Darts

[ivoralljack]

PREMIER LEAGUE NIGHT 6 NOTTINGHAM: Well, well, Gez defied a hostile crowd and ended up winning the night. He beat Bunting 6-4 in the quarters then wiped the floor with MVG to the tune of 6-1 in the semis. He faced Luke Littler in the final and I expected him to lose but despite having a vastly inferior average of 94 against 103 he won the match 6-3. It was all about the timing of the important throws and Gez got under Littler's skin with his game play. Gez has something of an Indian Sign over Luke and I believe he's beaten him more than any other player. Have to say that Gez was very complimentary about Luke in his post match interview saying that he's easily the world's best player right now and likely to be for years to come.

So the league standings are 1) Luke L on 16 points; 2) Luke H on 15; 3) Gez on 12 and 4) MVG on 10. The top 4 of the 8 in the competition will fight it out on the last night but there's a long way to go.

 

[ivoralljack]

PREMIER LEAGUE NIGHT 7 CARDIFF: Awesome stuff tonight. In the quarters MVG took out Humphries 6-4 after being 0-3 and 1-4 behind with both players averaging well over the ton. Gez went out 5-6 to Rob Cross who clinched the match with a Big Fish finish of 170. Gez was sitting with 3 darts in hand for double 18 but had already missed a match dart to win. His own fault - in this league you have to take your chances when they come and he failed to take his.

But it was the final that wowed!! Littler beat MVG 6-4 with an average of 112+, nailed 10 x 180s and got a 9 darter to boot. Awesome talent. Great night.

 

[ivoralljack]

PREMIER LEAGUE NIGHT 8 NEWCASTLE: Run of the mill night to be honest other than Luke Littler who was light years better than anyone else. Gez lost his quarter game 2-6 to Rob Cross with scarcely a whimper - his form was so bad he'd have had a job getting a place as first reserve in the local Dog and Duck team. Cross in turn bowed out to his nemesis Littler who then went on to slaughter the other Luke 6-1 in the final. Odd game that because their averages were almost identical with just .31 between them. Humphries' stats such as trebleless visits, 100+, 180s, were all superior to Littler's (more 140s) but his doubling was a terrible 10% against 40% which made all the difference. Interesting night but not memorable and Gez hangs onto 4th place by the skin of his teeth. This is all that matters really because after 17 nights the top 4 of the 8 will duke it out in the final on night 18. Can only see Littler as the eventual winner if he maintains his current form.

 

[ivoralljack]

Gez won Players Championship 9 at Leicester beating Ian White 8-4 in the final after White had disposed of Littler 6-5. Strangely, Gez's average of 94.67 was lower than White's 96.99 and he was also outscored on the 180s 6-3. However, the difference was in checking out with Gez nailing 34.8%, including a 140, against White's 28.6%. Gez really hit form in the semis though beating Brendan Dolan 7-0 with a 114 average.

 

[ivoralljack]

PREMIER LEAGUE NIGHT 9 BERLIN: A night of shocks sums this one up. In the quarters Chris Dobey disposed of Littler by 6-2. Then in the semis Stephen Bunting beat Humphries 6-2 whilst Gez took out Dobey also 6-2. Gez had a bye to the semis as MVG, his quarters opponent, had to back out with a shoulder injury. So it was Gez v Bunting in the final which Gez lost 5-6 after missing two match darts. His own fault because his doubling at just 23% was atrocious whilst Bunting's was 33%. Pleased in a way for Bunting because his three wins tonight were his first after playing eight nights without so much as one win. Coming into this he was bottom of the table with a big fat zero against his name. He's still bottom but at least he's now got 5 points for winning the night. Pleased for him despite my obvious support for Gez.

 

[ivoralljack]

PREMIER LEAGUE NIGHT 10 MANCHESTER: Really interesting night. Littler finally beat Gez 6-3 having lost their previous 6 matches on the bounce. But at least Gez nailed a 9 darter giving him his 4th in total in the PL.

Nathan Aspinall disposed of Rob Cross with the help of 6/6 100% doubling. Terrific. Then poor Stephen Bunting, after winning Night 9, was steam-rollered 6-1 by Luke Humphries. But here's the thing: Bunting averaged over 105 which is usually enough to win most games but Luke posted an astonishing average of 118.43. I mean that's just brilliant by any standards!

In the semis Humphries won the battle of the Lukes to face Aspinall in the final only to lose to him despite having an average of 5 points higher (98-93). But he only nailed 22% of his doubles and you usually never win games with that sort of figure. Nice lad is Nathan and he and Gezzie got a lot of stick after being selected to play in the PL. Many reckoned others deserved the places more. But they both sit nicely in the top 4 right now which is good to see.

 

[ivoralljack]

Post script about Gezzie's 9 darter. He gets an 18 ct gold set of darts from sponsors MGM for nailing it and they are valued at £30k. Nice little bonus that! The other thing is that Gez was the third player to nail the finish in this year's Premier League and NONE of them went on to win their matches.

 

[ivoralljack]

PREMIER LEAGUE NIGHT 11 ROTTERDAM: What a crazy night with some amazing darts and surprise results with a little mystery thrown in as well. The mystery? It was our Gezzie who lost 3-6 to Aspinall with a really odd performance. It was so odd that the comms mentioned it several times and were at a loss to explain it. Gez just didn't seem to care about the game said the comms. He lost interest early doors and the comms picked up on it immediately. They said he seemed disinterested; for large chunks of the game he was throwing without taking due care - almost without aiming as the comms described it. His demeanour was okay as he was smiling and he warmly congratulated The Asp after the game. But there was definitely something strange going on and no one seems to have any idea why. Maybe something will come to light in the next few days.

Gez remains in the top 4 by the skin of his teeth because Bunting took out MVG 6-5 and then went on to beat Littler by the same score. Littler had already take out Rob Cross 6-5 who missed a match dart on his favourite 18s. He'd left 156, got 2 x treble 20s then hit 4 to leave 32 his second favourite double. Littler had 145 to deal with and he took it out leaving Cross with 3 darts in hand ready to pounce for the match. He never got the chance.

So that left a Dobey/Bunting final with the Geordie (Dobey) winning his first ever night. But the puzzle remains. We all want to know what the fcuk was going on with Gez?

 

[Yankee_Jack]

Did you see this coming to the Liberty: A Night at the Darts Returns to the Swansea.com Stadium | Swansea

 

[ivoralljack]

Mystery solved. Seems like Gezzie took great exception to the venue which is a large arena notorious for strong draughts affecting the darts in flight. The report said that fuming Gezzie, along with other players, complained about the wind on stage impacting their throws.

Gez posted on Instagram: Gutted. This week was pointless. Darts were blowing everywhere. Hopefully, PDC will stop coming here.

So there we have it. And he has a point.

 

[ivoralljack]

PREMIER LEAGUE NIGHT 12 LIVERPOOL: No wind to worry Gez tonight as he sailed through his 3 games to win the night and take a maximum 5 points that establishes him firmly in 3rd place in the table. Remember that the top 4 of the 8 players will be the ones to contest finals night.

Gez was in fine form beating Chris Dobey 6-2 (ave 107); Rob Cross 6-2 (105) then Luke Humphries in the final 6-4 (104). Plenty of good darts to be seen on the night with lots of 180s; ton plus finishes and strong averages. Shock of the night was Luke Littler losing 5-6 to MVG after leading the Dutchman 4-0. Good viewing and let's hope Gez can keep it going tonight being his 3rd win of the competition.

 

[ivoralljack]

PREMIER LEAGUE NIGHT 13 BIRMINGHAM: Littler won for a record 5th night. He beat Bunting 6-5 then Aspinall 6-5 before beating MVG also 6-5 in the final. Although he won there's certainly a drop off in his form but he's still good enough to win most of the time. Gez picked up 2 points by beating Humphries 6-5 in the quarters after being 3-5 down and surviving 2 Humphries missed match darts. But he never found form in the semis losing 3-6 to MVG.

 

[ivoralljack]

PREMIER LEAGUE NIGHT 14 LEEDS:

Gez edged his quarter against Cross 6-5 to pick up 2 points but wasn't in the best form. Cross missed 2 match darts in fact: Gezzie's doubling was atrocious and he threw far too many wayward darts but he sneaked through at the death. Littler was his semi opponent and predictably eased to a 6-3 victory. He met the other Luke in the final but went down 5-6. That meant they've already made the final night with two sessions to go and they've been joined by Gez because MVG and Aspinall both lost their quarters so didn't score any points. The fourth and last place now looks like a fight between MVG and the Asp. I hope the latter wins because there was heavy criticism of him and Gez being awarded their places in the PL this year as their form wasn't considered good enough. Gez has already proved them wrong and I hope that Aspinall does likewise.