The Leader Newspaper
UNIBET PREMIER LEAGUE DARTS
OWS Darts
Day 1 – Jose de Sousa claimed victory on the first day, with an 8-1 final defeat of Luke Humphries, to include an outstanding average of 114. The Portuguese thrower also enjoyed similar averages earlier of 101 v Mach Kuivenhoven, a 111 against Brendan Dolan and a semi final 104 over Krzysztof Kcluk. ln the final, legs of 10,11,11,14 and 12 were just too much for the former World Youth Champion, Humphries.
Current Premier League star Nathan Aspinall, fired in a 9 darter, but eliminated in the last 16. MvG and Barny crashed out in the fist round.
Day 2 – More fireworks in the 2nd Players Championship, with two 9 darters, the 1st from de Sousa, in his whitewash of Jermaine Wattimena, with a 117 ave. only to lose in the last 8. The 2nd from Stephen Bunting in another Ron Meulenkamp whitewash, in the 2nd round.
PDC stats analyst Christopher Kempf assesses the race to top the Unibet Premier League table.
In most previous editions of the Unibet Premier League, there was very little doubt as to who would finish at the top of the table, and the only open question was which player stood the best chance of a semi-final or final upset to prevent the leading player from taking another Premier League title.
That is not so anymore; headed into the second phase of this year s tournament, two players are tied for the lead of the group table, and neither is named Phil Taylor or Michael van Gerwen.
By Paul Durrant
The 2nd session of the P.L. concluded last week, (Judgement Night) where both Rob Cross and Glen Durrant were eliminated, leaving 8 players to resume the competition on May 5th – 7th and May 24th – 27th. The top 4 compete on the 28th.
My final 4 are Dimitri van den Bergh, Jose de Sousa, James Wade and MvG. lf l had to replace 1 it would be MvG for Aspinall. Overall winner? MvG if he finds his game, otherwise Dimitri, a great player and a breath of fresh air.
Night 6 – HIGHLIGHTS
Rob Cross 5 – Gary Anderson 7, Jose de Sousa 7 – James Wade 5, Jonny Clayton 3 – Dimitri van den Bergh 7, Glen Durrant 3 – Michael van Gerwen 7, Nathan Aspinall 7 – Peter Wright 3.
Eliminated Durrant targeting World Matchplay
Glen Durrant has set his sights on returning to top form this summer following his Unibet Premier League elimination.
The Middlesbrough ace will see his Premier League title defence end on Thursday following Judgement Night, having suffered seven straight losses so far this season.
After losing all five games in the opening block of Premier League fixtures, Durrant admitted that he was working to correct
This week has seen Durrant defeated by Michael van Gerwen and Jose de Sousa in Milton Keynes to leave him mathematically unable to survive beyond Judgement Night.
However, he hopes to end the season strongly against Rob Cross and Peter Wright before beginning his preparation for July s Betfred World Matchplay in Blackpool.
Cross eliminated on Night Eight as Wright & Wade survive
Rob Cross was eliminated from the Unibet Premier League in Wednesday s Night Eight as Peter Wright and James Wade secured their spots in the second half of the season.
Cross will join reigning champion Glen Durrant in exiting the event after Thursday s Night Nine in Milton Keynes after he suffered a 7-5 loss to Nathan Aspinall.
Later wins for Wade and Wright mean that Cross is now three points adrift with just one game left before the bottom two stars are eliminated, with the 2018 finalist set to finish ninth for a second successive year.