World Cup - Semi-Finals and Final
FOUR-SOME ENGLAND'S BETWAY WORLD CUP GLORY
ENGLAND'S Phil Taylor and Adrian Lewis won their fourth Betway World Cup of Darts title with a dramatic 3-2 win over the Netherlands' Michael van Gerwen and Raymond van Barneveld in Sunday night's final in Frankfurt.
Taylor and Lewis took victory in the 250,000 pound, 32-nation tournament for a fourth time in five years with a resilient performance in the final as they came from 2-1 down to claim victory in the last two Singles ties for glory.
England's hardest test in their run to the decider had seen them pushed all the way by Spain in the first round, but after cruising past China, Austria and Northern Ireland they took on the Netherlands in a repeat of the 2014 decider.
Taylor took the final's opening Singles tie with a 103 average and a 149 checkout in a 4-3 win over van Gerwen, only for van Barneveld to seal a 4-3 win over Lewis in their Singles contest with a marvellous 11-darter. Taylor's 103 finish put England ahead in the Doubles tie, but van Barneveld finished 104 as the Dutch took a 4-2 win to move ahead 2-1 and put themselves on course to repeat their 2014 triumph. England, though, found a final surge as Taylor overcame van Barneveld 4-1 before Lewis defeated van Gerwen by the same scoreline in a tense decider to carry his nation to another triumph.
Taylor had watched Lewis' final Singles win over van Gerwen from the VIP seating area inside the Eissporthalle, and he admitted: "I was excited towards the end, it was great and I wanted to see the last match from the crowd. I wanted to beat Barney to give Adrian that chance to win it for us, and he did. It was a great final to watch, it was exciting and there was good scoring. They were fantastic, even getting to the final was fantastic because I thought it would be tough for them against Belgium in the semis but they breezed it, and they did brilliantly all weekend. They both put their heart on their sleeve and gave everything they've got. We were representing England and it means a huge amount to us both too - it's a team event and Adrian pulled me through. The Spain game gave us the kick that we needed. They put us under pressure and we came through, and after that we kicked on. Over the years we've carried each other when the other hasn't played as well, and we pull each other through."
The win secured a place in November's SINGHA Beer Grand Slam of Darts for the pair, and Taylor added: "I've loved every minute of this event. It's massive for me to be honest - because I don't win that many things very often now!"
Lewis said: "We've got great chemistry and we're trying our best for each other and for our country and you don't want to let anyone down. I didn't play very well in the Doubles and I'd lost to Raymond in the Singles, and I think the two best players on the night were Phil and Raymond. I believe in Phil and I thought that he could beat Raymond and put me in to win it, and that's how it worked out."
The Dutch pair saw off Russia, the Philippines, Australia and Belgium as they raced into the final, but the two-time champions were defeated in the decider for the first time as the number one seeds edged to victory.
Northern Ireland had overcome Japan, the Republic of Ireland and Canada to reach the semi-finals, but lost for a second time in three years at that stage as England proved too strong in both Singles games.
Belgium's bid to reach a second World Cup final had seen them defeat Poland, Hungary and number two seeds Scotland, but their tactic to switch the order of play in the semi-finals backfired as van Gerwen defeated Ronny Huybrechts 4-1 and van Barneveld saw off younger brother Kim 4-2.
