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29 July 2006 -

All five legs go with the darts in the second session but James still holds a slight advantage at 6-4.

The third session again goes with the darts until the 15th leg when James fails to clear up the 25 from a missed 161 finish and Taylor breaks to cut the deficit to 8-7.

Again the pattern continues for the first three legs of the fourth session but in the 19th leg Taylor breaks throw to lead for the first time in the match. Taylor extends the lead to 11-9 at the interval with a 12 darter finishing on 140 to take command of the final for the first time since the start.

The fifth session sees Taylor break early to lead 12-9 but James hits straight back to close the gap to just one break of throw. Taylor restores his advantage in the next and powers away to a 15-10 lead at the break and it finally looks like the man who has been playing on the world stage since James was a five year old is in full control of the final.

The last session sees Taylor grab the three legs needed for victory as he runs out an 18-11 winner. However for two thirds of the final James was in touch with Taylor who lifts the World Matchplay title for a record eighth time.

James has to settle for £15,000 but this will stand him in good stead for the start of 2007 when the world ranking list changes to a list based on prize money won on the professional tour.

29 July 2006 -

The former Swiss Open and Irish Masters champion has played Phil three times on the professional tour and each time has given him a very tough test but has yet to beat him.

Hampshire B win 4-3 against Glamorgan A in the last 32 but are beaten by the same narrow margin by Cambridgeshire South in the last 16.

28 July 2006 -

James took the first leg of the match with a big finish but Roland reeled off the next five to open a big lead. James chased him but never quite caught him until he levelled at 14 apiece. James regained the lead at 16-15 and had a dart for the match before Roland saved the match with another big finish. Roland missed a dart for the match himself in the 34th leg but a great 64 finish by James levelled at 17-17. Another break for James and he finally emerged victorious in the 36th leg with an incredible 10 darter, 140-180-145-36, as Roland had hit 180 to leave a finish of his own. Over two hours of sheer darting brilliance from both players, nineteen maximums and ten 100 plus finishes. James finshed with an average over 94 and Roland over 92.

It seems that James's decision a fortnight ago to go full time professional was a wise move indeed. He plays top seed Phil Taylor in tomorrow's final where the winner will take £30,000 against the runner up's £15,000.

Hampshire's Youth Team matches are: 17 September - Dorset away, 29 October - Surrey away, 17 December - Cornwall away, 7 January - Sussex home, 4 February - Dorset home, 25 February - Surrey home, 29 April - Cornwall home, 27 May - Sussex away. All home matches are at Sarisbury Green Community Centre, Southampton.

County Play-off dates are: 22 September - Ladies World Championship, 1 October - Men's World Championship, 18 March - Men's and Ladies English Singles, 10 June - Men's and Ladies Gold Cup Singles and Pairs, 1 July - Men's and Ladies World Masters.

Other events are: 10/11/12 November - Mill Rythe Autumn Festival, 27 December - Cosham Open at Cosham RBL, 11/12/13 May - Mill Rythe Spring Festival, 2 June - Hampshire Open at Southampton Novotel.

The 2007 Hampshire County Annual General Meeting will be held on 20 July.

More details can be found by clicking on the following link. This will open a printable calendar in Adobe Acrobat format in a new browser window Alternatively right click and select "save target":

2006-2007 Calendar

28 July 2006 -

Men: Danny Ballard, Steve Ballard, Jon Bramble, Roy Brown, John Burbidge, Ian Burnett, Greg Cheesbrough, Mick Cookman, Paul Dunn, Kevin Ede, Ian Edmunds, Andy Elvin, Steve Hayter, Paul Hogan, Tony Hutchinson, Rick Lowther, Andy Mitchell, Dennis Murrell, Steve Phillips, Steve Phipps, Danny Pinhorne, Nilsson Pritchard, Matt Richards, Sam Rooney, Danny Smith, Barry Stevens, Aaron Turner, Tony Whitcher and Alan Yates.

Ladies: Jill Field, Elaine Harty, Angela Hogan, Mandy Keith, Pennie Lewis, Sue Lowther, Jane Monaghan, Laura Power, Wendy Reinstadtler, Joanne Senior, Carole Shinar, Dawn Simmonds, Stephanie Smee and Nikki Stevens.

27 July 2006 -

He will now face Roland Scholten on Friday evening for a place in Saturday's final.

25 July 2006 -

The win keeps Andy's hopes of a Premier League place for next year alive. He needs to remain in the top six in the rankings after the World Grand Prix. He now faces Roland Scholten on Wednesday evening.

James wasted no time in turning the heat on the very experienced Denis Ovens as he stormed to a 10-1 win averaging 97 a throw. His opponent in the second round will be former World Championship finalist Kevin Painter on Wednesday afternoon.

Andy survives some tough challenges during the day including Kevin Painter almost beating him with a 9 dart finish. Kevin missed the double twelve and Andy went on to win the match.

Colin Monk makes the quarter finals losing 2-3 to Andy Jenkins. Colin includes a fine 3-1 win over Ronnie Baxter on his way to the last eight.

James Wade reaches the last sixteen taking out Raymond van Barneveld 3-1 on the way but goes out by 3-2 to Colin Monk.

Andover Classic Ranking Event

Details of the 2007 event which takes place on Saturday 7th April can be found at the link below.

Andover Classic 2007

The latest Unicorn Youth Academy news can be found by visiting the following link, numbers are already above 30.

Unicorn Youth Academy

Glen Dawkins also now has a regular slot at the Unicorn Darts uniBlog. This can be found below.

Glen Dawkins uniBlog

Paul met Ronnie in the second round robin phase at the Topic International Darts League in Nijmegen in May where Ronnie won by 7 legs to 2.

Favourites Phil Taylor and Raymond van Barneveld are in different halves of the draw although van Barneveld is sure to meet stiff opposition from teenage sensation Michael van Gerwen in his opening match.

SBS-6 TV will cover the event in the Netherlands although it is likely that some coverage will be available on the internet as has become usual with the Dutch majors.

Paul Gibbs and Paul Hogan suffer the same fate and lose their first match in the Men's Pairs 3-4 to eventual finalists Paul McGimpsey and Brian Woods.

However Amanda Humphreys and Wendy Reinstadtler win their first match 3-1 against Helen Harvey and Barbara McColl and their second by 3-2 against Catheryn Hulme and Claire Whatley to reach the last eight.

Unfortunately their run is ended at the quarter final stage by Julie Gore and Coralie Jones by a 3-0 scoreline, Julie and Coralie become runners up at the end of the afternoon. Amanda and Wendy share a £100 prize for reaching the last eight. The winners of the event are as expected Trina Gulliver and Clare Bywaters.

Men's South

Ladies South

There is also a growing forum which is moderated by "Phil180" at which readers can exchange views about darts in Hampshire. The link for this is below. There are also many other sections that may be of interest to you if you click on the page's forum index.

Hampshire forum

Superstars of Darts is probably the best known general darts forum and this can be found at the following link.

Superstars of Darts forum

Paul Hogan falls in the last 32 of the equivalent Men's event on the Denbighshire coast. He is beaten 3-1 by Phil Evans.

The Professional Darts Corporation has announced that an eighth player will be added next year and the season will comprise 14 regular nights plus a play off for the top 4.

All fifteen nights will as usual be covered live by Sky TV as well as by Sport1 in Holland and D:SF in Germany.

This is a huge incentive for Andy Jenkins to remain in the world's top 6 until after the Skybet World Grand Prix in Dublin in October as the top 6 will all be included in the 2007 programme. One wildcard will be added after the Skybet World Grand Prix and the final player will be added after the 2007 Ladbrokes.com World Championship.

Cosham based Andy is currently in sixth position a point ahead of twice world champion Dennis Priestley and five points behind Wayne Mardle.

Phil Taylor won the event in both its previous stagings in 2005 and 2006.

Monday 7 August 2006 is the staging of the Bert Kelly and Phyl Kelly Pairs events while Monday 14 August sees the Kevin Vickery Singles. Entry fees are £6 per pair and £5 per single. Entries close 31 July for the Pairs and 7 August for the Singles, separate ladies event if enough entries. Each event is register 7.30 p.m. to 7.45 p.m. for a draw at 8.00 p.m.

Formats are to be decided on the nights. Prize funds £400 Singles, £300 Mens Pairs, £150 Ladies Pairs subject to 50, 25 and 16 entries received.

Academy Singles and Pairs

Last year's events were won by Colin Monk and Sally Smith (Singles) and Graham Hardy and Roy Brown and Trish Crane and Amanda Humphreys (Pairs).

It is hoped to include a Youth League in the 2006/2007 programme and any interested parties should attend the AGM or give their details to the Secretary.

Calling Notice

The showpiece Blackpool event sees number 6 seed Andy Jenkins begin against Alan "The Iceman" Warriner-Little while James Wade faces Dennis "The Heat" Ovens. Both begin their campaigns on the afternoon of Tuesday 25 July.