Van Barneveld: looking for three in a row

Dobromyslova? The newspapers are questioning how my Geordie accent is going to get around that surname, so I think I might stick to calling her Anastasia - or Annie!

Sid Waddell
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UK OPEN
Thursday to Sunday
Live on Sky Sports
Click here for listings

Many people describe the UK Open as the FA Cup of darts and I'd have to agree with that analogy.

When the PDC was set up they said they would try to bring out every aspect of the sport. So we have the World Grand Prix in Ireland where you have to start on a double, we have the Matchplay with no sets in Blackpool and of course the marathon of the world championships at Ally Pally.

However, this tournament is an amazing test of stamina - not just for the players but also for the commentators - because there are more than 160 competitors taking part over four days. It's an orgy of darts!

It's also a nightmare to commentate on because the director will suddenly switch to a match and you might not have an idea who's playing. For us, it's a bit like being in a jazz band and just hoping that we all finish at the same time!

Pub feel

With eight games taking place at once, this competition also has the same 'pub' feel that the sport had 40 years ago. Fans can either congregate around the two main boards or go and watch their mate from the Dog and Gun on one of the other boards.

It's like a circus with eight rings and the locals will be there with their Holland's meat pies and pints of Thwaites bitter hollering them on.

Because they play across eight boards at once, you get a 'bush telegraph' effect where players will be running up to the commentary box and telling us who to look out for and who's playing well.

The extra element in the UK Open is that every year somebody you might not have heard of gets on a roll and goes a long way in the tournament. Like Barnsley or Havant and Waterlooville in the FA Cup, there are giant-killings to be seen.

Two years ago it was a bald-headed Welshman called Barrie Bates who got to the final and last year Vincent van der Voort was on fire and reached the final against Barney.

I don't know who it will be this year, but I do know that the guy with the worst nickname in darts is playing on Thursday night. He's called Scott Waites of Huddersfield and he's known as Scotty Too Hotty. And there was me thinking Darth Maple was the worst nickname around...

Early activity

The top-ranking stars enter in round three, but there are some well-known players taking part in the earlier activity.

Look out for Jamie Harvey taking on the 1996 world champion Richie Burnett in the first round, but the match of the night sees World Master Rob Thornton playing the women's world champion Anastasia Dobromyslova.

The newspapers are questioning how my Geordie accent is going to get around that surname, so I think I might stick to calling her Anastasia - or Annie!

Some top ladies have taken part in this before and failed to do themselves justice, but this girl looks like something out of a James Bond movie. She beat Peter Galloway 5-0 in qualifying to reach this event and I'm sure she could have her Beretta out quicker than Bond.

You never know who is going to go on a streak in this tournament, but I would say Colin Lloyd and Colin Osborne are two to look out for.

Lloyd is on an anger thrust at the moment. He is annoyed about not being given the credit he felt he deserved when he was world number one a few years ago and sources close to him say he's out to prove wrong those people who wrote him off.

I was not one of those people, I might add, but I would say that he tries a bit too hard at times. But if he's on high adrenaline then he could be a threat.

Big names

Of course, there's also the big names and the three guys that should be in the frame for Sunday's final are Phil Taylor, Raymond van Barneveld and James Wade.

However, I've got a feeling we could see the best of Barney, but not the best of Taylor.

If anything's going to produce Barney's real form it's this format. Barney was not at his best in the Darts Premier League because he over-prepares and worries for a week before a match. He sometimes gets bogged down in over-analysis and his form suffers.

But he's won this event for two years on the trot and playing match after match, hour after hour will suit him. It might remove that self doubt and get him on a winning streak.

However it doesn't suit Taylor quite as well. The Power is only 5ft 8ins and his dart has to dip, which is difficult, so there will be troughs in his game.

In the Premier League he's been better than ever, but even in that format he had patches where he lost the weight of the dart and dropped it low.

If he comes up against somebody inspired, then a slack five minutes could see Taylor get knocked out.

Because of the nature of the tournament, it's impossible to say who is going to win, but with the form that some of these guys are in, I wouldn't be surprised if we saw a nine-darter at some stage.

It's going to be immensely exciting.