Cross beats Anderson, van Gerwen and Wright – but misses out on Masters title

St Leonards star Voltage arrived at Sunday evening’s final on a hot streak with clinical doubles, big checkouts and a tournament-high average all on display in claiming the scalps of Gary Anderson, Michael van Gerwen and Peter Wright.The final got off to a slow start in front of the ITV cameras with neither Cross nor Dobey able to take control and hit the heights of previous rounds.

Dobey, world number 21, forced daylight and broke Cross’ throw to lead 6-4, before confidently checking out with two double tops and coming within two legs of victory at 9-5.

Cross rallied but Dobey held his nerve on his third match dart to pin double 16 and be crowned 2023 Cazoo Masters Champion.

Earlier in the weekend, Cross, in his quarter-final, stunned five-time Masters champion Van Gerwen 10-7. The 2018 PDC World Champion later took advantage of Wright’s three missed match darts in their semi-final’s last leg decider to clinch it 11-10.

But it was a second round encounter which saw Voltage produce arguably one of the finest performances in the tournament’s history, with former two-time PDC World Champion Gary Anderson also playing his part in a blockbuster clash.

Cross and ‘The Flying Scotsman’ put on an instant classic at MK’s Marshall Arena, sharing 16 180s between them and both averaging over 111. Cross held off Anderson’s trademark scoring power to win 10-6 and recorded an incredible 112.32 average in the process – the second highest average ever at The Masters.

Following defeat to Dobey, Cross tweeted: “It wasn’t to be. I just didn’t perform in the final. But the win couldn’t go to a more deserving or nicer guy. Well done Chris Dobey. Thanks for all the amazing support this weekend. I’ll be back.”

Despite his excellent performance at the weekend, Cross has missed out on a place in the Premier League.