3-Cushion
ZUNDERT/SLUISKIL - After a thrilling day with lots of surprising results, the SIS Schoonmaak team and A1/DPC were the big winners the Dutch premier league. The top favorite SIS won in Zundert 2-6, the outsider A1 from Huissen, in a line-up with three Dutchmen, triumphed in the feared away match against Dallinga.com. After these two victories, SIS and A1 hold the top positions in the premier league, the pursuers made costly mistakes.
Have the birds flown away in the DKM Tools league? That could be, certainly when speaking about SIS Schoonmaak, for A1/DPC, it would be a thunderous surprise.
SIS Schoonmaak made a small misstep in every match so far, which was repaired every time by three of the four players. This time in Zundert, Raimond Burgman was beaten by Francis Forton, the unpredictable Brussels native, who finished 40-31 in 20 innings. The level on centercourt between Eddy Merckx and Roland Forthomme also had a high level, with Merckx coming out 40-33 in 20.
The other star of the day was Raymund Swertz: his victory over Sam van Etten, who scored very little in the end of the match, was not in danger: 40-25 in 25. Martien van der Spoel beat Rik van Beers 40-34 in 37.
Dave Christiani was match-winner in Sluiskil with a costly win in the top match with Jean Paul de Bruijn: 40-34 in 29 innings, Richard Bitalis and Kay de Zwart were the other winners in Sluiskil.
Dave Christiani remains modest about his team's chances after the climb to the top two in the premier league. ''We don't see ourselves as a contender for the top spot'', admits the Limburg player. ''But it's really good that we made such a great start. And we can even strengthen the team in very important matches with Michael Nilsson and Ronny Lindemann, but over 22 rounds, I don't see us ending up in the top group of four.''
The leading player himself made the gap in the last part against De Bruijn. The home player started with 7-1, it went to 12-12, Christiani first took a lead of four, five points and increased the margin with a run of eight. And eventually he ran out to 40-34. Kay de Zwart, also having a good season start, had the better start against Berry Dallinga and even led 22-6 in 6 innings.
At the end of the afternoon, the two best ranked teams looked at the scoreboard of the fourth round of play with slight surprise. J&F Auto's from The Hague remained empty-handed against Hartje van Oosterhout and Bousema Lochem, which has its ups and downs in this early part, lost the home match to Cues&Darts 6-2.
As a result, 't Hartje is now number three on the league table, three points down to SIS Schoonmaak and two behind A1/DPC, followed by a long middle-group of five teams with four match points out of four games.
Jeffrey Jorissen was the only winner for J&F Auto's against 't Hartje, which had its winners in Martin Spoormans, Harrie van de Ven and Frank Martens for the 6-2 victory. At Dallinga.com, Peter De Backer was the only winner against Jelle Pijl 40-28 in 22. The leading players of Bousema did not have their best day either. Martin Horn lost to Pierre Soumagne 40-31 in 26 and Jack van Peer was a good winner for Cues&Darts against Johan Loncelle 40-35 in 29. Huub Wilkowski beat Frans van Schaik with 40-28 in 27.
The tactical move of Aartsbouw, the number last on the list, to use PBA player Leppens as the leading player, was not really a good choice. The Belgian was beaten without any chance by Frans van Kuyk (40-20 in 20), 2,000 average for Van Kuyk, 1,000 average for Leppens. The match against Team Eekhoorn was lost in Sprundel with maximum scores: 0-8. Dirk Weeremans lost to an excellent Peter Ceulemans (40-14 in 15), Ronny Brants to Kurt Ceulemans (40-25 in 30) and Christian Rudolph to Jerry Hermans with 40-39 in 39.