Several of the members of Winmau Team 360 were in action last week with Keelan Kay being, perhaps, the most visible in the MODUS Live League. Meanwhile, Cayden Smith claimed a JDC Foundation tour event and Jurjen van der Velde returned to action with a tournament victory in the Netherlands.
Kay joined the Live League action on Thursday in a very tough group that included MAD belt holder Gary Stone and the ‘Queen of the Palace Fallon Sherrock.
Keelan, 19, started strongly, against David Wawrzewski, but allowed his opponent back into the game before missing 7 match darts and ending up in the madhouse during leg 7. Another tough lesson was handed out when Wawrzewski found his first maximum in the final leg and clocked out 40 to claim the match.
Next up, for the former World Youth Cup winner, was an encounter with MAD qualifier Richard Rowlands. This time Kay ran out the 4-1 winner, hit 50% of his doubles and recorded a solid 85 average in claiming his first 2 points of the league.
In his next encounter, the young Devonian took on the experienced Gary Stone. The score line of 2-4 did not quite tell the story here. Had either of his two darts at double twelve (in leg 3) been the other side of the wire it may have gone the other way.
Against Fallon Sherrock, the Team 360 member got off to an excellent start, with a 14 dart break of throw, and stayed ahead until the fourth leg when she broke back and then led 3-2. Kay showed real grit in the 6th leg and despite obvious tensions in both players he forced the decider. Fallon closed out the decider to claim a tough 4-3 win.
The Team 360 thrower took heart from his efforts in the previous match to produce an excellent performance, and 4-0 victory, against Josh Richardson. To place the cherry on the cake he closed out the game with a 124 finish on the bull. Again he hit 50% of his doubles and improved his winning average to 93.94.
The reverse fixture with Richardson doubled up as the start of Friday’s league games. Perhaps the early hour did not help Keelan who went down to a 1-4 defeat in the day’s second game. It was a similar story in the early stages against Fallon and although Keelan started to find his game it was too late against the very in form Sherrock.
For his third game, Kay was definitely awake. A fine 4-1 win over Gary Stone with enough to spare that he could miss ⅔ of his doubles and still claim a fine win. The young Englishman then inflicted a 4-1 defeat upon Rowlands and produced a 98 average, a 12 dart leg, and a 136 outshot.
Keelan’s final game in this league was an absolute belter, superb finishes and heavy scoring marked his second encounter with Davis Wawrzewski. Sadly, for Keelan, David had the better of the match and finished a 4-2 winner.
The Team 360 player was quick to take the positives from his appearance the league:
“mixture of results from me personally from some great and frustrating. But gained valuable experience, really enjoyed it”.
Team 360’s Steve Brown replied with a reminder that Rome was not built in a day:
“Learning your trade Keelan. Ups and downs are inevitable but keep the focus on where you want to be in 5 years”
Other members of the team debuted the new Team 360 livery last week with several members of the initial squad, including Ben McCaffrey, being sighted in the distinctive new shirts supplied by Winmau.
We look forward to bringing you more details of Winmau Team 360’s progress as more and more events take place and darting life returns to a more normal rhythm.
—–ENDS—–
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