Could I have a future opening supermarkets as a Fabio lookalike?
THE latter part of last week spelled the start of a hectic few days.
Thursday evening was the second night of the Hastings Premier League. I was playing against Jim Withers, himself an ex-PDC player, and also a Sussex county player.
Our match started well for me, as I went into a 3-1 lead. However, Jim clawed it back to 3-3 at the break, I had missed opportunities at doubles, which could have seen me sitting on a 5–1 lead.
At the re-start, it was Jim who pulled ahead, and at 6–3 in his favour I needed to put things right. I got back to 6–5, and he then took his seventh leg, ensuring he would get at least a draw. I won the next, and with Jim sat on tops in the final leg, I required a 124 finish to snatch a draw. I hit single 20, Treble 18, and then with my last dart, narrowly missed the bullseye to salvage the point. Jim checked out, and took the game 8–6.
There are another 12 weeks to go in this, and I need to make the top four to qualify for the finals night.
On Friday, myself, Adi Gray, and Tony Ayres set off early for Haarlem in Holland for another European Players Championship weekend. We arrived in plenty of time to settle down in front of the big screen to watch England versus Algeria.
During the match I found myself a new career. Not one that I'm overly impressed about, but it depends on how well we do against the Germans this weekend.
As we were playing so badly, I think it was Wes Newton who jumped up and shouted at me: "For god's sake Fabio, change something… bring on Joe Cole" The place erupted into laughter, and I'm now known throughout the PDC as Fabio Capello!
Just think… if England did manage to win the World Cup, I could be opening supermarkets as a lookalike!
The weekend's darts went well for me; I won a prelim, but then narrowly lost to Gary Eastwood from Surrey on the Saturday.
On Sunday I took a good win against Rolf Kaiser, but then lost to Steve Hine. Steve almost hit a nine-darter against me and played very well throughout. I was happy though, as I'd made the prize money.
I now sit at 139 in the World Rankings, and at 88th in the Players Championship. The tour card for next year is looking good; I need to keep up my momentum.
Tuesday night, I deputised for Captain Sheebo with our Kings Head side away to the Railway in Hailsham. A 9-0 win was the result for us, but our opposition was somewhat depleted which was a shame.
Wednesday was Superleague night, and our opponents stormed into a 4–0 lead. I went on fifth, and my opening nine darts were 140, 137, 123. That set me up for a great opening leg.
However, I hadn't really noticed that my opponent was also scoring fairly well. I set up a shot at tops with my next throw, and then I heard "Great shot, Jim." He'd checked out 58 by hitting 4, 4, bull.
I was gobsmacked, and it knocked me a bit, but I did win 3–1. I'm not sure of the overall result of the match as I left after we were back to 4–3 down. It could have gone to a decider.
So, what else have I got coming up… Oh yes, LAS VEGAS! We are heading off to the States today (Friday), for the PDC New Tropicana World Series of Darts.
I love Las Vegas, and it is great being there with a group of people that you know. There are three Players Championship events being held, as well as the World Cricket Championships (another dart game variant).
The only downside of the trip is that England are playing Germany on the Sunday, and with the time difference it means that kick-off is at 7am over there. So an early start, watch footy over breakfast, then settle down for the day's darts.
Hopefully I'll be able to fill you in a postcard from Vegas next week, and even more hopefully, I'll have some wins to report on.
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Weather for Lewes
Wednesday 08 February 2012
Today
Cloudy
Temperature: -2 C to 2 C
Wind Speed: 17 mph
Wind direction: North east
Tomorrow
Sunny spells
Temperature: -0 C to 2 C
Wind Speed: 8 mph
Wind direction: North east
