Michael Smith (Picture PDC/Lawrence Lustig)

Premier League Darts results: Michael Smith whitewashes Raymond van Barneveld on Judgement Night in Liverpool

Darts

Thu April 05, 2018 · 7y ago

Michael Smith whitewashed Raymond van Barneveld while Mensur Suljovic was eliminated from this season's Premier League - but Judgement Night will be remembered for the crowd's tribute to Eric Bristow.

Scroll down for match-by-match reports, statistics and updated standings

The Professional Darts Corporation announced the sad passing of the 'Crafty Cockney' during Thursday night's fixture in Liverpool.

Immediately after the news broke, fans at the Echo Arena burst into a rendition of "There's only one Eric Bristow" as commentator Rod Studd stopped speaking.

Click here to read more on all the tributes which are pouring in for the man who put darts on the map in the 1980s and became a British sporting icon.

Smith bullies Barney to the extreme

Michael Smith recorded only the ninth whitewash in Premier League Darts history with a 7-0 thumping of Raymond van Barneveld on Judgement Night in Liverpool.

Playing in front of his 'home' crowd, the St Helens thrower produced his best performance of what has been a superb season so far as he averaged 103.97 and only missed one dart at a double.

While Smith had won six of his previous eight games to sit just two points behind leader Michael van Gerwen, he'd generally been managing averages in the low to mid 90s but had insisted it was only a matter of time before he found a higher gear.

And tonight, the wait ended in emphatic fashion.

Barney only had five darts at a double but missed the lot as he entered the hall of shame alongside Terry Jenkins (2007), Wayne Mardle (2008), Simon Whitlock (2012), Phil Taylor (2014), James Wade (2015), Robert Thornton (2016x2) and Adrian Lewis as the players to have been whitwashed.

It looked like Dutchman would get off the mark in the sixth leg when he left 16 with Smith back on 116 but Bully Boy brilliantly took it out, finishing on tops.

MVG eliminates Suljovic

Mensur Suljovic's debut Premier League Darts season is over after his 7-4 defeat to a rampant Michael van Gerwen saw him finish second-bottom on Judgement Night.

Needing an unlikely win to jump ahead of Peter Wright ahead of Snakebite's clash with Daryl Gurney, the Austrian produced a plucky display but simply couldn't live with MVG's scoring power.

Van Gerwen hit a stunning 10 180s which is only one short of the competition's match record of 11 - managed by Gary Anderson against Simon Whitlock back in 2011 - and averaged just over 106 despite missing 17 darts at a double.

Suljovic ended his season on four points - two more than rock-bottom Gerwyn Price.

Voltage hot enough for Anderson

Rob Cross defeated Gary Anderson for the first time in his career as he edged a scrappy contest 7-5 in Liverpool.

Voltage only averaged 92.3 compared to Anderson's 95.09 but his finishing was marginally better than the Flying Scotsman, who only hit five of his 18 attempts at doubles.

Cross took out two more from the same number of attempts and had the highest checkout of 82 while the pair both managed four 180s apiece in a match which didn't live up to expectations.

The world champion's victory sees him bounce back from last week's defeat to Daryl Gurney and he stays third in the table on 12 points, with Anderson three further back.

Wright scraps for point

Peter Wright earned a subdued point during a 6-6 draw with Daryl Gurney.

Snakebite headed into the clash knowing he would avoid elimination following Mensur Suljovic's defeat to MVG but news soon broke about the passing of the legendary Eric Bristow.

Statistically it was a superb match with Gurney hitting five 180s in an average of 98.67 while Wright managed four while averaging 99 - and even threatened a nine-darter with back-to-back maximums in the final leg.

However few could pay attention to the action on the oche given the breaking news while the crowd sang their hearts out to the Crafty Cockney.

Whitlock ends Price's nightmare season

Simon Whitlock hit a 164 checkout in one of the worst matches in Premier League history as Gerwyn Price's nightmare debut season ended in fittingly poor fashion on Judgement Night.

With no chance of avoiding the bottom two, Price was merely playing for pride as he headed to Liverpool with just two points to his name from a pair of draws in his eight games.

However, the Welshman produced his worst performance of the season with an average of just 77.13 while he failed to hit a single 180 and missed 14 darts at doubles.

Price ends up with the worst ever points tally since the tournament began.

Whitlock didn't play much better either as he averaged just 82.02 but wasn't made to pay for missing 23 darts of his own at doubles.

Despite his sloppy finishing, which included missing 13 darts at doubles in one leg (which he won!), the Wizard did conjure up the only magic moment of the match when taking out a 164 finish.

The victory helps the Aussie maintain his hopes of a top-four spot.