The Sports Lowdown For All Your News and Opinions
It was a Sunday full of emotion and passion in Frankfurt, in a Bwin World Cup finals day that had everything. It had on stage battles, on stage antics, on stage joking, and at the end of it all, England’s Phil Taylor and Adrian Lewis were crowned World Champions for a record third time, beating Scotland’s Gary Anderson and Peter Wright in an enthralling final. This is how the day’s action unfolded, starting with the quarter-finals in the afternoon session.
Afternoon Session:
Quarter-Finals:
Belgium v Australia
Australia looked to be cruising into the semi-finals after Simon Whitlock had seen off Ronny Huybrechts in the first match, and Paul Nicholson was 3-0 up against Kim Huybrechts, and you would be no fool to assume that Australia would be appearing in the evening session.
However, ‘The Asset’ missed six match darts to send Australia into the semi-finals and Kim Huybrechts won the match 4-3 as the two became embroiled in on stage antics, and Nicholson walked off the stage in anger without shaking Huybrechts’ hand. The tie went to a doubles decider where the antics continued, but it was Ronny Huybrechts who threw the winning darts, taking out 86 on the bull to send Belgium through.
I am sure you will be glad to know that Huybrechts and Nicholson have confirmed that they have made up on Social Media.
Belgium 2-1 Australia
Ronny Huybrechts 2-4 Simon Whitlock
Kim Huybrechts 4-3 Paul Nicholson
Belgium 4-2 Australia
Scotland v Hong Kong
To say that this match was played with a little more respect than the match previous would be an understatement as Royden Lam bowed to Gary Anderson before the two faced off in the first match of the tie. Lam played well throughout the match and threatened to take it to a last-leg decider but Anderson pulled some great darts out of the bag to win the game 4-2.
Peter Wright got off to a flying start in the second singles match of the tie and powered into a 2-0 lead, but the hero of yesterday Scott MacKenzie pulled the match back to 2-2 before the colourful ‘Snakebite’ took the match 4-2 to send Scotland into the semi-finals.
Scotland 2-0 Hong Kong
Gary Anderson 4-2 Ting Chi Royden Lam
Peter Wright 4-2 Scott MacKenzie
England v Germany
Germany were hoping to delight the home crowd in Frankfurt, but their hopes of progressing to the semi-finals took a hit when Phil Taylor won the first of the two singles matches. Taylor took the first leg, but Jyhan Artut hit back with a skilful twelve-darter, but ‘The Power’ went on to secure a 4-1 victory.
Max Hopp looked to rescue the situation when he took to the stage to face Adrian Lewis, but his hopes were short-lived as the world number four raced to a 4-0 whitewash of the young German star averaging an impressive 105.5 and 66.7% on the doubles as England progressed to set up a last four tie in the evening session with Belgium.
England 2-0 Germany
Phil Taylor 4-1 Jyhan Artut
Adrian Lewis 4-0 Max Hopp
Northern Ireland v Netherlands
Brendan Dolan looked to topple the world number one in the first match of the tie, and his hopes were still alive as the first four legs went to throw, despite van Gerwen missing many darts at double under no pressure at all from Dolan. But as he does so often, van Gerwen raced away to claim a 4-2 victory.
It was an uncharacteristic performance from Raymond van Barneveld as he lost to Micky Mansell, but take nothing away from the Northern Irishman, who took his chances when presented to him and averaged 98.8 in a 4-3 win over ‘Barney’. The Netherlands were confident heading into the doubles decider, and they were right to be as they played superbly and secured a 4-0 whitewash win.
Northern Ireland 1-2 Netherlands
Brendan Dolan 2-4 Michael van Gerwen
Micky Mansell 4-3 Raymond van Barneveld
Northern Ireland 0-4 Netherlands
Evening Session:
England v Belgium
Phil Taylor faced Ronny Huybrechts in the first game of the semi-final and Taylor opened up with an eleven-darter before the Belgian took out 142 to level up at 142. The match continued to go to throw until Phil Taylor provided the crucial hold of throw in the final leg, hitting a 180 before taking out 81 to put a point on the board for England.
Adrian Lewis came up against Kim Huybrechts in the second match, and Lewis raced into a 3-0 lead early on in the piece. However, Kim came back to make it 3-2 before the World number four closed out the match with a 71 checkout to send England into the final.
England 2-0 Belgium
Phil Taylor 4-3 Ronny Huybrechts
Adrian Lewis 4-2 Kim Huybrechts
Scotland v Netherlands
Peter Wright and Michael van Gerwen kicked off the second semi-final’s action with an absolute cracker of a match. Wright missed two darts at double in the second leg to allow van Gerwen to hold throw, and that was the only mistake he made. The match was locked at 3-3, but Wright failed to hold onto his throw at van Gerwen took out 82 to claim a 4-3 win despite Wright averaging 103.3, ‘The Green Machine’ averaged 106.6 to win the first point.
Raymond van Barneveld didn’t play at his best when he was beaten 4-3 by Micky Mansell earlier on in the day, and he once again didn’t play his best here as he lost to Gary Anderson 4-1 in the second singles match to take the tie to a doubles decider. Barney performed poorly again in the doubles decider, changing his flights AGAIN, as it has been suggested that his personal average was around 67 as Scotland raced through to the final.
Scotland 2-1 Netherlands
Peter Wright 3-4 Michael van Gerwen
Gary Anderson 4-1 Raymond van Barneveld
Scotland 4-1 Netherlands
Final:
England v Scotland
Phil Taylor was in stunning form as he put England 1-0 up in the first singles match when he beat Peter Wright. ‘The Power’ whitewashed the World number five and averaged 113.4 and blew Wright away. The Scotsman didn’t even get a dart at a double despite averaging a more than tidy 104.
Gary Anderson got Scotland back on track and levelled the final going into the crucial doubles match. He fired himself into a 3-0 lead, Lewis got one leg on the board but nothing more as Anderson recorded a 4-1 win with a 103.1 average and two maximums.
The pivotal doubles match was played in great spirit, and the four even shared numerous jokes on the big stage. There wasn’t a single dart at double to break, and Phil Taylor held his nerve in the final leg under huge pressure. He had left 101 in the decider, hit T19 and an accidental T12, he turned round laughing at himself, shared a joke with Peter Wright before stepping to the oche again and hitting the D4 to win the all important doubles match for England 4-3, and put England 2-1 up on the scoreboard.
Phil Taylor hit doubles in the doubles, but Phil Taylor missed doubles in his final singles match. Gary Anderson on the other hand hit doubles in this match, and a marvellous 150 checkout D15 followed by a 110 checkout also on D15 after Taylor missed three at D20 helped the World Champion to a 4-1 win over ‘The Power’.
Peter Wright looked as nervous and as edgy as ever when he stepped up to face Adrian Lewis in the final and deciding match of the tournament. Adrian Lewis was full of confidence, as he had done this all before. The two time back-to-back World champion took a 3-0 lead, but Peter Wright pulling one back wasn’t enough to derail Adrian Lewis as he won the World Cup for England.
England 3-2 Scotland
Phil Taylor 4-0 Peter Wright
Adrian Lewis 1-4 Gary Anderson
England 4-3 Scotland (Doubles)
Phil Taylor 1-4 Gary Anderson
Adrian Lewis 4-1 Peter Wright
