Darts results: Gerwyn Price and Jonny Clayton shine for Wales as England and Netherlands also progress at the World Cup
A review of Friday's first-round action at the BetVictor World Cup of Darts in Austria, including wins for Wales, England, Netherlands and Scotland.
There were no major upsets on the opening day of the World Cup of Darts at the Salzburgarena as the 'big three' of Wales, England and the Netherlands all progressed into the second round.
The Welsh duo of Gerwyn Price and Jonny Clayton were stunned by Singapore in the 2019 first round, when ties consist of just a solitary best-of-nine leg Pairs match, but there were no such problems this time as they thrashed Russia 5-0 during the evening session.
World number three Price, who has winning four titles since the start of September, including the televised World Grand Prix and World Series of Darts Finals, made an explosive start with three 180s in his opening four visits while in-form Clayton weighed in with a 130 checkout.
They combined for an average of 93.94, which would have been higher had they not missed 10 darts at doubles, while Russia spurned all six of their attempts to get a leg on the board.
Nevertheless, huge amount of credit goes to Aleksei Kadochnikov's playing partner Boris Koltsov, whose father sadly died on the morning of the match yet was still determined to take part and do his family and country proud.
"I felt comfortable in that game and apart from one leg it was a super performance," said world number three Price.
"I was scoring well and Jonny was checking out - we're great friends, we get on well and we know each other's games inside out.
"There's no pressure on us and we are both confident in our game. We're a good team together and hopefully we can go all the way."
Although Wales are many peoples' picks to win the World Cup for the first time, four-time champions Netherlands are the marginal favourites, with Michael van Gerwen joined in the side by debutant Danny Noppert.
MVG, who lifted the trophy on three of those occasions with Raymond van Barneveld, has struggled for consistency this season but was more than sharp enough to help his country see off Brazil's Diogo Portela and Bruno Rangel 5-1 with a combined 94 average.
The Dutch duo hit five of their seven attempts at doubles, with van Gerwen providing the fireworks with a sensational 134 checkout along the way.
Third favourites England didn't have it quite so easy as they battled past the Philippines 5-3 in a clash that really should have gone to a deciding leg.
Michael Smith and Rob Cross are the tournament's top seeds due to having the strongest combined ranking on the Order of Merit at four and five respectively but were pushed hard by the talented Asian Tour duo of Lourence Ilagan and Noel Malicdem.
Ilagan played especially well with a barrage of big ton+ scores and despite falling 2-0 and 3-1 down, they fought back to level the scores at 3-3.
Malicdem, who gave Peter Wright a real scare at the World Championship, was unable to take out 92 for a 4-3 lead and that would prove to be their final chance as Cross pinned double 10 before the English pairing raced away in the next leg.
England haven't been crowned champions since Phil Taylor and Adrian Lewis combined to win it for the fourth time together in 2016 and neither Cross now Smith have reached the final before.
Three of the tournament dark horses in Belgium, Germany and Australia all progressed, with the latter taking care of last year's runners-up Republic of Ireland.
Simon Whitlock, who played alongside Paul Nicholson in the infamously agonising 2012 final, is teaming up with in-form debutant Damon Heta this year and the duo produced a superb performance in a high-class 5-2 victory that could have been closer.
They averaged slightly less than Ireland's 93.12 with a mark of 92.52 but they hit four of the match's five 180s which helped them earn more attempts at the outer ring.
William O'Connor and Steve Lennon had their chances in the last two legs but Whitlock and Heta capitalised on their mistakes.
Belgium's Dimitri Van den Bergh and Kim Huybrechts came through a thrilling clash with Czech Republic to win 5-4 with an average of 93.53.
Huybrechts held his nerve to take out 36 in the decider after Adam Gawlas piled on the pressure with a 140 to leave Karel Sedlacek 66 that he didn't get the chance to finish.
Belgium are one of our two outright titles selections at 10/1 alongside 14/1 shots Germany, who looked imperious during a 5-0 thumping of Finland during the evening session.
Max Hopp and Gabriel Clemens showed no mercy with an impressive average of 96.35 compared to their opponents' 81.77 while they also hit three 180s.
Northern Ireland were considered as one of the dangerous outsiders with Daryl Gurney and Brendan Dolan making up the team but they were sent packing by arguably the performance of the day from Canada.
Jeff Smith and debutant Matt Campbell combined to average 94.51 compared to the fourth seeds' mark of 87.78 while they converted five of their 11 darts at doubles, which included a stunning 154 checkout from the Silencer.
Holders Scotland are being represented by the new pairing of John Henderson and Robert Thornton rather than Gary Anderson and Peter Wright, who opted not to take their places in the team, and came through a hard-fought clash with Japan 5-3.
Seigo Asada put Japan 2-1 up with a fine checkout from 120 but after falling 3-2 down, Yuki Yamada missed tops to level and that ultimately proved to be the key turning point.
"We're up for it and we want to retain this title for Scotland," said Henderson. "The first round is always the hardest - it wasn't pretty, but we got through.
"It's a different day and a different format tomorrow, the Singles is more what we are used to and it's in our comfort zone, and if we need to play Pairs we know we can win that.
"It means everything for me to represent my country. We're a passionate country who give 100 percent in everything we do, and we're trying to match what Peter and Gary did last year."
Host nation Austria would have sent the crowd crazy if it wasn't being played behind closed doors, but those watching at home would have been happy with Mensur Suljovic and Rowby-John Rodriguez beating America's Chuck Puleo and Danny Lauby 5-2 with few problems.
Debutants Portugal, who came into this event after Singapore were forced to withdraw due to Covid-19 restrictions, thrashed Hungary 5-0 as Jose De Sousa and Jose Marques stepped up to the occasion in style.
Darius Labanauskas and Mindaugas Barauskas picked up Lithuania's first World Cup victory with a 5-3 defeat over Gibraltar's teenage duo Craig Galliano and Justin Hewitt while Greece picked up only their second World Cup victory as they whitewashed Sweden.
John Michael and Veniamin Symeonidis hit five doubles from eight attempts and restricted a below-par Daniel Larsson and Dennis Nilsson to just one dart at a double in the game.
Spain's Toni Alcinas and debutant Jesus Noguera trailed Italy 3-1 after a nightmare start but battled back to overcome Andrea Micheletti and Daniele Petri in a dramatic final leg in which their opponents waited on 40.
New Zealand, the 2019 quarter-finals, claimed an impressive 5-2 win over Denmark, with Haupai Puha recording checkouts of 112 and 100 alongside Cody Harris.
South Africa's Devon Petersen has been one of the stars on the PDC circuit this season but he lacked the necessary back-up from debutant playing partner Carl Gabriel in a 5-0 defeat to Poland's Krzysztof Ratajski and Krzysztof Kciuk, who missed just four darts at doubles and averaged 90.
Latvia rounded off the night with a dramatic 5-4 victory over a dejected Hong Kong pairing of Kai Fan Leung and Royden Lam, who missed a match dart in each of the last two legs played.
The Latvian duo of Madars Razma and Janis Mustafejev only managed an average of 78.35 but that can be understood considering they only received their call-up on Thursday following China's inability to get to Austria due to travel difficulties.
World Cup of Darts: Results & Schedule
Friday November 6
Afternoon Session
(1pm local time, 12pm BST)
TV Coverage: Sky Sports
First Round (Best of nine legs - doubles)
- Lithuania 5-3 Gibraltar
- Portugal 5-0 Hungary
- New Zealand 5-2 Denmark
- Northern Ireland 2-5 Canada
- Belgium 5-4 Czech Republic
- Austria 5-2 USA
- England 5-3 Philippines
- Italy 4-5 Spain
Evening Session (7pm local time, 6pm BST)
TV Coverage: Sky Sports
First Round (Best of nine legs - doubles)
- Sweden 0-5 Greece
- Japan 3-5 Scotland
- Poland 5-0 South Africa
- Republic of Ireland 2-5 Australia
- Wales 5-0 Russia
- Germany 5-0 Finland
- Netherlands 5-1 Brazil
- Hong Kong 4-5 Latvia
Saturday November 7
Afternoon Session (1.30pm local time, 12.30pm BST)
TV Coverage: Sky Sports
Second Round (Best of 3 points)
(Two best-of-7-leg singles matches & one best of 7 doubles decider if required)
- Canada v New Zealand
- Austria v Portugal
- Belgium v Latvia
- England v Lithuania
Evening Session (7pm local time, 6pm BST)
TV Coverage: Sky Sports
Second Round (Best of 3 points)
(2x best-of-7-leg singles matches & one best-of-7-leg doubles decider if required)
- Germany v Greece
- Australia v Poland
- Netherlands v Spain
- Wales v Scotland
Sunday November 8
Afternoon Session (1pm local time, 12pm BST)
TV Coverage: Sky Sports
Quarter-Finals (Best of 3 points)
(2x best-of-7-leg singles matches & one best-of-7-leg doubles decider if required)
- Four Matches
Evening Session (7pm local time, 6pm BST)
Semi-Finals (Best of 3 points)
(2x best-of-7-leg singles matches & one best-of-7-leg doubles decider if required)
- Two matches
Final (Best of 5 points)
(2x best-of-7-leg singles matches, one best-of-7-leg doubles, then reverse singles)
- Winner SF 1 v Winner SF 2