Sunday 5 December 2010

World Cup of Darts: Group A

With the remaining eight nations split into two groups, day two's afternoon session was all about Group A and the evening session was all about Group B. Each group match consisted of two singles matches and a doubles, all of which were best of five. A win in the singles matches earned a point, a win in the doubles earned two points.

The first match in Group A was Netherlands versus Canada. Van Barneveld looked back on form with a quick 3-0 victory over MacNeil. Co Stompe took the first leg against Part but Part went onto win the following two legs to take a 2-1 lead. Stompe equalised with a 112 check-out but Part won the deciding leg to win 3-2 and level the points up. The doubles match saw Barneveld check-out 80 in the first leg before Part took 81 in the second and MacNeil took 99 to give Canada a 2-1 lead. Netherlands battled back and Barneveld took 20 then 60 to give Netherlands a 3-2 win, meaning they won the match 3-1.

The other opening match consisted of Australia and Austria. Whitlock secured the first two legs against Langendorf before the Austrian pulled one back in the third. Whitlock took the fourth to secure his singles victory 3-1. Nicholson also took the first two legs in his game against Suljovic, however this time Suljovic battled back to equalise, taking out 104 in the third leg. The Austrian missed darts to win the game and Nicholson punished him to win 3-2. The doubles also saw this pattern as Australia took the first two legs with Whitlock taking eight in both legs. Langendorf took out 40 then 43 to level the game up again but Nicholson took out 36 to win the final leg to make it 3-2 and gave Australia an overall 4-0 victory.

Netherlands then took on Austria and Barneveld was nearly on the end of a shock when Langendorf took the first two legs. But Barney battled back to win the remaining three legs to win 3-2. Stompe continued his bad form with a second defeat, this time to Suljovic. The Austrian took the lead before Stompe equalised in the second. Suljovic then took out 132 before Stompe equalised again in the fourth. But Suljovic wasn't to be denied and he took the fifth leg to win 3-2. Suljovic then took out 16 to give Austria the lead in the doubles but Barneveld and Stompe took a leg each to take the lead. Suljovic levelled in the fourth with a check-out of 20 before Stompe took 36 in the final leg to win 3-2 and give Netherlands an overall 3-1 victory.

With Netherlands on six points Canada had to earn at least two against Australia to keep the group open. Nicholson took the opening leg against Part before the Canadian went 2-1 ahead. He couldn't finish Nicholson off and the Geordie Aussie won 3-2. MacNeil surprised everyone with a win against Whitlock, MacNeil took the opening two legs before Whitlock pulled one back. But MacNeil went on to win 3-2 to level the score for Canada. Whitlock came back to take the opening leg in the doubles before MacNeil equalised with a check-out of 145. Nicholson went onto take the following two legs to win the game 3-1 and also win the match by the same scoreline.

With Australia through, Netherlands just needed a point to wrap the group up. They got it instantly with Barneveld coming back from 1-0 down to beat Nicholson 3-1. Stompe lost his third singles game as Whitlock levelled the match with a 3-0 win. Whoever won the doubles would win the group and Netherlands took the first two legs. Whitlock pulled the third back with a check-out of 127 before Nicholson equalised with a check-out of 98. Stompe took the final leg to win 3-2 and give Netherlands the 3-1 victory.

The final game between Canada and Austria was a pride game. Part whitewashed Langendorf 3-0 before Suljovic levelled the match with a 3-1 victory over MacNeil. The Canadians won the doubles 3-1 to win the match 3-1. Here's the final Group A table:
1.Netherlands 9
2.Australia 8
3.Canada 5
4.Austria 2

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