World Cup - Final
SUPER DUTCH CLAIM BWIN WORLD CUP OF DARTS CROWN
THE Netherlands have won the bwin World Cup of Darts title for a second time, as Michael van Gerwen and Raymond van Barneveld crushed England's hopes of a third successive victory in the final in Hamburg on Sunday night.The Dutch pair followed up their 2010 success in the tournament - when van Barneveld partnered Co Stompe to the PDC's inaugural World Cup pairs win - by taking victory in this year's 200,000, pound 32-nation event in style.
Having seen off Italy, Spain and Belgium earlier in the tournament, they were narrow semi-final winners against Northern Ireland on Sunday night before going on to claim the title.
World Champion van Gerwen had been defeated 4-3 by Brendan Dolan in their semi-final Singles contest, only for van Barneveld to whitewash Michael Mansell before the pair teamed up to win the Doubles decider 4-0 with an incredible 117.88 average, the highest ever seen in the tournament.
They took that form into the final as van Gerwen whitewashed Phil Taylor in the opening Singles game with a 103 average before van Barneveld powered past Lewis without dropping a leg.
Van Gerwen then defeated Lewis 4-2 in their Singles clash as he secured a 3-0 victory for the Netherlands in the final - meaning that their nation holds the World Championship, Premier League Darts and bwin World Cup of Darts titles!
"This is a very special moment for us," said World Champion van Gerwen. "This is a fantastic title because I've never won this, and we worked very hard for this. I enjoyed every moment of the tournament and to win the final against England is amazing for us and I think we deserved the title because we worked so well as a team. We played really well today, especially against Belgium and Ireland in the Doubles games, and then we walked over England in the final with some awesome darts. I started off very well against Phil and to win 4-0 and for Raymond to beat Adrian 4-0 was very good for our confidence, and I knew I had to turn up against Adrian. I did that and we won the title, and we'll enjoy this moment."
Van Barneveld, who won the Premier League Darts title last month, added: "We're really happy and this win means a lot to us but also means a lot for darts in Holland. This is a fantastic event and we're over the moon to win this title. We had tough battles against Belgium and Ireland but even when Michael lost a couple of Singles games we still believed in each other and in the Doubles games against Belgium and Ireland we were awesome. There's no better player in the world to team up with and I enjoyed every single match in this tournament."
England had seen off Australia 4-0 in their Doubles decider in the semi-finals as they booked a spot in the final, with Taylor having swept aside Simon Whitlock 4-1 before Paul Nicholson overcame Lewis 4-2 to send the tie all the way.
However, their challenge ran out of steam in the final as the Dutch claimed three successive Singles victories to end England's hopes of claiming a title hat-trick in Hamburg.
"We got to the final and gave ourselves a chance but we were beaten by the better team tonight," said Taylor.
"We tried everything but Michael's finishing was brilliant - I don't think he missed a thing in the final - and Barney played well too. It's disappointing for us but we'll be back next year and hopefully we can win back the title."
Australia, the 2012 finalists, had to settle for a second semi-final defeat as Whitlock and Nicholson's bid for glory came up short against England.
Northern Irish duo Brendan Dolan and Michael Mansell, meanwhile, reached the last four for the first time in the event's history after overcoming number three seeds Scotland in the quarter-finals earlier on Sunday.