Scotty Dog - My last busy 10 days
It’s been a busy 10 days for me as I was part of the England team who won the Men’s title, along with the Ladies title at the British Internationals held in Parc y Scarlets, Llanelli.
England brought in some new faces for caps this time around with two new ladies and five new men, with them all performing superbly under the pressure of wearing the red and white shirt. There was mixed emotions for me as I lost 3-1 to Euan Callendar of Scotland with a 30.31 average, and then lost to my old mate (and he is old!!) Dave Smith Hayes of Wales in a last leg decider 3-2. Bptj Dave and Euan avenged defeats from me in the past.
A quick mention must go to Merryl Dennis who is a Decon County lass (which is Dorset’s next door neighbour county), as she shot a 122 in her debut game to win! Up the Southerners!! Lol
I have been invited to be part of the Bournemouth Masters sponsored by Modus Darts Events and Management on Thursday September 13th. The line-up will consist of Barney, James Wade, Simon Whitlock and me as a guest. I went meet Barney and George Noble (who were in town with the Premier League) at the Money Shop on Wednesday to get more details. I’m already looking forward to it already! For ticket information, visit:
· www.gigantic.com or www.dartshop.tv
Thursday was the weekly Premier League night, this time at the Bournemouth International Centre which had many darts people and friends from across our area in attendance.
Those who know me will know that I’m a massive Speedway fan with Dorset’s Poole Pirates as my team. I got the chance to meet our Aussie riders known to Speedway fans as the ‘Turbo Twins’ – Chris Holder and Danny Ward, along with team manager and former Pirate’s legend plus Dorset lad Neil Middleditch. All of the lads getting in the spirit of things by dressing up as pirates! Middlo’s pirate boots were what he had worn out clubbing in the 70^s, back in the days of his Afro hairstyle…
I also met former England Under 19 player and current AFC Bournemouth left sided star Scott Malone. All in all, it was a very fun evening!
On Friday I had to fly to Dusseldorf for the German Open which is held just up the road in Bochum. The singles were on the Saturday and I managed to progress through my group and into the Semi Final where I played the Scot Derek Cunningham, and won 3-1. In the final I played veteran if the city and proud Yorkshireman Brian ‘The Mullet’ Preece. I squeezed past him 3-2 to progress into the last 64 where the Lakeside Semi Finalist Wesley Harms was my opponent. Earlier in the year at the Scottish Open I had been defeated against the throw so I was looking to return the favour and get a victory. With the match level at 2-2, I won the bull up to win the 1st throw and went on to win the match 3-2.
I then eased past the German Alexander Raher 3-1 in the last 32 to make it to the last 16. In the last 16 and it was my old friend and former Grand Slam Champion and Runner up, plus current Winmau World Masters Champion Scott Waites. After throwing a couple 180’s and the match being level at 2-2, the crucial bull up was won by me and I went on to win the man 3-2, checking out on 36 for a 17 dart leg with Waites sat on 40.
In the last 8 I played the talented 19 year old Jimmy Hendriks who had knocked out Jan Dekker in the previous round. We were now now set play so it was best of 3 legs for a set and best of 3 sets. At 1 set each having both of the sets ending 2-1 in legs, it was to the bull up, which I had been in good form at all day and I continued this good form and won the bull up again. I was left with 140 to throw, which I ended up on 40. Jimmy was on 200 which he threw 140 to leave 60 to win. I hit double top last dart of the last leg to take the match.
I now met Belgian Gert de Voss who had made his Lakeside debut earlier this year. At 1 set up and 1-0 up in legs, in the 2nd I missed darts to win the match! The Belgian took advantage of this and levelled the match 1-1. I then lost the bull up for the first time of the day but managed to steal the 1st leg and have a chance to clinch the match win in the 2nd leg of the 3rd set, but I then loose that leg so it’s all square at 1-1 in legs. It is now sudden death with de Voss to throw for the match. The Belgian managed to checkout with 77 to win the match.
"I’m disappointed to miss doubles and loose the match this way in one of the Major BDO circuit Opens. The bigger picture for me is the race for points to get back to Lakeside and these 20 ranking points will come in very handy come end of rankings in October".
In the Men’s pairs I reached the final ironically with Dutch youngster Jimmy Hendricks! We reached the final by beating Lakesider’s Robbie Green and Dave Prins, and Scottish Internationals Ewan Hislop and Gary Stone. We lost out 2-1 in the final against Clive Barden and Steve Douglas.
I’d like to say that it ended with more plusses than minuses and it was a good weekend for the Scotty Dog. A big thanks as always to Sponsors Motor-vation Garage of Boscombe, Designs by Sazz for my shirts and Red Dragon Darts for all my darting equipment.