Netherlands collected their second World Cup of Darts
title after whitewashing England 3-0 in Sunday’s final at the Sporthalle,
Hamburg.
Dutch duo Michael van Gerwen and Raymond van Barneveld
were in blistering form all week and proved too hot for reigning champions Phil
Taylor and Adrian Lewis in the final.
MVG notched a 10-dart leg on his way to a 4-0 win over
Taylor in the opening singles rubber and Premier League champion Van Barneveld
then swept Lewis aside 4-0 to put the Dutch on the brink of victory.
Two-time World Champion Lewis had been out of sorts for
large parts of the campaign and he failed to keep England alive as Van Gerwen
clinched the title for Holland with a 4-2 win.
Van Gerwen told Sky Sports afterwards: "To do this
in the final against a country like England is fantastic. We were strong today
and a real team. I'd never won this before so it's another major on the
list!".
Taylor was magnanamous in defeat, adding: "We tried
everything we could but just didn't click. We got beat by the better
pair."
Fractious
Netherlands reached the final after defeating Belgium 2-1
in the quarters and then Northern Ireland, the surprise package of the
tournament, by the same scoreline.
The Northern Irish threatened an upset in the semi-finals
when Brendan Dolan overcame Van Gerwen 4-3, however Barney levelled by
whitewashing Michael Mansell and the Dutch duo were unstoppable in the doubles
decider, averaging 117.88 to progress.
England also booked their place in the final via a
sudden-death shootout at the expense of Australia after Taylor trounced Simon
Whitlock 4-1 before Lewis slumped 4-2 to Paul Nicholson in a fractious rubber.
The English duo dovetailed well in the doubles, though,
sweeping the Australian pair aside 4-0.
Earlier on Sunday, Northern Ireland's Dolan produced
arguably the best individual performance of the quarter-finals as he defeated
Peter Wright 4-2 in their singles clash and then took out finishes of 156 and
136 in the doubles decider after Robert Thornton's 4-3 win over Mansell - in
which the Scot averaged almost 108.
England enjoyed a 2-0 win over South Africa in their
quarter-final, while Wales fell to a 2-1 defeat at the hands of Australia.
Culled from Skysports
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