Darts

[ivoralljack]

Night 16, last night of qualifying in Aberdeen. Jonny and Aspinall duked it out for the 4th and final spot with the Asp hammering Jonny 6-1. BUT Aspinall then had to beat Gezzie, who had taken out Peter Wright 6-2, to progress. He went down 3-6 to Gez and missed out on count back. Lucky Jonny had won 2 nights to 1 and 14 matches to 13 during the season. His scoring is terrible at the moment not helped by the large number of wayward darts he throws in every game. He should change his walk-on song to "Slippin and Slidin".

Gez and Dimitri Van den Bergh fought the final with the Belgian edging it 6-5 after Gez missed THREE match darts. I don't think Gez paid full attention to this game as he had already qualified for the play-off next week but he had a furious look on his face when VdB hit the winning double.

So finals night will see Gez playing Jonny in the semis whilst Bully Boy meets MVG. Gez topped the league and during the season he hit 5 of the top 10 averages, so will be favourite next week although there's a chance that MVG won't even make it as he has a bad shoulder which saw him allow DvB a walkover in tonight's semi.

 

[ivoralljack]

Premier League Finals Night. The four remaining players are Gez, Jonny, MVG and Bully Boy Smith. Will be watching football, so will have to record the darts to view later; hope it comes out because it should be a cracking evening. Gez is the form player; Jonny the weakest; Bully the most natural talent I've ever seen and MVG, who has a 'problem' shoulder, is lethal if he finds his game. It's so difficult to predict because they can all beat each other, so it depends on which player finds his form on the night. I think Bully should win BUT.............

 

[ivoralljack]

Gez blew Jonny away 10-2 with an average of 107.54 against 90.19. Sick of saying this but Jonny was all over the board again tonight and finding the 1 and 5 beds with monotonous regularity. At one stage he was doing this almost every throw, which meant that he was only getting about 66% return on the throw. He was 0-5 down at the time and little wonder. Have any of Jonny's friends taken him to one side and talked to him about this? It doesn't look like it because he's getting worse!! To make matters even more hopeless, he had 12 trebleless visits to Gezzie's 4, so there was only ever going to be one winner of that game. And Gez did it in style on Jonny's darts taking out 131 with treble 17 and two double tops to finish the match.

Expecting fireworks next as Bully takes on MVG.

 

[ivoralljack]

So MVG slaughtered Gez 11-5 after beating Bully 10-8. The turning point came when Gez, 2-3 down, left 46 on his throw. MVG with a brilliant setup of 139 had left himself the Big Fish 170 which he took out. Then he held his own throw to take a 5-2 lead when minutes earlier it looked for all the world as if it was going to be 3-3. Apart from a 161 finish Gez had had the steam kicked from him and MVG won easing up.

Gez just never got going and I think the easy game he had against Jonny completely took his edge away. He was never under the remotest pressure and it was almost a relaxed practise game. On the other hand, MVG had honed his game in a tight affair against Bully and carried that into the final against Gez. No complaints about the result. Gez was never able to get going and his opponent was easily the better player and the deserved Premier League Champion of 2023.

 

[ivoralljack]

World Cup of Pairs darts starts tonight. There are 40 teams involved for the first time with the 'lesser' teams slugging it out for the first two days. The top seeds don't appear until the ko stages on Saturday - 1 England 2 Wales 3 Holland 4 Scotland and we have a good chance because MVG has cried off after surgery.

For the first time the games are ALL pairs whereas in the past there were singles matches in the games. Bet Jonny won't like to face Gez if his sliders cost us a match!! England are favourites with Bully and Rob Cross playing but the comms make Wales the favourites. We'll see.

 

[ivoralljack]

Wales through to the quarters having beaten Norway 8-2. Gez and Jonny weren't troubled and averaged 99.97 which, according to the comms, is very good for doubles. Thing is it might have been too easy, so lucky that we meet Sweden next for a place in the semis. Wales now the bookies favourites to win the event but they'll have to go some to beat England with Bully in their team.

 

[ivoralljack]

Only snippets as I'm recording the games for later. But I did see that Wales beat Sweden 8-5 to make the semis without playing well. Shock result was Germany knocking out England 8-3!! What do I know?

 

[ivoralljack]

Hooray! At last a Welsh win!!!! As my recording of the semis didn't come out all I know is that we beat Belgium in a tough fight to make the final. I don't know the score and the Scottish pair of Peter Wright and Gary Anderson beat Germany to play us. Anyway, Gez and Jonny beat the Scottish lads 10-2 in a one-sided final. The Scots never found form, were 0-3 then 1-6 down before they knew it. Of course they are top class players but it just wasn't their night.

Surprisingly it was Jonny who starred for us in the final and Gez gave him credit for carrying him despite the fact that Gez threw some pretty good darts himself. But Jonny was great. He slid a few as usual eg 60, 60 then 1, and followed by 60, 60 then 5. Not deflections just poor throws. BUT the rest of the time he was banging them in off the lightshade and his finishing was deadly. Fitting that his double won the game after he split 18 to nail double 8 with the Scots, also on 18, waiting to pounce.

Fair play to the Scottish lads who took the defeat with grace and good humour. Gary was calling Jonny all sorts of names with a broad grin on his face during the post match interviews and all players embraced each other with great respect. But it was especially good to see Gez and Gary who'd had that bitter falling out a few years back, hugging and chatting happily to each other. Friends again and I'm well pleased about that. And well done, Wales, who have given us something to cheer about. World Champions and totally deserved!!

 

[ivoralljack]

The World Matchplay at Blackpool where Gez doesn't usually do well. But he was okay tonight beating Stephen Bunting 10-3 after being 0-2 down. It was a solid rather than spectacular performance but he did enough to go through. Jonny goes tomorrow.

 

[ivoralljack]

Jonny threw complete pants tonight but edged Gabriel Clemens 10-8 who was even worse Jonny only averaged in the mid 80s and needs to up his game big time. Some legs took 22/25 darts. It it was abysmal viewing and he knew it.

The big shock was last night when Brendan Dolan took out MVG 10-7. In fairness MVG has had recent extensive jaw surgery and this may have impacted his game. That said, he's been wiping the floor with everyone in recent tournaments jaw or no jaw. Dangerous player gone!

 

[ivoralljack]

Dicey Icy is out beaten by Joe Cullen. Gez scored very well as did Cullen with 180s galore but his finishing was complete rubbish. He missed a match dart on bull then Cullen nailed two consecutive bull finishes to move in front. Gez is supposed to like tops and tens. Could have fooled me. His doubling was terrible and if he wants to start winning again, he'd better sort it out.

 

[ivoralljack]

Night of shocks as Bully Boy Smith is beaten by Chris Dobey. That's the three top players out which may give Jonny a chance.

 

[ivoralljack]

Jonny went through with a brilliant 11-6 win over van den Bergh. His scoring was very good but his doubling was brilliant as he took out several big finishes including the max 170. Plays Searle next who beat Peter Wright to take out another big player. Most open championship in years is this.

 

[ivoralljack]

Missed a big win for Jonny because my effing Sky Box failed to record the match. But Jonny beat an in form Ryan Searle 16-12 to meet Luke Humphries in the semis. It sounds like a great win as Jonny nailed seven maximums (not noted for them) and six ton+ finishes (becoming a bit of a bandit for them). An excellent performance and with the top five out he has as good a chance as anyone. Good luck to him.

 

[ivoralljack]

Jonny through to the final after beating Luke Humphries 17-15 in a game that saw both players in front then behind. Jonny's doubling success of 61% was the key to his win and he now plays Nathan Aspinall who beat Joe Cullen 17-9. Should be a great game and whoever wins we'll see a new name on the trophy.

 

[ivoralljack]

Jonny was slaughtered 18-6 by Aspinall who threw some brilliant darts to be fair. But as usual Jonny didn't help himself. His second dart of the evening found the 1 bed and he was at his wayward worst all evening. At an early critical stage he missed 3 at his favourite double 16 and Nathan sneaked in to take his throw - a two leg turnover that should never have happened at this level.

Nathan fully deserved his win but Jonny more than contributed to his own defeat. The 'Slider' has to learn to stop sliding because he's repeatedly handing the advantage to his opponent.

 

[ivoralljack]

In the World Series, the New Zealand Masters, defending champion Gezzie mullered potentially dangerous Simon Whitlock 6-1 after losing his throw in the first game. But there were shocks. Seeds Peter Wright and van den Bergh were both beaten by local opposition. That helps Gez but Bully Boy is still there though he plays dangerous Damon Heta in the next round. That means another top player will go out, so Gez has a decent chance.

 

[ivoralljack]

Gezzie through to the semis in the Grand Prix of Darts after he destroyed Schindler by 3-0 in sets and 9-1 in legs. He'll play Bully Boy Smith and the other semi is between Humphries and Cullen, both dangerous players and in better form than Gez who'll have his hands full with Bully anyway. Any of the four could win this but Gez is having some trouble with his doubles, which might prevent him going further. This event is a double in/out event so that's an important consideration.

As for Jonny, he slid away to his heart's content and went out in the first round to Smith (not Bully) whom he was expected to beat. Until he sorts out the large number of wayward, wasted darts he throws, he's not going to win another big event. He'll still make a damned good living mind and I suspect that's why he's not taken his game to the very top level.

 

[ivoralljack]

Gez through to the final after beating Bully 4-2 in sets. He took the legs 14-9 on the way including the last ten when Bully went right off the boil. But if Gez wants to win the final he has to improve his doubling. He won the first leg against the darts with 12 throws including two 180s. Next leg he took NINE darts to get away and he was missing his so-called favourite double top all night. He must know this isn't good enough and he would have lost if Bully had found anything like his usual form.

Gez plays Luke Humphries in the final who blitzed Joe Cullen 4-0. Luke is a dangerous player who'll beat Gez if Gez is slow on his starting double. Get practising, Taff!

 

[ivoralljack]

Luke Humphries stuffed Gez 5-2 in sets. Gez hasn't won a major for quite a while despite getting to finals. Maybe more practise is needed.