World Cup - Semifinals, Final
BRILLIANT ENGLAND DENY SCOTLAND TO SEAL BWIN WORLD CUP OF DARTS TREBLE
ENGLAND'S Phil Taylor and Adrian Lewis claimed a third bwin World Cup of Darts title in four years with a thrilling victory over Scotland's Gary Anderson and Peter Wright in the final at Frankfurt's Eissporthalle on Sunday night.
In a final night of high drama in Germany, the English pairing overcame Belgium with two superb individual displays as Taylor defeated Ronny Huybrechts 4-3 and Lewis overcame Kim Huybrechts 4-2 in their semi-final.
Scotland then knocked out reigning champions Netherlands in a thrilling Doubles decider to put themselves into the final for the first time in the 32-nation pairs event.
Wright had initially lost a high-quality clash 4-3 to Michael van Gerwen - as the Dutchman topped a 106 average and sealed victory with an 11-darter - before World Champion Anderson swept aside van Barneveld 4-1.
Despite van Gerwen firing in a 126 bull finish to win the second leg of the Doubles contest, Scotland claimed a 4-1 victory to move through to face England as an old sporting rivalry took to the darting stage.
Taylor kicked off the final with an amazing 113.43 average - an individual record for the World Cup of Darts - in a 4-0 whitewash of Wright, only to see Anderson see off Lewis 4-1.
The Doubles clash then went the way of England as Taylor took out 101 to win the deciding leg for a 4-3 triumph - only to then see himself beaten by a sublime Singles display by Anderson, who averaged 108 and took out finishes of 150 and 110 in a 4-1 win.
That sent the final to a decisive Singles tie between Lewis and Wright, and it was the two-time World Champion who rose to the occasion. Lewis recorded checkouts of 87, 70 and 74 to take a 3-0 lead, and though Wright responded with an 11-darter, the Englishman took the next in 14 darts to give England the title.
"It's absolutely fantastic and I'm a little bit lost for words," admitted Lewis, who shares a 50,000 pound first prize with Taylor.
"That last game against Peter was probably harder than playing in a World Championship final because it was the first to four legs and you've got the nation's hopes on you, and I pulled through. We did it as a team and that's the third time in four finals that we've won, but it's my first trophy of the year so it's special on that front."
England had defeated Denmark, Japan and Germany in reaching Sunday night's final stages, and Lewis added: "It's a massive win for us because the standard now is fantastic. Hong Kong won through to the quarter-finals and it shows how good the players are who are coming through now and we'll be expecting a lot more from countries like that in years to come."
The triumph saw 16-time World Champion Taylor add yet another title to his glittering roll of honour, and he added: "It's absolutely fantastic - this is more special than any other World Cup I've played in and I've really enjoyed it. I think the final was probably the best we've had and I couldn't be any proud of Adrian with how he played in that last game against Peter. He's a confidence player and he got off to a great start, and that was it from there. Those finishes were some of the biggest he's done in his career but all the players were pulling the stops out because Gary Anderson was brilliant against me there too. To see Adrian win it was extra special for me. I've enjoyed every minute of it with Adrian this weekend and it's helped us relax."
Scottish pair Anderson and Wright had produced their nation's best finish in the five-year history of the tournament, and picked up 13,000 pound each as the beaten finalists.
Anderson had been bidding to add the World Cup of Darts title to the World Championship, Premier League and Players Championship Finals crowns he has claimed in the past seven months, and he conceded: "It wasn't to be tonight but we gave it everything. Peter was in brilliant form throughout the weekend and I had my moments too, and we loved it. It's been a fantastic tournament and we had a great time, and hopefully we can go one better next year."
Wright added: "It's great to have reached the final and we both really enjoyed the weekend. The crowds were great and the support they gave us was fantastic, and though it's disappointing that we couldn't quite win that final it's an achievement to be there."