England beat Austria for fifth World Cup of Darts title

Final, evening session, best-of-19 legs - Frankfurt, Germany

England 10-6 Austria

Rowby-John Rodriguez started the match well, scoring a 180, but England had a chance for the break from 82. Smith failed to throw that out, but Rodriguez's misses gave Humphries the chance for the break after all - he took it from tops for a 1-0 lead. Humphries then made it 2-0 by throwing double 10. In the third leg, Smith and Humphries both threw 180 and the score on offer was still 141, but again no nine darter came. Smith was not sharp on the doubles and missed three to lead a double break. Rodriguez did throw double 10 and put Austria on the board: 2-1.

England held the break lead through a superb Humphries. He threw out 92 by finding double 18 twice: 3-1. Smith almost threw out 127 in the fifth leg, but missed the bullseye. Humphries was then allowed to finish it off as Rodriguez missed three chances from 40. This gave England a 4-1 lead via double 16 at the first break.

Austria grabs a break back

Humphries came out of the dressing room great, throwing out 151. He also threw 180 in the seventh leg and England also had chances at 6-1, but it did not pan out. Rodriguez did throw double 10 to make it 5-2. Humphries was unstoppable and also threw out 121 in the eighth leg. In the ninth leg, he threw another 180, but so did Mensur Suljovic. The Austrian did not get 75 out, but Rodriguez came back for it and it threw out double 3: 6-3. But Austria needed a break, as England were still well ahead. And that first break also came just before the second break - Suljovic threw out 80 to make it 6-4.

Humphries phenomenal

A break-back came right after the break. Humphries again threw 180 and Smith could now find the double in one go. Double 15 made it 7-4. Suljovic threw 180 in the twelfth leg, but there was no break as Humphries hit another high finish. Then 130 went out via double 8 for the 8-4, but Austria stayed in the match and made it 8-5. Rodriguez threw out 60, but it also needed to be broken right away. But that did not happen as everything worked out for Humphries. He threw 112 out via the bullseye and brought England to match point with an average that was over 110. Suljovic hit another 98 to make it 9-6. But England became world champions. Smith threw out 70 and so England won the World Cup again for the first time in eight years. It was the fifth overall final victory.

Semifinals, evening session, best-of-15 legs - Frankfurt, Germany

Austria 8-3 Belgium

Dimitri van den Bergh threw a maximum score in the first leg, leaving 20 for Kim Huybrechts. That went out via double 5 to put Belgium up 1-0. Suljovic and Rodriguez were allowed to start the second leg and the latter also threw the first Austrian 180 of the match. He eventually threw double 10 as well to make it 1-1. The third leg also went with the darts. Van den Bergh hit 41 from double 16 to make it 2-1. Van den Bergh had another great start to the match as he scored the first break. Via double 16, 109 was thrown out: 3-1.

Painful misses for Belgium

He also almost hit 120 in the fifth leg, but tops went wrong. And that proved a costly miss, as Suljovic threw out 96 via his favourite double 14 to post the rebreak. He then also threw 180 to make it 3-3. Via the same double 14 he threw out 64. Belgium missed five chances to hit the double and so Austria had two chances for the break, but Rodriguez missed. Huybrechts could not finish the job either and so there was a break in the last leg before the break. Suljovic threw out tops for the 4-3.

Austria gets the job done

Belgium seemed to break right back in the eighth leg. Van den Bergh threw 180 and Huybrechts had 81 left. But he was very sloppy and did not get any darts on the bullseye. Rodriguez had also thrown 180 to leave 78 and Suljovic threw that out: 5-3. Austria then took a double-break lead. Rodriguez hit double 10 to bring Austria very close to victory. Belgium completely lost it and Austria took advantage of that; Suljovic hitting double 16 to put Austria on match point: 7-3. Belgium got three darts on the break, but missed them all again. Rodriguez finished it off and took Austria to the final.

England 8-4 Scotland

England grabbed the first leg of the match. Despite Peter Wright throwing 180, they threw out 16 to make it 1-0. Scotland equalised by throwing out 52 and Wright had a chance to post the first break, but he missed tops. Luke Humphries did throw that to make it 2-1. In the fourth leg, both Wright and Michael Smith threw 180. England then also had chances for a break and took them. Humphries threw 81 to make it 3-1. Gary Anderson also threw 180 in the fifth leg. He then also had a chance to hit 84 to post a rebreak and did so in two darts to bring the Scots back into the match.

Scotland needed to throw out 113 in the sixth leg, but Wright failed to do so. He missed tops and so Smith had the chances for another break from 68. He cashed in on those chances by throwing out two darts to give the English a 4-2 lead. Wright also had a chance for the rebreak from 126, but missed the bullseye. Anderson was allowed to come back for it, but he failed to get 44 out. Smith did throw double 5 and made it 5-2 at the break.

England finish strong

In the first leg after the break, there was almost a moment of magic. Wright and Anderson threw 180 and Wright looked to be on his way to a nine darter, but the eighth dart did not go in. Anderson did get the leg in after that and made it 5-3. In the ninth leg, Smith threw the seventh 180 of the match, leaving 43 for Humphries. That went out to make it 6-3. Anderson also threw another 180 in the tenth leg. He then missed chances on double 18, but was lucky to have Wright come back for it. He threw out 9 and kept Scotland in the match: 6-4.

Humphries threw the ninth maximum score of the match in the 11th leg and also made it 7-4. He threw out 97 to put England on match point. Anderson again threw 180 in the 12th leg and Humphries also threw just one more. England had a matchdart at 128, but Humphries missed the bullseye. Smith was allowed to return for 25 and also threw it out via double 5: 8-4. England hit eight of 14 doubles and an average of over 96.