I went to the Sunday Shoot at Kate's this week, which is a doubles blind luck event and got partnered with a guy that had a very unusual Cricket strategy. I noticed during our first match. I do not remember the exact circumstances of the game, but if I recall correctly, both I, and the other team, were following standard Cricket strategy where we start with the 20's and worry about not being behind in points. However, when it was his turn he stepped up to the oche and completely disregarding the scoreboard proceeded to throw his three darts at the bull. I thought it odd, and I assumed he was a novice player (not entirely true), and then suddenly felt like a rookie myself for not having bothered to discuss strategy with my partner before the shoot.
As it turns out I was in a funny mood. My darts have not been flying well in the last couple of weeks anyway and I'd already committed myself to having fun, and not worrying too much about whether I win or not. So I asked him: "Whatcha doin' with the bulls there?" He proceeded to outline his strategy. He doesn't panic if he gets too far behind in points because he knows that most people simply cannot hit the bull when they want to, and for the most part, at least in B League, this is certainly true. And it was mostly true on Sunday as well. I chalked more than one utter painful Cricket match in which neither team could close their bulls round after round after round. So I told him, "Okay. Sound like a great plan." And we proceeded to employ exactly that strategy for the entire shoot. It didn't always work, but mostly it did. On two occasions our opponents decided to also hit the bulls early and when they did, we lost.
The most noteworthy of those occasions is when we were in our playoff game for first place. Corker's Choice was the theme of the day so when we lost the cork for the play off leg our opponents chose Cricket. They opened the game with four 20's and I responded with three bulls. Once they caught wise to our strategy they quickly closed the bulls and we were unable to catch up to them in points (the lid being on our honey pot and all) and we lost the playoff leg. But we won 2nd place and we were quite happy with it.
So there you have it. I don't think I would ever employ this strategy on my own, especially not against a good player, but if I ever play with him again I most certainly will. At first, momentarily, I resisted this strategy as a completely bad idea but once I embraced it, I embraced it fully and had fun with it.
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2 comments:
I play with a couple people who throw at bull 'early', though not all three darts. It's usually preceded by a triple, or gaining points. Also will throw once 20-17 are done, a miss at 16 or 15 is usually followed by shots at the bull
Thanks for the comment! I, too, will occasionally "poke at the bull" as my teammates call it. It is selective tho. For example, I'd never do that if I were behind in points, or on the first or second dart early in a game. On the other hand, I am pretty confident with bulls so sometimes that will be my pointing strategy late in a game.
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