2023 Cazoo World Championship – Day Seven

On a night when American hopes of success were high, it turned out to be another disappointing evening as both Danny Baggish and Leonard Gates exited the tournament.

Baggish was first on this evening, when he faced Mervyn King. The man from Florida took the first leg, and after wiring a 142 out on the second, quickly moved into a 2-0 lead. Throwing first for the set, he never really recovered from an opening 22, and King closed the gap. 2-1 became 2-2 – thanks to a 15-darter – and then a 14-dart leg gave the Englishman the set.

Danny kicked off the second leg in style with 100, 140, 100, but it was nowhere near enough as his opponent needed just 12 darts (180, 100, 180, 41) to take the lead. Baggish squared it, only for King to regain the advantage. A nice 14’er leveled it again, but throwing second in the fifth, he was two sets down.

The 2019 North American Champion forged a 2-0 lead in the set, only for King to pull one back in 12 (100, 180, 97, 124). King then leveled, but Baggish made the most of the throw in the fifth, and got a set on the board. The run continued as winning legs of 14 (with a 180), 15 (with back-to-back 140’s), and 15 (131, 100, 100, 58, 112) took us to a deciding set. Things looked okay for a short while, but legs of 12 (180, 180, 109, 32), 15, and 14 meant that Danny’s tournament was over.

Now, it was down to ‘Soldier’, who was up against Stephen Bunting. After the pair traded 15’s to start, Gates moved ahead, and then captured the set in 15 darts (60, 140, 100, 100, 101). Okay, this wasn’t looking too bad…

The second set produced some good stuff, as Bunting opened with a 14. Gates answered in 13 (with a maximum), only for the Liverpudlian to post another 14. It could have been 2-2, as Gates wired a 118 out – and then proceeded to waste nine more darts at the double.

The 2014 World Champ opened the third in 15, but Leonard overcame a Bunting 180 to take the second. Opening 81, 180, 140, should have kept the momentum going, but missing nine at 40 hurt. It was to prove really costly as Stephen held his serve for the set.

At 0-2 in Set 4, it was going to be tough for the American, but he made it 2-1. Trouble was, Bunting had the darts next leg, and posted 180, 139, 100, 62 (just missing an 82 out), and 20 for the match. Oh, those missed doubles…

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