Oche's Blog

On Friday, Alex Moss from the Weekly Dartscast ran a good & interesting article about the future of the BDO spots with comments from Richard Ashdown & Steve Brown, Both gave excellent points and it was food for thought.  Personally, Its tough for the WDF to sell itself for spots in any Grand Slam, I've been vocal on Twitter, Forums and other social media about the need to include BDO Players in the event. But people can easily turn around and say "What do they bring to the table"?  And these people are right, No WDF player would have made much of a difference to the event and this is at a vast contrast to players who graced the Grand Slam as BDO Players such as Anderson, Waites, O'Shea, Hankey, Waites, Adams & Durrant. If you look at the Rankings and you will see Ross Montgomery as the world number 1. Would he have offered anything to the event? you will be hard pressed to think not judging by his BDO TV form in years gone by. Wayne Warren entered this yea

 Well the GSOD draw came out this evening. Doesn't really have me insisting this is a must watch compared to a few years ago. The BDO dying out has not helped with this. But here's is my view on the draw & predictions.  Group A Michael Van Gerwen, Joe Cullen, Gabriel Clemens, Adam Hunt MVG will have no trouble getting out of this group even if he is not performing to his full ability. Joe Cullen flatters to deceive on TV & Clemens hasn't got a solid game on TV (He will). Adam Hunt is the outsider but I cant see him troubling the top two.  Prediction: MVG & Cullen to go through Group B Gary Anderson, Simon Whitlock, Ryan Searle, Adam Gawlas Anderson seems to be struggling with an injury & this will play on thr outcome of the group and 2 of this group will take full advantage and Ando will crash out. Whitlock isnt playing badly and Searle looks rock solid on TV. Gawlas is an up and coming talent and this will be a great experience for him, dont expect him to w

So this week is another PDC TV event The World Cup of Darts and lets be honest its a bit of a let down. The whole aspect of the event should be doubles, 2 players from 32 countries are selected and this is what should be played all through the tournament.  The First round this was the case and it provided some excellent action, although a lack of genuine upsets its still was a good day's worth of play. But Saturday's action was a damp squib. The PDC in their wisdom decide from this round their are single matches before the doubles action, This devalues the event and makes its lacklustre. Play Doubles only all the way through till the final.  Its a busy time for Darts (Thank god really considering there not much each because of Lockdown) GSOD Qualifier & Winter Series next week which will be good, Jim Williams & Keane Barry will be making their pro tour debuts, Both are excellent talents and both could cause some damage over the 5 days.   I have a feeling there will be 8

Interesting week of darts and the madness that goes on off the oche.  John O'Shea is well within his rights to keep hold of the World Masters trophy, Despite Des Jacklin's endless & groundless threats. I hope that "The Joker" will keep standing his ground as there hasn't been another World Masters played & the BDO is as good as folded. James Wade had a bit of a rant over the Standard of the PDC, And I do think he has a point, It at the very least Plateaued over the 5 years. Anderson, Taylor, MVG were hitting bigger averages and the doubling was a lot higher. Wade hasn't really done much in the PDC within the last 18 months yet is still in the Top 16, Perhaps testament to how good a player he actually is.  Joe Cullen was number one seed for the European Championships, Now I know its based on the OOM of the 4 Euro tours but it has to go down as one of the weakest number 1's in PDC history, and true to form he lost in the 1st round to William O'Co