England Claims the Darting Ashes

The World Cup of Darts reached its climax as England faced Australia. Since it was the final, all the the games were now the best 13 legs. Up first was Phil Taylor against Paul Nicholson. Taylor took the initial leg before hitting a 116 check-out to take a 2-1 lead. But Taylor's finishing almost proved costly as Nicholson turned it around to lead 3-2. The game went to 4-4 before Taylor finally found a breakthrough, from there Nicholson couldn't keep in touch as he lost the game 7-4. England lead 1-0.

Simon Whitlock had to level the match up against Adrian Lewis in the second singles match. Whitlock missed darts at the double to go 2-1 ahead but still managed to take a 3-2 lead after Lewis missed double tops for a 106 check-out. The pair in touch throughout the match and they were locked together at 5-5. Lewis then produced a 161 check-out before taking the twelfth leg to win the match and give England a 2-0 lead.

Whitlock had to again try to bring Australia back into the contest against Taylor. It looked like a good possibility when The Wizard went 3-0 ahead. Taylor fought back with 142 check-out followed by a 170 finish on his way to levelling to game at 4-4. Whitlock again took the lead before Taylor again came back to make it 6-5 in his favour. Whitlock managed to force a decider but Taylor took it to put England just one win away from the World Cup.

It all rested on Nicholson to pull Australia out of the mire, all he had to do was beat the World Champion. The match was extremely tight to begin with, Lewis just kept ahead 3-2 going into the adverts. But the game changed just after the break and Lewis needed a 161 check-out to make it 4-4. But Nicholson found an edge over Lewis and managed to take the next three legs to keep Australia alive with the doubles match remaining.

Australia looked to level the match up as they took a 3-0 lead in the doubles match. But England pulled it back to 3-2 going into the interval. Australia were able to extend that lead to 5-2 before winning it 7-4 to force a deciding sudden death leg. It took five attempts between Taylor and Whitlock to decide who would throw first in that crucial leg. Taylor finally hit the bull when Whitlock hit the 25 to give England that all important throw. Both teams hit the double at the same time, but both Taylor and Nicholson missed three darts to win it. Adrian Lewis hit the double five to take the leg and earn the World Cup for England.