Peter Wright caused a shock on night two of the Unibet Premier League Darts at the Motorpoint Arena in Cardiff last night, as 'Snakebite' beat world number one Michael van Gerwen 7-5 in the Welsh capital, as he made amends for losing to the Dutch star in last year's final.
Wright missed six darts for victory in last year's blue riband event, as van Gerwen held his nerve to record another Premier League title, but Wright was sensational on Thursday and shot into a 6-4 lead, before missing a match dart to open the door for MvG, who duly took the match into a deciding leg. However, the enigmatic Scot produced a superb final leg of darts, and landed tops to complete a 13-darter, and inflict van Gerwen's first defeat in this year's competition.
Michael Smith was most people's outsider for this year's Premier League, but Bully Boy built on last week's 7-5 victory over Gary Anderson, and maintained his 100% record by beating Daryl Gurney 7-4, while the 'Wizard' Simon Whitlock continued his fine form and joined Smith at the top of the table, and the only other player to win two games out of two, as the Australian beat world champion Rob Cross emphatically 7-1, and Cross, who is just finding it tough to emulate his Alexandra Palace heroics, now finds himself bottom of the table.
Gerwyn Price was unable to sparkle in front of his home Welsh crowd on Thursday, and he was dispatched 7-3 by Gary Anderson, while the final game of the night saw Raymond van Barneveld hand Mensur Suljovic his second defeat of this year's event, and Barney kept his cool to beat the Austrian 7-5 on another spectacular evening of action on the oche.
2018 Unibet Premier League
Night Two Results
Motorpoint Arena, Cardiff
Michael Smith 7-4 Daryl Gurney
Rob Cross 1-7 Simon Whitlock
Michael van Gerwen 5-7 Peter Wright
Gerwyn Price 3-7 Gary Anderson
Raymond van Barneveld 7-5 Mensur Suljovic
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