There’s a lot at stake for several Unicorn stars as the 1st Round of the International Darts League reaches its climax on Monday night. After his shock defeat by Welshman Mark Webster, Phil Taylor now has to beat Ronnie Baxter in his last 1st Round Group match to survive in the tournament.
Even that classic 170 finish couldn’t prevent Taylor losing 5-6 to Webster – but his 6-3 victory over Niels de Ruiter kept ‘The Power’ alive in the event.
Peter Manley’s 4-6 defeat to Gary Robson ended his hopes, while Unicorn’s former World Champion John Part will be kicking himself. The Canadian wasted two darts to beat Simon Whitlock and his 6-5 loss means Part is out.
The other crucial match will see Barrie Bates face BDO World Champion Martin Adams in another winner-takes-it-all clash. Bates has looked good in Holland and he must now produce another top display to reach Tuesday’s 2nd Round and send Adams home.
Colin Lloyd is also on the brink. He must beat Mark Dudbridge to secure his spot in the 2nd Round.
It’s so far, so good for the impressive Adrian Lewis and James Wade. Both may be not be that familiar to Dutch darts fans but the pair have so far played brilliantly. They are already in the 2nd Round and Lewis’ demolition of Adams has been the highlight of the IDL so far.
Andy Hamilton’s 6-4 victory over Terry Jenkins came too late to keep him in Holland but it was some consolation and he has gained more valuable experience ahead of the big PDC events to come.
16 players will progress to the 2nd Round, where they will be split into four groups of four, with the top two in each group winning through to Friday’s quarter-finals.
More news to come from Holland very soon on the Unicorn website
