.

I love the throw at The Coach and Horses. It has a raised oche, good lighting, and no distractions in the line of sight. Unfortunately the board itself is a little dificult to play on. The large, rounded wires caused numerous bounce-outs for all players, and some of mine were landing behind me. I think if they get a Blade III or an Eclipse it would really help the players.

Chelmsford 5 - 5 Moorcock "A" Team

A local game, for local locals

The Moorcock really upped their game from last week and showed determination to get the points. The Special Stuff came from Moorcock's Jonathon Archer with a superb 118 (T20, S18, D20) finish in a Singles game he seemed to be losing.

As with last week we built our scores well, but this time we found that any misses on the finishes were punished, and at no point in the 10 games did anyone have more than a narrow lead on the scoreboard.

I'l hold back on a Man Of The Match this week, as I thought it was just a tight game.

Moorcock "A" Team 2 - 8 Chelmsford

We got off to a very good start in the opening 1001X Team game, and it seemed The Moorcock team couldn't get into their stride. This meant they didn't apply as much pressure as possible, and in several of the games we got down to the finish first and were then making sure that we didn't spoil the doubles.

Man Of The Match was Micky B. In his Doubles game he scored three consecutive 100+ shots, and he also hung in well to win a Singles point where the finishing was causing both players problems.

The Morcock is a great traditional pub up in the moors of Waskerley. They had a well stoked open fire and some superb Black Sheep on cask. It's a really good pub to play darts in.

The Singles Competition

There was no joy for myself or Jean at The Cricketers on Tuesday night. I was knocked out in the second round 2-1 by Collie of Blackhill Club. At least I raised my game from a poor first round 2-1 victory, and it was a close game.

Good news elsewhere though, as three of our leading lights progressed to the next stage. Alan, Peter, and Kris all made it, with Peter scoring an impressive two 180's on the night.

Good luck to our three and Collie. They're just a couple of wins away from Finals Night and It'd be great if The Chelmsford were represented in The Singles.

Chelmsford 9 - 1 Shotley Club "B"

Practice darts

This was one of our best team efforts for a long time, playing against good quality opposition who are immediately above us in the League. Perhaps the 8 point swing we've gained in the last two games against them will have changed that.

We took a strong lead before losing one of the later Singles games. The big difference for us in this game was that we snatched a couple of Singles points which were looking unlikely and showed determination to stay in these games hoping for the slip-ups on their finishing which we needed. It might have been a 6-4 or 7-3 result without this aspect.

No Man Of The Match this week as I really felt this was a team performance.

The Singles cup is looming, and I hope a few of us can get into the next round.

Shotley Club 'B' 5 - 5 Chelmsford

Practising less favoured doubles

It was good to get back to League action after a break since our last game before Christmas. On that occasion it was a 5-5 draw against the Shotley 'A' team, and it was the same score against their 'B' team on Tuesday night.

We lost the opening Team game, but pulled it back to 2-2 by the end of the three Doubles games. With both teams quite evenly matched the points in the six Singles games were shared to result in a 5-5 draw on the night.

The Man Of The Match was in fact a Person Of The Match : Jean put in a great performance in the final Singles game of the night to earn the draw which I feel we were good for. Neither team really messed up any finishing, so we'll all be aware of the need to hit those doubles in the Return leg.

Lakeside 2010

Dave Chisnall

I'm a fan of the BDO competitions, but even I will admit this week's Lakeside games have shown both ends of the scale when it comes to the standard of play.

However, The Player of the Tournament so far must be Dave Chisnall, who has treated us to a spectacular comeback against Ted Hankey in the Quarter Final, and as I write he has just progressed to the Final with a breathtaking display against O'Shea. There was one string of consecutive shots which were a 164 finish for Chisnall, immediately followed by them both trading 180's.

From my experience the BDO standards are mainly criticised by non players, Pro's, and County standard players. Most of the happy enthusiast players like myself enjoy the way you honestly don't know what will happen next at the Lakeside. Sure, I'm fascinated to watch Phil Taylor carefully plant his darts from right to left from the bottom corner of the T20 bed but I never feel emotion watching PDC games - it's a different experience altogether.

Chisnall may well gravitate to the PDC in the future, but you can be sure there'll be another young talent to take his place at The Lakeside, which screens on free-to-air terrestrial TV in the UK - unlike the subscription required for PDC games. What's there not to like?

A Week Off

Steadier than my walking skills!

No league darts this week as we had a break. Actually I didn't realise we weren't playing and I rushed down on Tuesday night and had a heavy fall in the ice.

Nothing broken, but I'd put that down to the 4 layers I was wearing. Have a great New Year and we'll be back out on the oche soon. I hope to have a pair of crampons by then. They won't improve the darts, but at least I'll get there in one piece :o)

Darts Corner Catalogue 2010

I've just received the new Darts Corner Catalogue for 2010 and the stock they carry is amazing. I've used their web site before but because I was just searching for the specific items I was interested in I didn't appreciate their full range. For example, I didn't even know that those "real feather" flights were still freely available, but at Darts Corner you get a choice of shape, colour, and 2BA / Qtr Inch threads. Here's an example.

One slight thing they may want to improve upon is to give bulk discounts for flights and stems, because I can't see any sliding scale costs based on quantities as you get with Tommy's Darts, and 10 of my favourite Ruthless R4X flights look a little more expensive with DC than with TD. If I were to order 50 sets it would be a 30% difference unless there is a bulk discount I can't find in the catalogue?

This is a very minor point though, and their product range matches anything I've seen. All of those odd little hard to find things are covered in their catalogue - in detail and with choices. Also, they were one the first companies I noticed to print the specific dimensions of the darts rather than just the weight and tungsten ratio. They handled my last order well and I'll definitely use them again. Try search words of "shirt" and "trophy" on their site as two quick examples of what they offer, and then try the same search words on other sites. It's the same for those hard to find things I mentioned.