Gary Anderson defeated Michael van Gerwen (Picture: Lawrence Lustig/PDC)

Darts results: Gary Anderson defeats Michael van Gerwen and Rob Cross is eliminated on Judgement Night

By Chris Hammer

Darts

Thu August 27, 2020 · 4y ago

A review of Thursday night's Unibet Premier League action in Milton Keynes, as Michael van Gerwen suffered another defeat and Rob Cross was eliminated.

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More Misery for 'Mighty Mike'

Michael van Gerwen's 100% record of topping the Premier League Darts table every year since his debut in 2013 is in real jeopardy after suffering rare back-to-back defeats at the Marshall Arena.

The five-time champion, who is bidding to lift the trophy for a fifth year in a row, has only ever lost as many as four matches in a single regular season campaign once before (2018), and he's already at that tally now after just nine matches.

Having surrendered his place at the summit to Glen Durrant on Wednesday night by losing to the three-time Lakeside king for the third time in as many meetings, van Gerwen was beaten 7-4 by his old rival Gary Anderson 24 hours later.

The Flying Scotsman came into the clash on a seven-match losing streak against the Dutchman but turned the tables with a superb display that was much closer to the 'Jekyll' side of his game that he showed when averaging 109 against Michael Smith on Tuesday rather than the 'Hyde' that turned up in a 7-1 defeat to Gerwyn Price on Wednesday.

That said, Anderson's army of fans would have been concerned after seeing their man spurn six darts at doubles in the opening five legs but after hanging on in there at 3-3 and 4-4, he then claimed crucial break before taking the next to guarantee a share of the spoils.

The 2011 and 2015 champion then sealed victory by making it three legs on the spin in style as he took out 101 with single one, treble 20, double top.

Anderson is now level on points with fourth-placed MVG - albeit with an inferior legs difference - and at this rate the world number one faces a fight on his hands just to qualify for the play-offs.

It's only the second time MVG has suffered back-to-back defeats in Premier League history, with the other occasion coming back in 2018 when losing to Peter Wright and Raymond van Barneveld in successive weeks.

Anderson told www.pdc.tv: "There were some good parts and I'm happy to take the two points because the table is so tight this year," said Anderson.

"Michael wasn't at his best tonight and didn't score like he can. I'm practising well but it's still not as good as I want it to be when I get up on stage and I was a bit scratchy."

Duzza flying high as Cross bows out

Glen Durrant's remarkable Premier League season goes from strength to strength as he moved two points clear at the top with a 7-4 victory over Rob Cross that consigned Voltage to elimination on Judgement Night.

After snatching a draw against world champion Peter Wright on restart night, Duzza made it three career wins out of three against Michael van Gerwen with a sparkling 104 average to regain top spot on Wednesday before consolidating his position with another superb performance.

The three-time Lakeside champion, who reached the World Matchplay semi-finals here last month, averaged 106 in this latest stellar performance while he hit three 180s, pinned seven of his nine double attempts and landed a stunning 167 checkout.

That finish put him 4-0 up and he then threatened the second whitewash of the night by taking the fifth leg before Voltage began a mini comeback that would be in vain.

Cross headed into the clash one point behind eighth-placed Daryl Gurney but given his inferior legs difference he had to beat Durrant to avoid elimination and his fate was therefore sealed when Durrant moved 6-4 ahead.

The 2019 runner-up has lost all three of his matches since the restart but he does at least bow out with a little pride restored after averaging 103.97.

Gurney survives despite defeat

Daryl Gurney's great escape was completed on Judgement Night despite a 7-4 defeat to Peter Wright.

SuperChin headed into Tuesday's restart without a win and three points behind Rob Cross and Gerwyn Price but back-to-back wins over Chris Dobey and Nathan Aspinall put destiny in his own hands ahead of his meeting with the world champion.

He was unable to seal survival himself but breathed a huge sigh of relief when Voltage failed to beat Glen Durrant in the final match of the night and succumbed to his third defeat in a row to finish bottom.

Wright came agonisingly close to a perfect leg in this clash when missing double 12 following back-to-back 180s but he did come back to clean up with his next dart to move 3-2 up.

Gurney averaged around eight points less than Snakebite with 92 but in true SuperChin fashion, battled hard to stay right in touch and hit a match high checkout of 80 in the eighth leg to level matters at 4-4.

However, that would be the last leg he'd win as Wright won three on the bounce to seal a victory that lifts him into second place on 12 points.

Iceman freezes misfiring Machine Gun

Gerwyn Price registered just the 11th whitewash in Premier League history as he thrashed Challenger Jermaine Wattimena 7-0 to lift himself right into the thick of top-four qualification.

The Iceman becomes just the seventh different player to manage it, following on from Colin Lloyd (v Terry Jenkins 2007), Phil Taylor (v Mardle 2008 & Thornton 2016), James Wade (v Whitlock 2012 & Gurney 2019), Michael van Gerwen (v Taylor 2014, Wade 2015 & Lewis 2017), Dave Chisnall (v Thornton 2016) and Michael Smith (v Barney 2018).

Price, who thrashed Gary Anderson 7-1 on Wednesday night to bounce back from his defeat to Nathan Aspinall 24 hours earlier, has now improved his legs difference by 13 in the space of two nights and is now just a point behind fourth-placed van Gerwen and the Flying Scotsman.

The two-time Grand Slam of Darts champion averaged 102.15 compared to Wattimena's 81.24 while he landed a a pair of 100+ checkouts from 164 and 114 and pinned seven of his 12 attempts at doubles.

His opponent only managed to one attempt at a double and apart from matching Price's two maximums, he just didn't score heavily enough to trouble the Welshman.

"I never thought I'd go out today and it was going to be very unlucky for me not to go through, but after I won a leg I knew I was safe," said Price. "I played a bit better today and I'm happy to win again.

"Jermaine was scoring okay in patches but was nowhere near his best, and I punished him. I felt good but it's always easy when you're scoring well and someone's two or three darts behind.

"I took my chances and that's all that matters. I've got a chance now to get into the top four and hopefully it keeps going in the right direction."

Aspinall comeback stuns Smith

Nathan Aspinall produced a stirring comeback from 5-3 down to defeat Michael Smith 7-5 and lift himself back into the top four of the Premier League.

The debutant had slipped down to fifth after losing to Daryl Gurney on Wednesday and looked in danger of a further drop when Bully Boy reeled off 11, 12 and 13 darters in four legs to open up his advantage.

Aspinall, who had earlier produced a 121 checkout in the opening leg, pulled one back before firing in back-to-back 180s in a 12-darter that levelled the scores while another in 13 put him ahead.

It was a shame, therefore, that such a high-quality encounter had to end in a comparative farce as Smith spurned eight darts at a double having initially got down to 40 after four visits.

The 2019 UK Open spurned one of his own by the time he eventually got to a finish but got the job down at the first attempt of his next visit to claim a priceless two points.

He averaged 102.96 compared to Smith's 102.06 despite hitting one fewer maximums with five while he converted seven of his 12 darts at doubles as Smith spurned 13 of his 18.

"Maybe a draw would have been a fair result, but I'm happy to get the win and I'll take it," said Aspinall. "I feel like I've nicked a point from him but I've been in that position many times.

"It's probably the game I've enjoyed most during the Premier League this season. It was a brilliant game to be involved in - we bring the best out of each other and it was another great game. He threw everything at me but I dug deep.

"I felt for him at the end when he missed those doubles, but it shows that with or without a crowd, you still feel the pressure. I'm loving it though and I'll take confidence from tonight."