Peter Wright returned to his winning ways at the weekend when he defeated world champion Rob Cross 6-4 in the final of Players Championship 14. For Snakebite, this was his first PDC title of 2018 and puts an end to a long and horrible drought for the Scotsman who will now be hoping for a better second half of the season when the televised darts get underway again next month in Las Vegas.
Despite his poor form, he remains the world number two and was given a tough test by the standing world champion. A winner of seven career Players Championship titles, Wright needed to hold off a fightback from Voltage, who himself was looking to win his second Players Championship crown of the weekend.
On his way to triumph, Wright bagged wins over Ross Twell, Davy Van Baelen, Josh Payne, Toni Alcinas, Dimitri Van den Bergh and Jermaine Wattimena before getting to Cross. In the final, he took an early advantage, breaking his rival in the opening leg before claiming the following leg. His opponent then struck back in the third before Wright hit a 76 to retake a two leg lead. Cross took the next and would have claimed the next had he not missed three straight chances in the double. Instead, he missed and handed Snakebite a chance to go in for the win.
Before his victory, Cross had beaten William O’Connor, Mark Webster, Martin Schindler, Ryan Meikle, Adam Hunt and Michael Smith to win through to his third ProTour final of the year.