World Darts

Now we have a red and black darting Valhalla and a stage the length of 3 cricket wickets. Dave Clark of Sky Sports sits in a star-spangled eyrie above the black curtained ‘slave galley’ that is the commentary box. We have 23 cameras beaming out all of the agony, the accuracy and the ecstasy.

There are no mugs in this field. Per Lauersen of Denmark gave Alan Tabern of St. Helens a right fright before Alan won their first round encounter 3-1.

Then the stage was set for a real fairy story. One year ago Mark Walsh played in the World Championships while suffering from the dreaded dartitis. But the lad has battled hard, doing 5 hours’ practise a day until he got his accuracy back. He deserved his 3-2 win over Adrian Gray.

It was also great to commentate on the REAL Wayne Mardle. Wayne showed great concentration in beating American Ray Carver 3-2.

In the last match of the night an out-of-sorts Colin Lloyd blew a 2-1 in sets lead and let in Dutchman Jan Van der Rassel. Lloyd looks to have lost confidence totally.

Courage Quickies:

Alan Tabern, in interview before his game: ‘Don’t put my mug on television before the watershed. It’ll frighten the kids’

John Gwynne: ‘He’s hitting the red and green on the board so regularly that they’ll mix into a proper purple patch’