Great Britain To Meet Germany In World Cup Of Pool Final
Great Britain will face Germany in the World Cup of Pool final after a faultless display by Darren Appleton and Karl Boyes against Slovakia was followed by a fighting comeback from 7-2 by Germany, who beat Estonia 9-7.
Late entrants Appleton and Boyes kept their remarkable dream alive as they kept Slovakian pair Jakub Koniar and Jaroslav Polach in their seats for almost the entire match, completing only the second semi-final whitewash in World Cup history with a 9-0 win.
Appleton made a tough long 9 the take the first rack and send a warning shot to the rest of the field; the 2014 winners were well and truly back. If that wasn’t warning enough, they shut Slovakia out of the match, taking three more ranks for a 4-0 lead. A safety battle in the fifth gave Slovakia a chance but Boyes slammed in a difficult 2 to end the exchange, and Great Britain cleared for a 5-0 lead.
QUARTER-FINALS
Great Britain 9-1 Netherlands
Great Britain’s Karl Boyes and Darren Appleton rolled back the years with an emphatic 9-1 World Cup quarter-final victory over Netherlands to advance to the semi-finals, where Slovakia lie in wait after a hill-hill win over Japan.
Boyes and Appleton, winners in 2014 when they beat Netherlands in a dramatic final, were late call-ups to the event after Canada suffered from travel issues. After beating South Africa and Greece, the pair originally called Great Britain ‘C’ were the only host nation team remaining.
An enthralling opening-rack safety battle finally ended when an Appleton jump untied the 3 and 8 from the side rail, and Bijsterbosch’s subsequent jump removed both the 1 and the 3. That wasn’t the end, though, and when Feijen missed a bank on the 4, it was Great Britain who were able to clear to take the lead.