Another seven days of grassroots darts produced plenty of candidates for the Weekly Spotlight, but this week’s final three stood out for very different reasons.
Louis Melville combined one of the week’s most important victories with another two tournament wins and a further final. Shaun Vernall continued an extraordinary run of consistency, winning three events and finishing the week by taking the £800 Gloucester Open. And Cody Sheppard produced an excellent sequence of results at Out Out Bar, culminating in a convincing Premier League Qualification victory.
As always, this isn’t simply about picking the three highest averages or the biggest names. It’s about the players whose performances, consistency or individual stories caught my eye over the previous seven days.
Louis Melville
Player Profile
Louis Melville has put together an outstanding record in the Q4QS database.
Across 243 recorded matches, Melville has won 215, giving him an excellent 88.5% win rate. From only 38 recorded events, he has already collected 22 tournament victories, alongside three runner-up finishes, four semi-finals and five quarter-finals.
His overall match average stands at 77.96, but his peak numbers show considerably more. His best recorded average is 111.33, with further performances of 107.36 and three separate 103.66 averages among his top five.
There is also plenty of quality in the opposition he has beaten. His best-rated recorded win is now against Dean Reynolds, while his record also includes several victories over Timothy Jones and a win over Creed Jenkins.
This Week
Melville began the week by winning the MODUS Super Series South Wales Regional Qualifier at Wattsville National Club, defeating Dean Reynolds 6–5 in the final.
That victory now also appears as the highest-rated win in his player profile, with Melville averaging 80.71 in the deciding match against Reynolds.
He followed it with another title at Olivers Sports Bar, winning the Vault 19 Open Warm Up. Melville produced two 91.09 averages during that tournament before beating Richie Limbert 3–1 in the final.
Then came another victory at the same venue in Friday’s ADC Open Ranking event.
This was arguably his best scoring performance of the week. Melville recorded 96.97, 92.02, 91.09 and 90.18 averages and completed the title with a 3–0 final victory over Liam Hughes.
Even then, the week wasn’t over. On Saturday he reached another final, defeating Ieuan Evans and Harry Morris in the knockout stages before losing 3–1 to Finley Bennett.
Three titles, including a MODUS regional qualifier, plus another final made Melville impossible to leave out this week.
Shaun Vernall
Player Profile
Shaun Vernall continues to build one of the most impressive grassroots records in the database.
He has played 762 recorded matches, winning 636 of them for an 83.5% win rate across 117 events. Those appearances have produced 39 tournament victories, 22 runner-up finishes and another 43 quarter-final or semi-final appearances.
His overall match average stands at 76.92, while his last ten currently average 84.22. His ceiling is enormous: Vernall’s best recorded average is 128.71, with further peaks of 120.24, 112.63 and two 107.36 performances.
His list of significant victories includes Josh McCarthy, Neil Wild and Joe Quiney — with one win over Wild accompanied by a 98.40 average.
This Week
Vernall started his winning run at Widden Rugby Club, where he took the title after eight victories and produced a 93.94 average during the event.
He then added another tournament victory at Faringdon, once again defeating Rich Griffee in the final.
But the biggest performance was saved until Saturday.
The Gloucester Open featured 288 recorded matches, and Vernall came through the event with 20 victories recorded across the day before defeating Declan Cox 5–1 in the final.
His player profile gives an even clearer picture of the knockout run. Vernall beat James Mann and Archie McChristie with consecutive 96.97 averages, defeated Joe Bagguley 4–1 in the semi-final and then completed the title with a 5–1 victory over Cox.
It also left his latest recorded form at a perfect 10 wins from 10.
Vernall has featured before, but this series isn't about avoiding repeat names for the sake of it. Three titles in a week, capped by the Gloucester Open, demanded another appearance.
Cody Sheppard
Player Profile
Cody Sheppard brings a completely different story to this week’s three.
His profile already contains a substantial 605 recorded matches, with 367 victories and a 60.7% win rate across 132 events. He has recorded 10 tournament victories, alongside 25 runner-up finishes, 15 semi-finals and 33 quarter-finals.
His overall match average is 55.48, but that number hides some very eye-catching peaks.
Sheppard’s best recorded average is a remarkable 112.78, while he has also produced a 100.20 and two 88.41 performances.
His record also contains wins against much higher-rated opposition, headed by Alec Small and Alfie O’Brien.
This Week
Sheppard’s week was built around a series of events at Out Out Bar.
He first won the NDC Open, beating Charlie Morgan 4–2 in the final.
There were then two further Premier League Qualification runs. On Wednesday he reached the final after beating Mason White and Archie Bourne, before Cody Vodden edged him 3–2.
Two days later, Sheppard turned that result around emphatically.
He beat Kenzie Thomas 5–3 in the semi-final and then defeated Vodden 6–1 in the final, averaging 67.75 to complete the tournament victory.
That was particularly notable after several close battles between the pair during the week, and it gave Sheppard a second tournament victory from a run that also contained multiple finals.
For a player still developing, that sort of repeated exposure to latter-stage matches can be every bit as interesting as one isolated big average.
Two tournament victories, multiple finals and a 6–1 win to finish the week earns Cody Sheppard his place in the Weekly Spotlight.
