The Nine Darter, Week 4: To Germany We Go

Welcome to The Nine Darter, Uproxx Sports’ weekly recap of what happened during this week’s episode of BBC America’s Thursday Night Darts, which chronicles each week of the 2018 Unibet Premier League Darts. This week, we head to Berlin’s Mercedes-Benz Arena for the first-ever Premier League stop in Germany.

1. The Results And Table

Michael Smith 7 — 3 Simon Whitlock
Gerwyn Price 3 — 7 Mensur Suljovic
Michael van Gerwen 7 — 2 Daryl Gurney
Rob Cross 7 — 3 Raymond van Barneveld
Peter Wright 6 — 6 Gary Anderson

1. Michael Smith: 4-0-0, +14, 8 points
2. Michael van Gerwen: 3-0-1, +12, 6 points
3. Simon Whitlock: 3-0-1, +7, 6 points
4. Peter Wright: 1-2-1, -1, 4 points
5. Rob Cross: 2-0-2, -4, 4 points
6. Gary Anderson: 1-1-2, -2, 3 points
7. Raymond van Barneveld: 1-1-2, -5, 3 points
8. Mensur Suljovic: 1-0-3, -5, 2 points
t-9. Daryl Gurney: 0-2-2, -8, 2 points
t-9. Gerwyn Price: 0-2-2, -8, 2 points

2. Alright, let’s talk about BBC America

I want to start by expressing that I really do appreciate BBC America taking the onus on itself to air darts. As you can guess, this is a sport that we honestly enjoy around these parts, and us writing about it stemmed from that and not a desire to, like, get into a new sport that no one else watches or anything like that.

We’re also kinda disappointed with how it has been presented so far. BBC America has 90 minutes a week to show a non-live sporting event, and while it’s certainly going to go through growing pains, the network is 0-for-4 this far.

The lack of walk-ons is evident, sure, but even watching matches — which will cut out after one leg for a commercial and then come back three legs later — can be rough. And the worst part is that, since this is airing at 10 p.m. on a Thursday, it’s not like there’s anything important on after. This week, it was Kill Bill, Vol. 1.

I have faith that the broadcast will be worked out eventually (air walk-ons, show full matches, etc.), but for now, it’s still a chore.

3. Leaders and Legends

The good news is that the darts are still good as heck, as evidenced by the fact that we’re four weeks in and we have a surprise leader atop the table in Michael Smith. This week, we had a battle between the league’s No. 1 and No. 2, with the equally-surprising Simon Whitlock taking on Smith.

We ended up getting something of an upset, as Smith walked out of Germany with a win and the top spot in the Premier League this season. Smith beat Whitlock, 7-3, and despite the fact that neither guy played especially well — the averages were 87.32 to 85.60, respectively, for the two lowest averages on the evening — all that mattered was the final score.

It was a back and forth affair between the two. Whitlock won the first leg, Smith ripped off four legs in a row, Whitlock came back to make it 4-3.

Smith decided Whitlock was done winning legs after that, ripping off another three straight legs to walk out with the win.

4. Run up the dang score

Mensur Suljovic has, save for last week, played really well during his first season in the Prem. The issue is he keeps running into buzzsaws, so he’d pick up losses.

This week, though, Suljovic went to town on Gerwyn Price, averaging 106.20 to Price’s 90.87 and picking up a convincing 7-3 win. Suljovic raced out to a 5-1 lead, clinically navigating the board to establish himself as the superior player. Just look at the clinical finishing out of the Austrian.

You can tell how big this was for Suljovic based on his reaction after picking up the win.

Suljovic is as good of a player as there is right now, so despite the fact that he’s in eighth right now, it would not be surprising to watch him make his way up the table.

5. He’s very good

Michael van Gerwen faced off against Daryl Gurney and won, 7-2. He averaged 103.42 to Gurney’s 96.90. Gurney fell victim to something that you cannot do against van Gerwen: He did not win legs when the opportunity was right there.

Giving van Gerwen room to breathe is a great way to lose, because like a shark, he smells blood and attacks. And if you let him get into a rhythm, it is over. This match was a blowout, so let’s watch something more fun: MVG and Gary Anderson throwing haymakers at one another last week, which BBC America posted (complete with walks-ons!) to its YouTube account.

6. The world champ has found his form

If you remember where Rob Cross was a few weeks ago, his turnaround against Peter Wright and Raymond van Barneveld over the last two weeks has been kind of crazy. Getting rinsed by MVG and Whitlock to start the year isn’t a huge embarrassment, but as the defending world champion, it did look like he was reaffirming the belief he might be a fluke.

Instead, Cross has found the form that made him the most surprising world champ ever. This week, he did it against RVB, who hasn’t looked great thus far but is still an outstanding darts player. Cross picked up a 7-3 win over Barney, and for a while, it didn’t look like it would be so convincing.

But Cross caught fire over the final four legs, picking up one point after Barney couldn’t close out in leg nine and another by closing out on 128 in leg 10.

Cross is looking dangerous again, and with a massive matchup looming next week, that’s a very good thing.

7. Peter Wright is a killer…

Our main event featured two of the world’s best: Peter Wright, currently ranked second, and Gary Anderson, who I have expressed I believe is the second-best player in the world a few times. The expectations for this match were really, really high, and fortunately, the pair delivered.

We ended up getting a 6-6 draw, and both players walked out with a point. It didn’t look that way early on, as Anderson raced out to an early 2-0 lead, partly because he had a crazy 150 checkout that I still have not gotten over.

Anderson even came close to a nine darter for the second week in a row, falling short. Wright was able to battle back, getting to the point where things were tied at three legs a piece.

From there, Wright turned on the jets, clinching a point with a 6-3 lead. Look at this 120 checkout, it was class.

At this point, it looked like Wright would walk to a win, because when he’s locked in, he’s unbelievable. HOWEVER…

8. …but so is Gary Anderson

…Anderson capable of doing the incredible. The Flying Scotsman raced back, going from 6-3 down to forcing a 6-6 draw. His D16 to cut Wright’s lead to one leg could not have been any more perfect.

Anderson had the darts in the following leg, and despite Wright making things really, really interesting, he was able to pick up the leg and snatch one point away from his friend. He closed out the match with a bullseye, and after, you could see that both competitors knew they played one heck of a match.

Anderson averaged 105.25, while Wright averaged 104.65. Both guys are capable of winning the league, and if they play like this, who knows what will happen, even if both players have a little work to do in the coming weeks.

9. Full schedule of action for Week 5:

Gary Anderson v. Rob Cross
Daryl Gurney v. Peter Wright
Mensur Suljovic v. Michael van Gerwen
Raymond van Barneveld v. Michael Smith
Simon Whitlock v. Gerwyn Price