Results of the Men’s and Ladies’ Pairs competitions.
Ladies:
22 ladies enjoyed the chance to compete in the first ever Ladies’ Pairs competition in the Euronics darts league. For many of them it was the first time they had ever entered any darts competition being new to the sport this season. The competition was played at 2 venues with 5 pairs at the Porter House and 6 pairs at the Tavern.
Tavern: First up were Patty Poo Schofield and Wendy Woo Hayward from Junction Jaguars pitched against Pint Depot Queens Cheryl Sleath and Marie Cummins. The former two won the game 2-0 with some fine scoring from Poo 60 x2, 65 x 2, 79, 84, 99 D10 and Woo 68, 73, S3-S4-D2. Marie (68, 84, 75, 82) and Cheryl (66, 63, 60, 74) put up a good fight though. The 2nd pairing was the Jaguars’ Simone de Lacy and Lesley ‘EAGLES!’ verses Hellraisers’ Sarah and Celestine. Again the Jaguars’ took the game 2-0 with some very fine scoring from Eagles (60 x 2, 61, 84, 121 D16) and a nippy finish in the 2nd leg by de Lacy (S8-D4).
Pat and Wendy then played Rachel ‘Broadbean’ and Vi ‘Turnip’ of the Queens who had won a bye through to the second round. This game went to 3 legs with Poo (81, 60, 83, D20) and Woo (60) taking the first leg. Pocket rocket Vi (68) and Rachel (92, 87, D1) took the 2nd leg but Woo (77) and Poo’s impressive 73, 100, 60, 76, D5 saw them through as the first of the semi-finalists. In the 2nd quarter finals, de Lacy and Eagles succumbed to Hen’s Chicks’ Henne and Winnie. Despite Eagles brilliant battering of the treble 20: 85, 81, 85, 92, 70, 97, 80, 75, 60, 60 and de Lacy’s 79, 86 S1-D8 in the second leg, chirpy chick Henne pipped the cats to the finish in leg 1 with S8-D4 and leg 3 with D2.
Porter House: The play-off to get down to 4 remaining pairs was between Hellraisers’ Lesley Dolling and Joy Gorman versus Jan Hassall and Val Holland. Despite an ‘orgasmic’ 113 from Dolling and a respectable 82 from Gorman, the match went to the Chicks’ 2-0, thanks to Hassall’s D8 and D5.
The quarter final game 1 was Queens Debbie Wright and HRH Lorraine Cox against Hellraisers Cheryl McGlynn and Sue Spears. Well the latter pair were ready for a good fight and as Captain McGlynn scooped 82, 100, 84, D19 in the first game and partner Spears netting 80, D5 in the second. ‘QD’ managed a 71 and 86 but t’wasn’t nearly enough to threaten the Hellraisers.
Quarter final game 2 saw play-off winners Hassall and Holland play team mates Mags Killmurray and her granddaughter Levi Lynn. The formidable finishing of Hassall (D2, D1) saw her and Val (69, 71) into the semi-finals.
Ladies Semi-finalists:
Pat Schofield & Wendy Hayward (Jaguars), Winnie Mackay & Henne Oortwijn (Hen’s Chicks)
Cheryl McGlynn & Sue Spears (Hellraisers); Jan Hassall & Val Holland (Hen’s Chicks)
Favourites for the final? Tricky one to call as Poo and Woo have previous form as finalists in the ladies singles but will have to up their finishing game if they want to be victors in the pairs. It’s going to be a great competition on 16th March.
Men’s:
38 chaps entered the Men’s Pairs competition with 10 pairs playing at the Hen’s teeth and 9 pairs at Sporting Life. This required a play-off at both fixtures to whittle the competitors down to 8 pairs.
Hen’s Teeth: The first play-off game was Stewart and Dave from Las Rosas against Dick Hunt and Billy Naylor from the Misfits. Dicky managed a 134 and D2 for one leg but Las Rosas Stewart took them through to the next round with D7 and S3-D19. The second play-off featured an all Porter House Bees clash of Graham Parker and Tim Goodacre versus John Lane and Eddie Hirst. Well Graham was on fire with the first 180 of the competition plus a 140 and a cheeky S11-S14-D20 check-out in leg 1. Eddie (81, 92, 99) and John 60, D13 took the 2nd leg but Graham (123) and Tim’s D10 cleaned up the 3rd.
In the first round Massey’s John Williams (95, 98) and Russ Stevens’ 92 and T20-D20 got them the first leg and the latter’s 140, D15 got them the second against Ale House’s Mallinson and Wing. Las Rosas’ Stewart and Dave then faced El Capitans’ David Rotella and Mel Bettel and it was ‘thank you and goodnight’ to the Las Rosas duo as Rotella (95, 78, S3-D1) took leg 1 and Bettel’s 98, 83, 99, S8-S4-D2 swiped leg 2.
In the 3rd game of round 1, handsome Hub Hyenas Smith n’ Williams proved more than a match for Evolutions’ Martin Hastings and Ron Chadwick.
The deal was done in 2 legs with Smith (85,140, 76) and Williams’ D16 for the first leg and another 180 from Super Sean who then check-out on T20-D9. The final game of round 1 was contested between the tasty pairing of John Walker and ‘New Dad’ Aroldas Klimonis of El Capitan against play-off winners Graham and Tim (PH Bees).
The latter chaps took leg 1 with Tim scoring a 140 and Graham finishing on D5 despite some good scoring from Walker (125) and Klimonis (Jr) 62, 100, 60. The El Capitanos then evened things up with Klimonis scoring 146, D1. Graham and Tim brought it home in leg 3 with great scoring from both pairs and a great S14-D20 finish from Tim.
Onto Round 2 and Massey’s Stevens and Williams (121, 62, 59) were outdone by El Capitans Bettel (95, 83) and Rotella’s 60, 100, S3-D1 in the first of 2 legs. In the 2nd, Williams (80, 74, 82) and Stevens (96, 85) put up a good fight but Rotella’s 110, 121, 63, D10 saw them through as the first semi-finalists at this venue. The last game of the night was another 2-0 send-off and alas Smith (80, 81, 98, 60 x2, 100) ‘n’ Williams (who was losing the will to live by this point) were shown the door by Porter House Bees Parker’s haul of 123, 100, 104, 83 140 & D1 and Goodacre’s 81, 85, 80, 83 & D20.
Sporting Life: The two pairs drawn in the play-off were Massey’s Dez Field and Craig Miller against a very amusing Phil Waller and Keith Hickman of Evolution. Some power outages threw the venue into darkness and it was at this precise moment that Waller chose to throw a very doubtful 180- twice! The latter pair took the game 2-0 with Hickman’s 140 D3 for leg 1 and D6 in leg 2. Miller (100) and Field (120, 140) were strong in the opening stages but no further high scores were noted.
In round 1, the remaining 8 pairs played in the following order:
Game 1 was an all Jackals clash which in Phil de Lacy’s D5 and Alex Nikolov’s D1 saw off team mates Andy Rutter and Hugh Galloway. The only 100+ score recorded was de Lacy’s 119 in leg 2.
Game 2 had Las Rosas Montes brothers playing Hub Hyenas Stuart Clark and John Eyre. The favourites for this match on paper would be last year’s pairs champion John Eyre with partner Clark and sure enough they took the game 2-0 but not in particularly fine style, Eyre finishing on D1 and D2 the pair chalking up 100 and 118 between them.
Game 3 was an all Las Rosas battle between Alan Preston and Lee Walters (100) versus Adrian (100) and John. Walters took the first leg with D20 but Adrian’s D7 and John’s D5 gave them the win.
Game 4 was between Ale House’s Alan Havelock and Del Lister (109) pitched against play-off winners Waller and Hickman of Evo’s. Again it was Hickman to the rescue with D20 and D7 for the 2-0 result.
Round 2 Quarter finals saw Hyenas Eyre (D16) and Clarkes D20 dispense with Jackals’ de Lacy and Nikolov (100) but it was not exactly a dog-fight with the only high score of 100 coming from the mad Bulgarian. Waller and Hickman eventually fell foul of Las Rosas’ Adrian and John in a 2-0 defeat in the second quarter finals.
Semi Finalists:
Mel Bettel & David Rotella (El Capitan); Graham Parker & Tim Goodacre (PH Bees)
Stuart Clark & John Eyre (Hub Hyenas); Adrian Buitekaht and John Spencer (Las Rosas)
Favourites for the final? My money is on Graham Parker and Tim Goodacre of Porter House Bees who showed the best form of the night.
Thank you to all the venues, organisers and chalkers for a very successful evening!
BY SIMONE DE LACY
