England Beats The Netherlands To Claim Darts World Cup In Fiery Final

Phil Taylor and Adrian Lewis

As our darts betting tips lodach recommended last week, England pair Phil Taylor and Adrian Lewis retained the World Cup of Darts, beating the Netherlands’ Michael van Gerwen and Raymond van Barneveld in Sunday’s final in Frankfurt.

In what was a repeat of the 2014 final, Taylor and Lewis, two of the game’s greats who have amassed 18 world titles between them, claimed victory in the £250,000, 32-nation tournament.

After the win, tempers flared between winners England and tipped finalists The Netherlands, as Adrian Lewis and Michael van Gerwen shared a heated exchange following Lewis’ celebrations cheap NFL jerseys after sealing a dramatic win for England.

Tensions initially began to rise after Lewis hit 180 and celebrated boisterously in front of his Dutch counterpart but things soon reached boiling point when the Englishman, requiring 16 to take the championship, missed the double eight and consequently offered MVG a chance to get back into the match. It was chance missed by the narrowest of margins as Van Gerwen’s dart fell just wide of the D18 stroking the outside of the wire. Up stepped Adrian Lewis who with his next dart, landed it sweetly into the D8 to give England their second consecutive, and fourth in all, World Cup win.

With both players as moody as each other, Van Gerwen, who lost both of his matches in the final, took exception to Lewis’ antics while Lewis couldn’t let the matter lie either, having been upset at some of the noises emanating Внимание! from the Dutch camp during the game. After the last dart had been thrown, the Englishman reached out to MVG to make his angry point, which brought about some minor arguments and shoving from both sides. In the after match interview, Lewis said “MVG got the hump with me because I gave it large but I told him he does that every week, so he has to expect some back.”

See-Saw Darts

In truth, it was an exciting finale to a great tournament that was always likely to boil over given the see-saw nature of the match which looked at one point to be heading in favour of The Netherlands.

The opening contest, a singles tie between Taylor and Van Gerwen, provided a victory for Taylor who had a 103 average and closed with a 149 checkout, giving England the advantage by 4 sets to 1, before things swung back in Dutch favour as Lewis lost 4-3 to Van Barneveld in an 11-darter. From there, the Dutch won the pairs even after Taylor’s 103 finish had England looking good before Van Barneveld responded with a 104 finish securing the doubles round for The Netherlands, to put them ahead 2-1. England didn’t take things lying down and made things level again soon after when Taylor saw off the challenge from Van Barneveld by 4 sets to 1, which bought about the decider, where Lewis beat Van Gerwen, again 4-1, before the goading the Dutchman into the dramatic finish.

Tournament Progress

Earlier in the day, Taylor and Lewis, had seen off Northern Ireland’s semi-finals challenge, led by duo Brendan Dolan and Daryl Gurney. Surprisingly, England’s hardest game had come in Thursday’s first round match against Spain who took “The Power” and “Jackpot” to a cheap jerseys tense finish. From there, the English pair gained momentum and steamrolled China and Austria before reaching Sunday’s ties with Northern Ireland in the semis and The Netherlands later on at the event’s climax.

For The Netherlands, they didn’t really hit a bump on their way to Sunday’s showdown either, as they cruised past Russia, the Philippines, Australia and Belgium, who had themselves beaten Scotland, represented by world champion Gary Anderson and Robert Thornton, in the quarter-finals.

As for the other home nations, Northern Ireland defeated Japan, neighbours the Republic of Ireland and Canada on the way to meet England. Wales, on the other hand, bust out in round two at the hands of the Canada, having sailed past Finland 5-1 in the opening round.

Austrian Open 2016 Preview

While European eyes are currently fixed on the European Football Championships, it’s worth remembering that the small matter of the Austrian leg of the European tour darts begins on June 10.

Featuring the usual roll-call of big hitters, 48 players will compete in the PDC Austrian Open which runs for two days until June 12 at the Multiversum Schwechat in Vienna, with a £115,000 prize fund and is the fifth leg from the ten European events on the Architektur PDC de Pro Tour.

For those that don’t know, the tournament is structured as a straight forward knockout and progress format.

Darts tips wise, once more Michael van Gerwen leads the betting and is evens at both Bet365 and Betway but the two are split on Phil “The Power” Taylor’s Of chances with the latter offering a half point higher at 9/2 on the Stoke born player getting the better of the Dutchman for the second time in a week.

The smart money might well be on Dave Chisnall who lost in the final of the Hamburg leg in May and is available at around 16/1, while Scotland’s Peter Wright can be backed at 10/1 and is more than capable of squeezing his way to victory.

Elsewhere the prices do start to drift along with the likelihood of a victory for the outsiders with perhaps Michael Smith being the highest placed among the also rans.

If you are looking for a distance bet or even a good value each way wager, then popular local thrower Mensur Suljovic is a best price 40/1 and, despite being in his forties, is Way currently in the process of proving that he deserves a place at the oche at the world’s top darting events. The 44 year old Bosnian born world number 19 has enjoyed wholesale jerseys upsetting the big guns while representing his adopted Austria.

Last year he scalped both James Wade and Simon Whitlock, and is disproving the theory that Darts is young man’s game as, including his results in 2015, he is currently enjoying his best career form and is at last looking like a world-class professional darts player.

Read More
2016 World Cup Of Darts Preview And Tips

2016 World Cup Of Darts Preview And Tips

This Thursday in Frankfurt at the Eissporthalle arena the sixth annual BetWay World Cup of Darts gets underway in what will be the fourth consecutive time Germany have hosted the event. As ever, there’s some good bets out there for darts fans. The opening night’s round one matches see former champions Netherlands, last year’s finalists Scotland and host nation Germany among other all set to compete. In the five years of the tournament so far, only two sides – England and the Netherlands – have ever won the tournament so it’s no surprise that those two again lead the outright tournament betting.

With England once again represented by the dominant pair Phil ‘The Power’ Taylor and Adrian Lewis, realistically, only the bookies’ tourney favourites The Netherlands, with the experience and quality of Michael van Gerwen and Raymond van Barneveld to call upon, should be able to make a challenge. The draw has been kind to both, who cannot face off against each other until the final. England, for that matter, also avoid neighbours Scotland in the earlier rounds and, despite a possible challenge from the Welsh at the semi-final stage, are very much expected to reach the final. You can place a wager on it at Betway.

Darts cheap nfl jerseys betting tip wise, basically, don’t expect too many upsets. This is especially true in the first round where it may be worth your while stacking your bets into an accumulator, where many of the picks will be odds on. There will however be some tighter matches in first round where a clever darts bet might reward the brave. Denmark V Sweden and Hungary V Thailand, both on Thursday, spring to mind.

Outside the top two, Scotland, seeded third, should make the semi-finals at the very least. With Premier League pair Gary Anderson and Robert Thornton stepping up, anything less would be a huge disappointment. Belgium, fourth in the betting, are represented by the sibling team of Kim and Ronny Huybrechts and, while unlikely to challenge the top two, could yet force a challenge to the Scots or Welsh, who will again be led by the in-form Gerwyn Price.

Other potential dark horses include Northern Ireland, fourth seeds courtesy of world No 21 Brendan Dolan and No 28 Daryl Gurney, and Australia who will be represented by Simon Whitlock and Kyle Anderson. Keep an eye out too for the Republic of Ireland’s pairing of William O’Connor and Mick McGowan, Canada’s John Part and Gibraltar’s Dyson Parody, if for no other reason than having the best name in the game.

Throwing for the hosts this year will be the 19 year old rising arrows star Max Hopp and Jyhan Artut, twenty years his partner’s senior, who made it as far as the quarter-finals last time out, before being beaten by eventual champions England, who, like the Netherlands, would consider anything other than beating each other in the final, an underachievement.

Tournament Structure

Lasting four days and televised live on Sky Sports, the £250,000 tournament features 32 nations, each represented by two players, contesting a mixture of Doubles and Singles matches, until the final on Sunday June 5.

Just as before, of the 32 teams competing for the cup, only the top 8 teams have been seeded in order to streamline the top teams to the tournament’s later stages. This year’s seeds are; 1. England, 2. Scotland, 3. Netherlands, 4. Northern Ireland, 5. Wales, 6. Australia, 7. Belgium, 8. Austria. This leaves the unfancied and thus unseeded 24 teams, which include Russia, Japan, Greece, Gibraltar and Spain.

Thursday begins with the first set of round one matches where Scotland take on New Zealand and Netherlands come up against Russia. Also on the night, Australia play Germany and the USA meet the Philippines.

Last year’s champions England begin their title defence on Friday with a tie against Spain, as do Wales who play Finland and Northern Ireland who take on Japan.

The full first round schedule, featuring best of nine legs doubles looks as follows:

Thursday June 2 (19:00 GMT)

Hungary v Thailand

USA v Philippines

Norway v Gibraltar

Denmark v Sweden

Belgium v Poland

Scotland v New Zealand

Netherlands v Russia

Australia v Germany

Friday June 3 (19:00 GMT)

Czech Republic v China

Greece v Canada

Republic of Ireland v Hong Kong

South Africa v Singapore

Northern wholesale jerseys Ireland v Japan

Wales v Finland

England v Spain

Austria v Italy

Saturday June 4, Afternoon Session (13:00 GMT)

The Sixteen qualifiers move on to Saturday’s second round which will be held across two sessions in the afternoon and evening. For the free next three rounds, Second, Quarter Final and Semi Final, games take the structure of two best of seven 501 Singles matches. Here, both nations nominate the order of cheap jerseys play.

Belgium/Poland v Hungary/Thailand

Northern Ireland/Japan v Republic of Ireland/Hong Kong

Wales/Finland v Greece/Canada

Austria/Italy v South Africa/Singapore

Saturday June 4, Evening Session (8pm local time)

Scotland/New Zealand v Norway/Gibraltar

Australia/Germany v Denmark/Sweden

England/Spain v Czech Republic/China

Netherlands/Russia v USA/Philippines

With the teams again halved, the quarter-finals commence cheap jerseys on Sunday June 5, whittling the teams down to four for the day’s evening session hosting of the semi-finals and final, bringing the tournament to its conclusion.

Sunday June 5, Afternoon Session (13:00 GMT)

Quarter-Finals

Order of Play Store TBC

Sunday June 5, Evening Session (19:00 GMT)

Semi-Finals

Final

The Final one works as two best of seven leg 501 Singles matches, again with both nations nominating the order in which their players compete over the first two matches. This is then followed by a best of seven leg 501 Doubles wholesale match before a Reverse Singles match takes place. The first team to win three games will be the 2016 PDC Betway World Cup Of Darts Champions.

Read More