180 Analysis

Posted: 06.04.11 in Tournament Analysis Blog category

We have a closer look at the 180's that have been hit in The Premier League this season so far.

 We run a blog during every tournament. We have left The Premier League to Anthony Urmston-Toft who has previewed each and every week of the competition with his thoughts and tips. However, we are going to add some extra coverage for the remainder of the Premier League season with some analysis on the best bit about darts, the stats :)

Every Dart Fan loves a 180!

The treble twenty, hit three times in successive throws, one hundred and eiiiiiiigtteeey (in your best gravelly voice) is the holy grail for power scoring for any darts player. It does not necessarily mean success however. A study I carried out for my final project for my sports analysis studies entitled “The Search for Performance Indicators in Darts” (yes, I know catchy) demonstrated that there were other crucial factors that determined whether a player won a darts match or not. The amount of 180’s did not actually feature in the most crucial areas of performance-more of that another time.

Nevertheless the one hundred and eight is rightly held in high esteem in darts and we have put together some analysis of how the “180” has fared in The Premier League so far this season

Fig 1 – The 180 League table

When are we Playing?

We have argued several times, here and here that it is an advantage to know when you are playing so you can be in the right "state" to play. Terry Jenkins was the latest player to dismiss the notion that it is an advantage to know exactly when you are playing in an interview with “Dave” recently. Maybe there is another reason Terry is known as “The Bull”! He is not the only player mind and who are we to argue with one of our favourite players? That said, here we go!

Our argument is that you need to be prepared to win a darts match. You need to combine your emotional state, your concentration and focus at exactly the right moment, for example when you step on stage to play your match. Ideally you will play first, perfect, with Sky Sports on board the first game is choreographed to the exact second, wonderful! A player can be prepared.

As the evening wears on, however, it becomes more difficult to predict when you are going on. How often do we see players make a late rally just as you think the game is drawing to a close? You are just about to make a dash to the fridge for more supplies when a player starts a come-back, very annoying!  But spare a thought for the next guys on, they could be doing whatever they do to get themselves in the zone when the come-back starts, even more annoying than not being able to grab yourself something cold from the fridge! In addition to these factors there is also the danger of fatigue kicking in the later you play and other obstacles to optimum performance that are prevelent when backstage.

Ok, we have said our piece, how about some statistics to make Terry and the rest of the players take a bit of notice. Here we have the games that produce the most 180’s – Starting with match 1 each week through to Week 8

 Fig 2 - Matches that produce the most 180's

Over the eight weeks so far, the first two matches of the night have produced the most 180`s in seven of the eight weeks. This includes a tie between match one and two on week four. The only exception to this rule was the Taylor V Whitlock game in week six. The last match of the night has never produced the most 180`s. A coincidence?

We will be back next week...

 Paul Gillings is the founder of the darts improvement website The Darts Performance Centre. He has recently set up a video analysis coaching website with biomechanist Andy Humphrey.