Hub – Nick Spicer And John Eyres – Hub Hyenas. Porter House – Paul Dowington And Peter O´Rourke – Busters. Evolution – Mike Smith And Del Lister – Breakaways. Breakaways – Brett Badlove And Stuart Clark – Que Pasa Eagles
Four qualifiers to compete in semi-finals on 30th April
Four pairs now remain after this week´s qualifiers and not a bad four at that. Biggest surprise is no Pat Abrams and Lee Maiden who went out in a bit of a whimper to the eventual qualifier at Evolution Mike Smith and Del Lister.
Another fancied duo Mark Filer and Ray Harvey also crashed out first round to Simon Williams and Shaun Smith. The fancied team of Nick Spicer and John Eyre qualified dropping just the one leg in three matches and barring broken bones will be favourites at the semis.
I mentioned Smith and Lister last week as a pair to watch out for and sure enough they qualified. My prediction of the in-form Smith doing all the work, was totally wrong as Lister took five of the six doubles in a nice display of arrow throwing.
I am not surprised Paul Dowington and Peter O´Rourke will be competing in the semis, both can play a bit, they are a team the other three will be hoping to avoid. The Breakaways venue was the most difficult to predict, but victors Brett Badlove and Stuart Clark will give a good account of themselves come semis time.
Clark can raise his game when necessary, but more importantly his game has been very consistent this term. Badlove needs to support his partner with steady scoring and the odd double. They will be the outsiders on the night, but don’t dismiss them.
Down at the Hub venue all three Hyenas pairs entries were coincidentally drawn at home. It definitely gives a side the best opportunity of a representative in the semis. In fact two of the three played each other in the final, more of that later.
The fancied team of Mark Filer and Ray Harvey (Busters) faced Simon Williams and Shaun Smith in the first, Filer taking first blood on D2 and opening with a 140 in the next.
Williams levelled on D12 to set up the decider, which also went Hyenas way, Smith D4 obliging with the honours. Nick Spicer and John Eyre made short work of Alan Strong and Sarah Simpson, Eyre scoring 2×100, 81 and the first double, D4, Spicer 100 and the winning D16.
Jaguars Wendy Hayward and Pat Schofield gave a good account of themselves in the first round winning two of three playing Keith King and Mike Jones. Hayward 127, 116 and 3 additional 80+ as well as D4 doing the damage, Schofield taking the first double. King nailed the middle leg on D19 but to no avail the Jaguars taking the winning leg.
Williams and Smith couldn’t find their earlier rhythm when taking on fellow Hyenas Joe Miller and Joe Hawkins. Even though Smith found a maximum and a ton in the second leg, Miller 2×100 and Hawkins D8 made it 2 zip for further progress. More Hyenas followed in the portly shapes of Spicer and Eyre, this time facing the Jaguar girls of Schofield and Hayward.
Three tons from the striped ones, including a 140 from Eyre plus D20, left the girls a little shell shocked, but they picked themselves up in the second with some good scoring but not enough as Eyre made it 2-0 on D10 and with it the pleasure of playing Hawkins and Miller in the final. Hawkins 100 and Miller 100 made a steady start with the throw, but Spicer 2×140, 100 and D8 broke their opponents throw and look likely to make it 2-0 with Spicer hitting 2 more tons.
Miller came to the rescue with some heavy scoring, partner Hawkins taking out 72 for all square. Miller continued bombarding the T20, but Eyre 121, 100 and Spicer 121 and a bull finish ended the game with a 2-1 score line.
At Evolution, both Meerkats pairs were despatched with relative ease, to accompany the other two Kats teams failing to proceed to the semis. Pat Abrams and Lee Maiden, many observers´ favourites, looked far from that as they succumbed to a pretty good show from Mike Smith and Del Lister.
The latter nailed the first on D16 after 121s from each player, Maiden also securing a 121. Abrams recorded his only ton in the second leg, Smith 85, 100, Lister 120 and D7 for a 2-0 score line. Another pair of Kats followed in the shape of Alex Nikolov and Paul Durrant, the former taking the first on D20 after a ton. Opponents Peter Ayres 140 and Brian Nash D12 making it all square.
A mundane match livened up in the third, Durrant 85, 122 and Ayres 85 and a tasty 138 to leave 40 gave the match a real edge. Nikolov left 36 which Durrant missed leaving Nash to use one dart for D20 and victory. Newcomers to the league Matt Jackson and Debbie Metcalfe (Porter House) acquitted themselves well, the former 81 and 118, Metcalfe a nice 140 against the Breakaways duo of Ivan Jones and Mike Snow.
Whilst doubles eluded the Porters pair, that wasn’t the case for Jones 100,D10 and Snow 140 and D8 for the game. Smith and Lister figured next to take on Alan Preston and Chris Miles. Lister´s 103 out (S5,T19,D20) made it 1-0, followed by a ton from Smith and then a 121 from Lister plus D2 for the match.
Ayres and Nash seemed to have the better of Jones and Snow in the next game, Nash taking out D20 after 3×80+ scores. An 81 and 125 from Ayres looked good enough to win, but Jones recorded an 85 and 105 to give Snow the opportunity of taking out D15 to level.
A ton from Ayres and a 140 from Nash gave the Porters a massive lead which they failed to convert into a double. Snow took his advantage to hit D8 for 1-2. The winners now played the Breakaways pair for a finals night place. Jones won the bull, the pair kicking off with 4 80+ scores, Smith replying with a 98 and a tasty 129 to leave partner Lister the simple task of taking out S5,D20 for the lead. Snowy bust 114 in the second leg allowing Smith to finish D5 for 2-0.
Meerkat captain and league vice chairman Del Kingsbury partnered Graham Todd this term easing their way through two rounds before facing the Busters duo of Paul Dowington and Peter O´Rourke. A comfortable 2-0 victory over Kay and Brian Hobbis was followed by overhauling Gilly and Terry Kirby 2-1. Gilly did all the work in the first leg, not only hitting the scores but D16 as well.
Kingsbury livened up with 95,100,100 plus D8 and D10 for a place in the Porter House final. Dowington and O´Rourke suffered some double trouble but came from behind to take out Jon Peters and Jak Doggatt, the latter taking the first on D2 and then opening with 136 in the second.
Dowington´s response was emphatic 80,81,95,92 for O´Rourke to level on D4. Peters opened up his shoulders in the decider with 81,121, however Dowington was his equal to set up O´Rourke to complete the match on D2. Their next opponents, Alan Ostrowski and Danas Bobinas played better than the 0-2 score line suggests both hitting numerous 80+ scores.
However all players suffered with double trouble, culminating in the Busters team finding D1 twice for victory. Kingsbury and Todd failed to capitalise with the throw in the first of the final, Dowington 100 taking out D18. A 95,140 and D4 from Kingsbury levelled the match, the Kats captain now in his stride recording 95,81,95 in the decider. O´Rourke´s 81 and ton just enough to gain first poke at the double, resulting in D9 for 2-1.
Brett Badlove and Stuart Clark came through the Breakaways venue without dropping a leg, both players sharing scoring and double responsibilities. Their first opponents Sonya Cooper and Leah Chesworth put up a good fight, Chesworth recording 81, 140, Cooper 95,100, but the Que Pasa licensee Badlove took the first and opened with 125 in the second for Clark to finish the game on D8.
The victors faced Sid Cross and Yvonne Rouffignac in the semi who had earlier despatched George and Taylor Caine 2-0, the Porters sharing the doubles, Cross managing 81,81,81,100. Cross however had trouble in maintaining his form, Rouffignac doing a little better, but not enough as the Eagles converted some great scoring into winning doubles.
Meanwhile Tracey Simpson and Simone de Lacy had disposed of Karl Mallinson and Tony Woods 2-1, de Lacy finding both doubles. Woods taking the middle leg on D16. Their next opponents proved tougher Karl Cooper and John Ashworth.
The former finished D16 to go 1 up, de Lacy 138, 85, 82 and D3 for D19 then D16 to level plus D5 for the match. The Jaguars couldn’t repeat their semi final efforts and went down 2-0, Clark taking out both doubles D16, D8 plus a ton and 3×80+ scores.
Triples KO this week at Que Pasa, Busters, Ale House and Sporting Life, no predictions this week but four great teams will certainly triumph.
Finishing School
Question: How do you finish 103
Answer: I always tell players to go for their regular T20 on a ton plus out as they are more likely to hit T20 than for example T17. However in this case a miss into S1 leaving 102 means you cannot finish in two darts. Therefore T19 is recommended first dart as a miss means you can still finish in two.
Question: Should you ever consider a two double finish with two darts in your hand?
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