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Paul Nicholson believes a World Cricket Championship in darts would go down a storm

New tournament ideas for darts: Paul Nicholson appeals for a Cricket World Championship to be introduced in the PDC

By Paul Nicholson

Darts

Sun November 01, 2020 · 4y ago

Paul Nicholson is launching an appeal to get a Cricket World Championship back on the PDC circuit.

In the fourth instalment of his ongoing mini-series about new tournament ideas that could shake up the one-dimensional calendar, the Sporting Life darts columnist explains why he thinks the game of 'Cricket' would entertain fans the world over despite concerns over the complexity of its format and rules.

One of the many beautiful things about darts is that you can find it being played in many different ways and in a variety of formats depending on what part of the world you’re in.

The blueprint of what we’re doing in Europe doesn’t necessarily work in places like Australia, Japan, the States and Canada – for example – and even though we do get players from those regions becoming big names in the PDC, I do think we need to be more flexible with the tournament formats that we play.

You may have to look into the history books to find out why people in North America were playing in huge numbers back in the 1980s and why they aren't now. We don't have young players coming through in the States and Canada. That's just fact.

It's also the same in certain areas of Europe such as Sweden, Norway and Finland so we have to figure out how we change this.

But in relation to the States and Canada, when you go to bars and clubs and ask them what format of darts game they’re playing, they’ll all say cricket! Every single one is playing cricket. They might play the odd game of what they call “01” which ranges from 301 to 1001 but predominantly the people in the States and Canada play cricket.

So, this is the key to unlocking darts in North America – we need a World Cricket Championship to return.

We did have one back in 2010 in Las Vegas when Phil Taylor won it, but it was never done again.

There was a great uptake of people playing cricket when we were in Vegas because they knew how to play it. The players knew their tactics when it came to this game and it could help them beat the Europeans – and for the most part they did.

The general idea is to lock your opponents out of the scoring sections of the board – which are 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20 and Bullseye – and you also have to score in those targets.

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It is very hard to explain – especially written down – but it is easy to learn, especially when you’re with someone who knows how to play. There are YouTube videos out there which attempt to explain it but I do think if it does become a televised Cricket tournament in the UK, there will have to be some kind of documentary the day before to explain the game and the complexities!

This is probably the reason why this has never got off the ground because the best things you watch on TV are all simple and Cricket is not simple until you get to know it. It's quite a complicated beast.

But here's the thing about the States and Canada – they all know how to play it. They find it easier to play Cricket than an “01” game for whatever reason, while it’s also huge in the Far East on soft tip boards.

If we had good tutorials and commentators who knew the format inside out, then this could be fun for all darts fans to watch around the world.

Would it catch on with all fans? I think there are two sets of darts fans at the moment. The ones who have been watching since the 1970s who tend to like the standard 501 format but also the younger fans who are becoming more aware of the soft tip scene and other varieties of games.

In terms of whether the players would be up for it, if you go to Pro Tour events and watch them warming up, quite often you’ll see them playing cricket.

This all started when the Dart Connect system was installed in all venues and allowed them to mix up how they practiced using the tablets on every board rather than the old school whiteboards.

The pros all know how to play it - as well as those around the world - so let’s put a tournament on! We’ve got to start somewhere so why not now?

The public crave something different and this could be it.

A world championship could even be played on the soft tip Dartslive 3 boards, which light up and give off sound effects depending on which segment and score you hit.

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I’ve been to Asia and played on these boards and it’s like walking into the Tron of darts! It’s amazing, and you don’t want to leave these venues when you get there! If you put one of these boards on the stage - without the traditional scoring referee – and had the best players from around the world up against the established names of the steel tip game, the public would be fascinated.

This would also crack two different markets with one stone – cricket and soft tip – and show all darts fans that there’s more to this great game than 501 in steel tip.

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New tournament ideas for darts: Paul Nicholson appeals for a Cricket World Championship to be introduced in the PDC

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