The Sports Lowdown For All Your News and OpinionsAdrian Lewis became the first man to put his name on the Auckland Darts Masters trophy as he beat Phil Taylor and Raymond van Barneveld both in last-leg deciders to take the title in New Zealand.
Raymond van Barneveld booked his spot in the final with a 10-6 win over ‘The Machine’ James Wade. The first two legs went against the throw, Wade taking out 111 in the second leg. The first big turning point came in the seventh leg when Barney nailed 64 to begin a almost perfect run of seven consecutive legs, which included checkouts of 72 and 76, sending the five-time World Champion within one leg of victory at 9-3.
Wade managed to stop the rot and nail 100 for 9-4, and pulled a further two legs back before Barney closed out the match on D16 to progress to the final.
Adrian Lewis set up a Auckland final clash with Barney after beating Phil Taylor in a last-leg decider, ‘The Power’s’ first defeat of this Oceanic World Series treble-header. Taylor raced into a 4-1 lead, taking out a superb 131 in the fifth leg to hold throw. Another excellent three-dart combination sent Taylor 5-2 up, this time it was 121 to disappear in three darts. However, Lewis hung on in there and finally found a break of throw in the ninth leg, hitting D16 to get the match back on serve. ‘The Power’ broke the throw again in the fourteenth leg, hitting D12 at the fifth time of asking.
However, Lewis broke straight back, nailing D10 to do so. Following Lewis’ D8 in the eighteenth leg, the match went to a last-leg decider, and what a scrappy one it was. Both players looked very edgy, and this showed when Taylor missed four match darts before Lewis stepped up and hit D16 with his last dart in hand to progress with a 100.56 average.
There was a break of throw in the second leg of the Auckland Darts Masters final as Barney landed D18 in the second leg, only for him to see Lewis take out 85 to break straight back. ‘Jackpot’ broke the throw again in the fifth leg, nailing a 123 checkout on the bull. The match then went to throw for a number of legs, which included three successive 11-dart legs, two for van Barneveld and one for Lewis.
Barney produced a moment of magic in the sixteenth leg, taking out 86 on the bull to break the throw. However, Lewis broke straight back, nailing D20 to move 9-8 up. Barney forced a last-leg decider with a break of throw, before the five-time World Champion missed FIVE match darts, but it was Lewis who hit D1 for the title.
