Darts results: Wales win World Cup of Darts after Gerwyn Price and Jonny Clayton beat England's Michael Smith and Rob Cross
Wales won the World Cup of Darts for the first time in their history after Gerwyn Price and Jonny Clayton teamed up to defeat England 3-0 in Austria.
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Price had been a part of the a 2017 pairing with Mark Webster that finished runners-up to the Netherlands but the world number three finally ended the nation's 10-year wait for the trophy alongside an equally imperious Clayton.
The duo, who weren't obviously on the scene when Wales lost the inaugural staging to the Dutch in 2010, made a dream start as they both won their opening singles matches Salzburgarena to move 2-0 up in the best-of-five point final.
World number three Price was first up on the oche and made it four singles wins out of four this weekend with a dominant 4-1 victory over Michael Smith that started by taking out the bullseye for an unconventional 70 checkout.
Price, who has won four titles since the start of September including the televised World Grand Prix and World Series of Darts Finals, took three legs on the trot after Bully Boy levelled to move Wales two points from glory.
Clayton also came roaring out of the blocks like a true Welsh Dragon as he averaged 104 in a superb 4-2 win against Rob Cross that moved his nation onto the brink of their first ever World Cup title.
In what was their fourth Pairs match of the tournament, Price and Clayton bossed the averages with a barrage of high scoring - particularly from the Iceman - but Cross and Smith showed guts to keep holding their throw and force a deciding leg.
However, the Welsh were not to be denied and they saw it out with nerves of steel to claim an emotional and historic victory - as well as a top prize of £70,000 top prize.
Price, who has also claimed back-to-back Grand Slam of Darts titles over the past two years, said: "It's the proudest moment of my darting career - I'm quite emotional. I've had some success recently for myself but to win this for Wales this means so much to me.
"I know I’m playing well at the moment but this is a doubles game and I couldn’t win it without Jonny. This is a team and we deserve it."
Clayton said "I’m the proudest man on the planet right now and to play with Gezzy, the best player in the world at the moment, I’m just so happy.
"This means the world to me, and to beat England in the final, I'm so proud."
England were featuring in their first final since four-time champions Phil Taylor and Adrian Lewis last teamed up in 2016 and Cross said: "We’re proud of what we’ve done this weekend but we didn’t play our best in the final and they deserved to beat us."
With fans still unable to attend events due to the Covid-19 pandemic, the final was played in different circumstances to previous years but Smith spoke of his delight to still be playing and was quick to credit his opponents.
"It’s amazing just to be here and playing darts but I have to say the better pair won today and they fully deserve it," said Smith.
"We’ve given it our all this weekend and dug deep when we needed to, but just didn’t do enough in the end."
Semi-final round-up
England are through to their first World Cup of Darts final since Phil Taylor retired after a battling 2-0 victory over Belgium that could so easily have gone the distance.
The Power lifted the trophy four times with Adrian Lewis in 2012, 2013, 2015 and 2016 but Rob Cross and Michael Smith are now one win away from ending the nation's four-year wait for a fifth title.
Bully Boy, who is still waiting to win his first individual televised major, edged out Kim Huybrechts 4-3 in an opening rubber in which neither player broke the throw.
Dimitri Van den Bergh suffered two doses of bad luck to take the tie to a Pairs rubbber - first by missing the bull for a 164 checkout when leading 3-2 and then suffering an unbelievable bounce out on double 12 in the deciding leg.
He did get a further three bites at the cherry after Cross also spurned his first attempts to steal but he missed those as well and Voltage would make no mistake again.
The top seeds will face tournament favourites Wales in the final after Gerwyn Price and Jonny Clayton claimed a convincing 2-0 victory over Germany.
Gerwyn Price was always in control of his 4-2 victory over Gabriel Clemens while Jonny Clayton averaged over 100 in his impressive triumph against Max Hopp by the same scoreline, finishing it off with a superb 121 checkout on the bullseye.
Afternoon session: Quarter-final round-up
Wales kept alive their hopes of winning their first ever World Cup of Darts title by holding their nerve to beat Australia 4-2 in the decisive doubles rubber for a thrilling 2-1 quarter-final victory.
Gerwyn Price survived missed match darts from Simon Whitlock to edge the opening singles rubber 4-3 - with the help of finishes from 84 and 96 - only for Damon Heta to overcome Jonny Clayton 4-2 with an average of 102 and level the tie.
The 2010 and 2017 runners-up were too strong in the deciding Pairs rubber, with Price pinning the match-winning double six.
They will next face Germany, who just about made the most of Michael van Gerwen's injury to reach their first ever World Cup semi-final.
MVG's preparations were hampered as he underwent medical treatment for a trapped nerve in his back on Sunday afternoon but battled through the pain barrier to win his singles rubber against Max Hopp 4-1 after Danny Noppert had earlier lost a dramatic clash with Gabriel Clemens 4-3.
The four-time champions - for whom MVG has played a part in three of those in 2014, 2017 and 2018 - looked as though they were heading through when leading the decisive Pairs tie 2-0 only for the German duo to make it 3-3.
Hopp initially missed three match darts but breathed a sigh of relief when MVG missed one at tops, leaving Clemens to pin double 10 for a famous win.
England also needed to come through a deciding Pairs clash with Austria to reach the semi-finals.
Mensur Suljovic averaged 109 as he came from 3-0 down to beat Michael Smith 4-3 in the opener, while Rowby-John Rodriguez stormed into a 3-1 lead over Rob Cross with finishes of 160, 100 and 92.
However, he missed match darts to give the hosts overall victory and Cross made him pay to take an absorbing tie all the way.
Just like the singles ties before it, the Pairs went to a deciding seventh leg but England held their nerve to triumph.
They will meet Belgium, who reached the semi-finals for a fifth time in six years with an entertaining 2-1 defeat of surprise packages Canada.
Kim Huybrechts averaged 108 in thrashing Jeff Smith 4-1 but Matt Campbell stunned Dimitri Van den Bergh with the help of checkouts from 160 and 120 in a clinical display of finishing.
Canada led the Pairs decider 2-1, but missed doubles in the next two legs as Belgium capitalised to move ahead before securing victory.
World Cup of Darts: Daily Results
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
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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 2-0 New Zealand
Singles One: Jeff Smith 4-1 Haupai Puha
Singles Two: Matt Campbell 4-2 Cody Harris
Doubles (not required) - Austria 2-0 Portugal
Singles One: Mensur Suljovic 4-2 Jose De Sousa
Singles Two: Rowby-John Rodriguez 4-1 Jose Marques
Doubles (not required): - Belgium 2-0 Latvia
Singles One: Kim Huybrechts 4-0 Janis Mustafejevs
Singles Two: Dimitri Van den Bergh 4-3 Madars Razma
Doubles (not required): - England 2-0 Lithuania
Singles One: Michael Smith 4-0 Darius Labanauskas
Singles Two: Rob Cross 4-2 Mindaugas Barauskas
Doubles (not required):
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 2-0 Greece
Singles One: Gabriel Clemens 4-1 John Michael
Singles Two: Max Hopp 4-0 Veniamin Symeonidis
Doubles (not required): - Australia 2-0 Poland
Singles One: Simon Whitlock 4-3 Krzysztof Ratajski
Singles Two: Damon Heta 4-1 Krzysztof Kciuk
Doubles (not required): - Netherlands 2-0 Spain
Singles One: Michael van Gerwen 4-0 Toni Alcinas
Singles Two: Danny Noppert 4-3 Jesus Noguera
Doubles (not required): - Wales 2-1 Scotland
Singles One: Gerwyn Price 4-2 John Henderson
Singles Two: Jonny Clayton 2-4 Robert Thornton
Doubles: Wales 4-0 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)
- England 2-1 Austria
Singles One: Mensur Suljovic 4-3 Michael Smith
Singles Two: Rob Cross 4-3 Rowby-John Rodriguez
Doubles: England 4-3 Australia - Canada 1-2 Belgium
Singles One: Kim Huybrechts 4-1 Jeff Smith
Singles Two: Matt Campbell 4-1 Dimitri Van den Bergh
Doubles: Belgium 4-2 Canada - Wales 2-1 Australia
Singles One: Gerwyn Price 4-3 Simon Whitlock
Singles Two: Damon Heta 4-2 Jonny Clayton
Doubles: Wales 4-2 Australia - Netherlands 2-1 Germany
Singles One: Gabriel Clemens 4-3 Danny Noppert
Singles Two: Michael van Gerwen 4-1 Max Hopp
Doubles: Germany 4-3 Netherlands
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)
- England 2-0 Belgium
Singles One: Michael Smith 4-3 Kim Huybrechts
Singles Two: Rob Cross 4-3 Dimitri Van den Bergh
Doubles: Not required - Wales 2-0 Germany
Singles One: Gerwyn Price 4-2 Gabriel Clemens
Singles Two: Jonny Clayton 4-2 Max Hopp
Doubles: Not required
Final (Best of 5 points)
(2x best-of-7-leg singles matches, one best-of-7-leg doubles, then reverse singles)
- Wales 3-0 England
Singles One: Gerwyn Price 4-1 Michael Smith
Singles Two: Jonny Clayton 4-2 Rob Cross
Doubles: Wales 4-3 England
Singles Three: Not required
Singles Four: Not required