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| |  Sunday, 7 January, 2001, 17:42 GMT Baxter back to winning ways  Ronnie Baxter hopes to be third-time lucky Ronnie Baxter made a happy return to the Embassy World Championship on Sunday with a 3-1 victory over Mitchell Crooks to go through to the second round. The 39-year-old took a step towards banishing the painful memories of last year's loss in the final as both players averaged over 30 for each dart thrown. In his last appearance at Frimley Green, Baxter slumped to a 6-0 defeat to defending champion Ted Hankey, winning only four legs as he was clearly out of sorts. Northern Ireland's Mitchell Crooks took the opening set, but was eventually pegged back by Baxter who took the next three to complete the victory. "Mitchell got off to a flyer but I told myself to keep going, keep my scoring up and if I did that he might buckle, and that's what happened," said Baxter.
"I've been telling myself for the last 12 months that hopefully it will be third time lucky here. "I've tried to prepare well but I've had a bit of a repetitive strain injury and although I feel good now, I'm still throwing the odd stray dart." Baxter's opponent in the second round will be will be England teammate and captain Martin 'Wolfie' Adams. The 44-year-old from Peterborough, unseeded this year but a former world number one, beat the `Sheriff', Belgium's Erik Clarys, 3-1 albeit with the lowest winning average in the tournament so far. Elsewhere, Steve Beaton, the 1996 Embassy hero from Coventry, eased past Folkestone's Bob `The Builder' Aldous with the first 3-0 scoreline of the tournament. 33-year-old Aldous seemed somewhat overawed on his Lakeside debut and by the superior finishing of the 'Bronzed Adonis'. | |
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