Wayne woos Haverfordwest darts fans

Wayne with organisers Lee Chenery and Craig Jones

Wayne woos Haverfordwest darts fans

If ever a top sportsman produced great value for an appearance in Pembrokeshire then there is no doubt that former darting giant and now top commentator Wayne Mardle could produce a claim for that award.

He was joined by MC and 'spotter' Richard 'Little' Ashdown in a cracking evening at Haverfordwest Cricket Club where the formula was simple - Mr Mardle showed his still serious darting ability in taking on 14 local darts players alongside some wicked humour that had his captivated audience holding their sides with laughter!

Special finishes

He even tried to win one game by blowing the darts from his mouth from the regulatory darting distance of eight feet and also lost a couple of other tussles as a result of some jiggery-pokery by his diminutive side kick Ashdown, who does a lot of announcing at the World Championships and acts as a 'spotter' for Sky Sports in the game as he uses his mathematical acumen to speedily tell the director of the televised games where the dart thrower is likely to aim for with his next dart.

'Little Richard' also showed his razor-sharp wit with some light-hearted comments about some of the contestants, as well as just missing out on notching 'double three' at the bottom of the board when Wayne suggested it was too low for him to reach and handed over his darts to Richard!

Lee was delighted by venture’s success

Small wonder then that organisers Lee Chenery and Craig Jones were delighted as the funds generated were later presented to Rob Vaughan, of the Catrin Vaughan Foundation from Letterston, in memory of his late daughter, which helps youngsters with illnesses, and Belle's Story, a charity based in Wolfscastle.

Lee told PembrokeshireSport.co.uk how thrilled they were by this second exhibition by Mardle.
"We were able to make donations to such worthwhile causes in our area and both well-known characters in the game were brilliant - and included in their list of successes came in their final two games when he comfortably accounted for Craig and then me to round off a wonderfully entertaining evening.

Great entertainment

The former World Championship runner up had also started well by beating Wayne Lewis after trying to finish off the 100 needed with two 25s and a bull but was a fraction off with the last throw as he could only manage 25, before finishing off next throw with a nine and double 16!

Richard Prout went the same way before Anthony John won after some assistance from the MC - but then it was back to Mardle’s winning ways as he beat Scott Nash after needing 40 and hitting two double tens to win in style!

It was a similar story when Mardle beat Stephen Jones and after a spectacular finish did a lap of honour throughout the whole club - but lost to Chris Harries after some more creative maths by Richard Ashdown saw the local player hit double nine.

The first half of the exhibition saw Mardle finish off a score of 68 with an unlikely double 17 followed by another double 17 - but then he lost to Jack Bevan on the restart after the top stars had spent the time posing for pictures with admiring locals or signing autographs.

Tom brightens up the evening

One of the more colourful moments of the evening came when Tom Wray entered the spotlight with music taken from the World Wrestling Federation, and dressed resplendently as famous US grappler Ric Flair - but was soon beaten by the chuckling Mardle, who then beat Marcus James, lost to Gareth Starling and beat Declan Coles.

Then came defeats for both organisers to round off a hugely successful evening which raised vital funds for charity - and will be talked about by local darts enthusiasts for a long time to come!