Plenty to talk about in Gary Lemke’s first wrap of 2024 as the Premier League delivers more goals, the Hollywoodbets Sharks look to be on the up and all the latest from PDC World Darts Championship.
THE QUIET BEFORE KENILWORTH STORM
Hollywoodbets Kenilworth staged its last meeting on Saturday before this coming weekend’s L’Ormarins King’s Plate. It was another tough day at the office for punters with the Pick Six paying nearly R500 000 and the PA a whopping R2 870. The bipot paid R12 000.
The form jockeys over the past few weeks have been Richard Fourie, Grant van Niekerk, JP van der Merwe and Gareth Wright. Meanwhile, the man aboard the fancied Charles Dickens in Saturday’s big race, Aldo Domeyer, is “due”.
He averages one winner every five rides, but has gone 13 rides without a winner. For those who might be interested, the most profitable rider this season is Anthony Andrews. If you had to back every horse he has ridden you’d be 3300 percent up.
The only other three jockeys in profit are Van Niekerk (999%), Piere Strydom (230%) and Domeyer (210%). All four are in the King’s Plate, aboard Montien, Hluhluwe, See It Again and Charles Dickens, respectively.
Race 7 #HollywoodbetsKenilworth || HEAR MY VOICE (Captain Of All - Budding Beauty) has won for P D Reeves under a stunning ride by @RVenniker, congratulations to winning owner Mrs C Cutmore and bred by Klawervlei Grooms Trust. pic.twitter.com/0vq4hQ5ryG
— 4Racing (@4RacingZA) December 30, 2023
ONE POINT MAKES ALL THE DIFFERENCE
So, in the end it was one point. Again. It’s a South African thing. For those who took a gap year in 2023, the Springboks won the Rugby World Cup. They did so by winning consecutive knockout matches against France 29-28, against England 16-15 and against New Zealand 12-11.
It still seems so hard to believe. However, the Stormers seem to have picked up where the Boks left off. They have won their last three games in the United Rugby Championship, and two of them have been by one point – 21-10 over La Rochelle and the latest a 16-15 win over the Hollywoodbets Sharks.
The results have seen the Stormers climb to six on the table, one behind the Bulls who have a game in hand. The Sharks meanwhile, have slipped to 15th, one from bottom. Oh, the fine margins in sport.
🤣 The agony and the ecstasy from this Stormers supporter. #STOvSHA pic.twitter.com/AO5N71ycpS
— Planet Rugby (@PlanetRugby) December 31, 2023
AS MANY 5-0’S AS 0-0’S THIS PREMIER LEAGUE SEASON
It’s already the most productive season in Premier League history when it comes to goals, and as we approach the 200 games played mark there have still only been four goalless draws. In fact, there have been nine scorelines that have popped up more often than 0-0 – 2-1 (31), 1-0 (28), 2-0 (24), 3-1 (22), 1-1 (18), 3-0 (15), 3-2 (13), 2-2 (12) and 4-1 (8).
Remarkably, there have been as many 5-0 results as there have been 0-0’s! This past weekend was a good one for Chelsea, Crystal Palace, Man City, Aston Villa, Wolves, Nottingham Forest, Tottenham, Fulham and Liverpool (all won).
But it wasn’t a happy end to 2023 for Luton, Brentford, Sheffield United, Burnley, Everton, Manchester United, Bournemouth, Arsenal and Newcastle who all lost. The upshot is that Liverpool head into the international break on top of the log.
Meanwhile, Sundowns’ 0-0 draw with Polokwane City was the 18th such scoreline in the PSL this season.
1️⃣5️⃣0️⃣ 𝑵𝒐𝒕 𝑶𝒖𝒕
— SuperSport Football ⚽️ (@SSFootball) January 1, 2024
Mo Salah etches his name in the annals of greatness with his 150th #PL goal for Liverpool. The Egyptian King reigns supreme ⚽👑
📱 Stream #PL live: https://t.co/TesYUfo62x pic.twitter.com/wBV6RLKE99
LITTLE CONTINUES HIS BIG RUN
They call 16-year-old Luke Littler “The Nuke” and the kid continued his dream run at the World Darts Championship by reaching the semi-finals, where he is guaranteed the equivalent of R2 million even if he bows out in the last four.
In the Last 16, he beat that sporting legend from the Netherlands, Raymond van Barneveld, himself a four-time world champion. Littler’s run has sent the sport into a frenzy. He followed up with an emphatic 6-1 win over Brendon Dolan on Monday.
His Instagram account has grown from 4 000 to 134 000 in two weeks and there were 7.8-million views of him on social media opening his Christmas presents.
England footballer Declan Rice stopped him for a selfie and James Maddison invited him to the Spurs box for their win over Bournemouth. The crowd at London’s Alexandra Palace have been singing, to the tune of Guantanamera, “You’ve got school in the morning, you’ve got school in the morning”.
Littler certainly has an old head on young shoulders. He doesn’t quite “look” like a 16-year-old athlete and his girlfriend is 21. But he’s caught the public’s imagination.
Luke Littler is the youngest player in history to reach the PDC World Championship semi-finals 👏
— BBC Sport (@BBCSport) January 1, 2024
He also picks up £100,000 prize money!
Not bad for a 16-year-old...#BBCDarts #WCDarts pic.twitter.com/FXMHMakACr
CROSS WINS AN ALL-TIME EPIC
OK, so you might think it’s a slow news day given the start to 2024, but Rob Cross’s comeback from 4-0 down to beat Chris Dobey in the early Darts World Championship quarter-final on Monday was simply epic.
It actually showed how much sport can be played in the head. Both Englishmen kept up a three-dart average of 100 for nine sets spanning over two hours in the first to five-set showdown. As you can imagine, the meme-makers on Twitter had a field day!
However, Dobey squandered several attempts to win the march and his conversion rate in the closing doubles was about 33%. Cross meanwhile grew in confidence after being 4-0 down.
By the end of the battle it was Dobey looking shell-shocked and appeared to have all his confidence sucked out as Cross had a closing doubles average of 66%. It will, surely, go down as one of the great darts matches. Cross now takes on Littler for a place in the final.
Rob Cross at 4-0 down against Chris Dobey
— Josh (@joshpearson180) January 1, 2024
pic.twitter.com/riKa1pujNa
