The Grand Slam of Knitting

Posted: 14.11.10 in Tournament Analysis Blog category

We analyse Webster`s frustration and the boos...

The Unique Grand Slam of Darts Day 1

The First Wizard

Colin Osborne took on Robert Thornton in the first match of the night. A defeated Osborne was `comforted` by the ITV 4 presenter who told him “playing first, it`s not easy”. To the credit of the `The Wizard` he didn`t look entirely convinced that the order of play contributed to his downfall at all, why should he?

From a match preparation point of view it is actually the perfect berth to hold. You know exactly when you are going to play and you can time your preparation countdown to the last minute. I would have thought it was tougher the further down the order of play you were. It is virtually impossible to predict how long each match will last and therefore the right time for players to go through their perfect pre-match routine.

Big Numbers

Members of the Darts Performance Centre would have noted the number of darts missed at the big numbers again last night i.e. not the double or treble. We remind players in a game on the site not to get complacent when going for the `easy` shot. Anyone who doubted the benefit of taking care with these shots should be convinced now.

The Grand Slam of Knitting

Mark Webster was obviously frustrated last night, he could barley bring himself to shake hands with Wayne Jones after `The Wanderer` had defeated the usually mild-mannered `Webbo`. The reason for Mark`s anger was that he crowd had booed him, and that disappointed him. He did point out that without the crowd there the prize money would not exist, but deep down he was, well, fed up!

But why? Darts is a professional sport, these guys are trying to win darts matches to walk away with one hundred thousand pounds. It`s not a knitting competition as our head of department at university was always keen to point out when the world of professional sport turned ugly. Did nobody think to point out to Webster the geographical significance of the venue and his opponent? Do you think any tennis player would have walked out at Wimbledon to play Henman in his pomp or Murray now, or any high profile footballer playing at an away ground would not be aware that there may be an element of favouritism towards the opposition? Of course they would and they would be prepared for it!

However, the main problem Mark has with this scenario is that he needs to reflect and consider that perhaps it was not the crowd that defeated him. If he truly believes that the booing was the catalyst this will stop him from digging deeper and perhaps unearthing what part of his game was really lacking last night, and putting it right for the next game.

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