Home State wins Ladies Doubles Darts Title

A couple of new combinations played past previous Australian Champions to win the Australian Doubles Darts titles at the 31st Australian Darts Championships in Gosford at the Central Coast Leagues Club.

Ladies Doubles
The Final of the Ladies Doubles was played by four ladies all from New South Wales. All were relatively new to the stage as only Corrine Hammond had played in this events final before winning back in 2007 in Hobart. Fran Shore and Sophie Cox were to take on Corrine Hammond and Lavinia Hogg for the title.

Hammond and Hogg started the final strongly hitting some big scores while Shore and Cox were just a little off the early pace.

This did not matter as wasted darts by Hammond and Hogg at the double gave Fran Shore a shot at 40 which she nailed to take the early lead. Hammond and Hogg were still scoring fairly strongly and they managed to pull back that early break in winning leg two. They claimed leg three with the darts after a nice clean 52 peg by Hammond with two darts.

The fourth leg tied everything up at 2 -2 after Cox and Shore put in the big scores and clean finish. (32 one dart) The pressure was starting to tell on several of the players as the end was getting nearer.

The fifth leg went to Hammond and Hogg. That win lifted the Hammond and Hogg combination and their scoring powered went up a notch to comfortably take the sixth leg. Requiring one more leg for the title Hammond and Hogg were facing extreme pressure from Shore and Cox as they were hit some consistent big scores in this leg. Hogg scored a vital 94 to leave 36 for Hammond while Cox through a ton to leave Shore a chance at finishing from 64. Hammond only needed one dart, smack in the middle of double 18 and Hammond and Hogg were the new Australian Ladies Doubles Darts Champions winning 5 - 2.

Finals Averages:
Corrine Hammond 16.495 & Lavinia Hogg 23.247 (NSW)
Fran Shore 18.994 & Sophie Cox 18.883 (NSW)

The first semi final was a real nail brighter. Fran Shore and Sophie Cox were up against the very experienced combination of Louise Ball and Dot McLeod (Louise Ball having won this title four times, Dot McLeod six times) Ball & McLeod started strongly winning the first leg against the darts. Shore and Cox immediately broke back after both pairs missed darts at the double. The third leg saw some big scoring by the NSW ladies. They needed that advantage as they wasted six darts at the double again before hitting the winning double to hold their throw. A 180 by Shore to leave Cox 32 was enough to break the WA combination to take a 3 - 1 lead. The experience came through in legs five and six as Ball and McLeod found good form to power through these two legs to force this semi final into a deciding leg. The final leg was really close with Shore throwing some great darts. She was first to throw a dart at the double, but just missed. McLeod also missed tops leaving 10. Cox was to have the next shot which produced a 20 finish to end a thrilling game and a place for Fran Shore and Sophie Cox in the final.

Semi Final Averages:
Fran Shore 21.657 & Sophie Cox 14.907 (NSW)
Louise Ball 18.566 & Dot McLeod 21.515 (WA)

Hammond & Hogg had a comprehensive win in the semi finals. They defeated Kathy McGregor and Ann Lacey from Queensland 4 - 1. McGregor & Lacey were under pressure right from the start. They wasted six darts at the double which let Hammond and Hogg in to claim the first leg. McGregor and Lacey did immediately break back though, but from that point on Hammond and Hogg took control, strongly taking the next three legs to advance. The New South Wales ladies scored heavier than their Queensland counterparts. Final score 4 - 1.

Semi Final Averages:
Corrine Hammond 19.135 & Lavinia Hogg 23.0 (NSW)
Kathy McGregor 19.985 & Ann Lacey 17.507 (QLD)

Quarter Final results
Louise Ball 22.048 & Dot McLeod 18.763 (WA) defeated
Chrissie Sheerin 20.574 & Peta Randall 15.982 (QLD) 3 - 1

Fran Shore 19.575 & Sophie Cox 15.763 (NSW) defeated
Emma Watkins 21.605 & Yvonne Armstrong 18.572 (NSW) 3 - 2

Corrine Hammond 18.953 & Lavinia Hogg 23.134 (NSW) defeated
Jannine Cassar 19.1 & Sue Tuhi 20.113 (VIC) 3 - 1

Kathy McGregor 17.360 & Ann Lacey 16.618 (QLD) defeated
Jodie Hislop 20.439 & Kim Kelly 16.921 (WA) 3 - 2

At the completion of the round robins, all quarter finalists won through undefeated except for Cassar & Tuhi and Shore and Cox who had to survive a tie breaker to make the finals.

Red Shirts Win Doubles

Men Doubles
This final was no classic but the scoring was brilliant.

Representing Queensland was Dewayne Turner a first time Championship appearance for him and his partner Darren Kirk who returns to compete at these Championships after an absence of many years. He previously won this title back in 1994 with Steve McCarthur. They were up against two players who have been selected in Australian teams from South Australia in Craig Atze and Peter Machin (right) and this was their first Australian Doubles final.

Queensland was away first and plenty of triple twenties were being hit. They were first to the double where Turner finished from 60. Leg two and every score was a 100 or higher except for the peg which was 16 hit by Machin with one dart to square up the final. The triple twenty disappeared for the SA combination in the third leg hitting seven scores of 60 in a row.

Queensland was messing around at the double though, and surprisingly Machin and Atze stole the leg when Atze finished from 40.

A vital break to the South Australian's. The big scoring returned to Machin and Atze in leg four and a great 105 pegout by Machin gave them a 3 - 1 lead.

Leg five saw both combinations waste several darts trying to finish the leg. Queensland missed their chance to hold the throw, as Machin swooped in to hit double 10 for another break. Triple 19 was a popular place for Machin in the sixth as was triple 20 for Atze. They powered through the leg to stretch their lead to 5 - 1. Only one leg away from the title for Machin and Atze saw the Queenslander's rally and put in a brilliant leg (121, 100, 100, 140, 100, 40 2-darts)

The eighth leg saw nine 100+ scores hit. Atze missed double 4 for the title which let Queensland set up a shot at the double. Machin did not give them a chance at that double though as he hit double 4 with his first dart to win the Australian Darts Doubles title.

This was only the second time a South Australian combination has won this title, the last being back in 1977 when Peter Machin's father was probably representing South Australia.

Finals Averages:
Craig Atze 23.187 & Peter Machin 30.833 (SA)
Dewayne Turner 28.866 & Darren Kirk 23.025 (QLD)

Craig Atze & Peter Machin were up against the 2009 Champions for this event in Kyle Anderson and Beau Anderson from Western Australia in what appeared to be a little one-sided second semi final, but all players produced brilliant darts. The final averages show this. The SA pairing were away first and the first throw produced the perfect start with a 180 thrown by Machin (right). Double tops sucured the first leg for the South Australian's. The Anderson brothers fought back to claim leg two comfortably. A costly bust by Machine gave the Anderson's a shot at the double in the third leg, all be it one dart. Beau Anderson pegged 144. Machin and Atze struck straight back breaking the WA boys throw to square up the match 2 - 2. That break back appeared to really lift Machin and Atze as they won the next three legs in 21, 21 and 20 darts to win 5 - 2 and make the final.

Semi Final Averages:
Craig Atze 27.44 & Peter Machin 28.49 (SA)
Kyle Anderson 23.72: Beau Anderson 28.72 (WA)

In the second semi final Dewayne Turner and Darren Kirk (left) ended the hopes of an all South Australian final by defeating Andrew Townes and Laurie Loch. Triple twenties were being hit left, right and centre at the start of this match, but Turner and Kirk seemed to be in control of the match most of the time. They won the first leg against the darts, setting them up for the remainder of this semi final. They won the first four legs and could have won the fifth, but a bust by Kirk gave the South Australians another chance which Townes hit D16 to claim their first leg. There recovery was only short lived as "Captain" Kirk hit D10 to end the sixth leg to clinch their place in the final.

Semi Final Averages:
Dewayne Turner 26.441 & Darren Kirk 28.12 (QLD)
Andrew Townes 24.028 & Laurie Loch 25.966 (SA)

Quarter Final results:
Kyle Anderson 23.42 & Beau Anderson 28.58 (WA) defeated
Pat Orreal 27.45 & Mick McCreadie 23.70 (QLD) 4 - 2

Craig Atze 25.985 & Peter Machin 29.50 (SA) defeated
Anthony Fleet 28.807 & Mick Mullaney 26.281 (ACT) 4 - 3

Andrew Townes 26.70 & Laurie Loch 24.35 (SA) defeated
Jason Murdoch 30.85 & Henry Bajowski 25.13 (VIC) 4 - 2

Dewayne Turner 24.442 & Darren Kirk 25.906 (QLD) defeated
Kim Lewis 24.423 & Kerry Whear 24.584 (WA) 4 - 3

All quarterfinalists except for Dewayne Turner and Darren Kirk made it through the round robin stage unscathed. Reed and Clegg had to defeat Victorian's Scott Smith and Trevor Crooke in a two way tiebreaker to claim the board victory.

Tomorrow sees the first day of the main event with the first four rounds of the Australian Teams event.