Darts

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.
 
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.
 
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.
 
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.
 
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.
 
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.
 
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.
 
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?
 
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.
 
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.
 
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.
 
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.
 
PREMIER LEAGUE NIGHT 15 ABERDEEN:

Only saw bits and pieces of this as my service went down several times. But I did see Gez nail his second 9 darter of the competition to win another set of 18 ct gold darts worth £30k. Nice! :) He lost his match though 4-6 to Stephen Bunting but probably didn't try too hard as he's already qualified in the last four for finals night. Littler won the battle of the Lukes to head the table and Aspinall won the night beating Dobey 6-1 to move into fourth spot in the table. Hope he makes finals night as both he and Gez had question marks raised about their credentials to take part this year.
 
PREMIER LEAGUE NIGHT 16 SHEFFIELD:

Typical Gez! Leading Dobey 4-0 then 5-1, he manages to lose it 5-6 so he scores zero points for being eliminated in the quarters. But he's already qualified in the last four for the Grand Final at the O2 arena in London. The real interest was between Nathan Aspinall and MVG who were battling for the fourth and final place. As it happened they were drawn to play each other in the quarters and the Asp took it 6-2 to grab his place in the Final. Littler beat Humphries 6-3 to win the night in a game that was of academic interest only. The final placings were 1) Littler, 2) Humphries, 3) Aspinall and 4) Gez who now has to face Littler on Finals Night. I'm guessing that the two Lukes will be fighting each other again in the final but Aspinall has shown that he can upset anyone if he finds his form. Gez? Anyone's guess really; depends how he feels on the night and if he gets his doubling sorted.
 
PREMIER LEAGUE GRAND FINAL NIGHT LONDON O2 ARENA:

So Gez played Littler and, after leading 6-4 saw Luke hit the afterburners to lose 7-10. It was predictable and the averages of 104 against 95 showed it. You don't win many games at all, let alone against Littler, with an average in the mid 90s. Gez also had 13 trebleless visits and that doesn't help you win much either.

Humphries took out a game Aspinall by the same score of 10-7 and went on to win the battle of the Lukes 11-8 thus becoming the Premier League champion for the first time. Nothing overly exciting to talk about but enjoyable to watch nonetheless.
 
WORLD SERIES NORDIC MASTERS - COPENHAGEN:

Gez through to the next round after beating his local guy 6-3 and averaging 100. Jonny Clayton scraped through against his local 6-5 after surviving two match darts. Jonny's doubling was awful and he only nailed 6/21. He did get the Big Fish of 170 though and would have lost but for that. The big opposition comes in the next round and he'll lose if he misses 15 double attempts again. He's also still throwing too many wayward darts and giving his opponent chances they shouldn't get. That said, he's working his way back on the circuit and will improve as he gets games under his belt.
 
Jonny out 3-6 to Bunting in the quarters. He should know he was pants and that you win fuck all with an average of 91 at this level. Aspinall downed Littler in a 6-3 shock win whilst Gez produced his own shock dumping Humphries by the same score and averaging about 100. Trouble is he couldn't repeat it in the semis and went out 4-7 to Rob Cross who the lost 4-8 to Bunting in the final. Looks like our Welsh lads have peaked as they're not getting any better and, whilst Gez throws excellent darts on occasion, he's too inconsistent to challenge the top players. As for Jonny, well he's sliding into oblivion....... just throws too many wayward darts that keeps giving chances to his opponents.

Bit of a bleak outlook I'm afraid as I'm not hearing about any young Welsh talent coming through.
 
WORLD CUP OF DARTS GERMANY:

Some real shocks in this but Gez and Jonny for Wales went through beating the Philippines 8-2. Now, you might think they should but the Philippines knocked out Belgium in the previous round and they are a STRONG team, so this game was far from a given. But Wales controlled the game from the off and won with a 96.43 average. That is just about decent in singles play but solid for doubles. We play Hong Kong in the next round but, believe me, they can play. No gimmee this and will be a real banana skin if the lads aren't on their game.

Then a shock result with Holland in the form of Gian Van Veen and Danny Noppert who absolutely blitzed fancied Gary Anderson and Peter Wright of Scotland by 8-0 and averaged 102.2 in the process. If we progress we could well meet them later on and this will be real toughie.

But now for the shock of the night. Germany beat England, represented by the two Lukes, 8-4. They went 2-0 up, were dragged back to 2-2 then won the next 5 legs to lead 7-2 before sealing the deal 8-4. I've never seen the Lukes play so badly and they had 19 trebleless visits to 15. I think the format disrupted them. In singles you get into a rhythm taking throws in turns. But in doubles, when you've had your throw you have to wait for 3 others to throw before you go again and they never seemed to get to grips with it. Germany controlled it and won easily much to the delight of the locals.

In the final game of the night the Aussies had a routine win over Argentina by 8-1. Good night of darts.
 
Well, as some of you know, we blew it losing the final 9-10 to Northern Ireland, a team that it's fair to say we would probably beat 80% of the time. But not this time. Not when it mattered. They'd demolished Germany, conquerers of much fancied England, 8-1 in the semis giving a strong indication that they'd found some form. But we'd also found good form beating the favourites Holland 8-5 after being down 3-5.

That was a huge victory and Gezzie sealed it with a 100 finish of tops and 2 x double tops. Personally I thought that Holland would go on to win the title but the lads played a superb game. We always seemed to be chasing the game in the final. Josh Rock, who hasn't kicked on his solo career as I once thought he would, was inspired and scored for fun. But we dragged them back to 9-9 before they edged the last game to become champions.

Interesting to note that Ireland won the bull shot pre-game to decide who would go first in the match and I believe that made the difference in the final leg. I think that had it been our darts we'd now be celebrating our third world title. Pay more attention to the bull next time, lads.

All in all it was a great tournament, perhaps the best according to the pundits with great darts, shock results galore and a lot of excitement. Also good to see that the Final was played in good spirits and both teams were highly complimentary about each other after the game. So, well done, Northern Ireland; hard luck Wales and, lads, practise your bull shots extra hard before the next one.
 
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