Rob Cross falls to first defeat of the season to World Champion

Rob Cross suffered his first defeat of the 2020 Unibet Premier League at the hands of the new world champion.
Cross fell to a 7-5 defeat to Peter Wright in the match at Cardiff. Picture courtesy of Lawrence Lustig/PDCCross fell to a 7-5 defeat to Peter Wright in the match at Cardiff. Picture courtesy of Lawrence Lustig/PDC
Cross fell to a 7-5 defeat to Peter Wright in the match at Cardiff. Picture courtesy of Lawrence Lustig/PDC

The world number four from St Leonards lost 7-5 to Peter Wright on night three of the elite roadshow competition in Cardiff last Thursday.

Cross was comfortably outscored throughout the contest, but hung in there doggedly and almost salvaged a highly unlikely draw from 6-3 down.

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He wrote on Twitter afterwards: "I said I needed to find a better level and I didn't. In fact I was well short of my best. No excuses. I hung in there but well done to @snakebitewright for getting the job done. It's a marathon not a sprint."

The reigning PDC World Darts Champion Peter Wright averaged 101.95 in his victory. Picture courtesy of Lawrence Lustig/PDCThe reigning PDC World Darts Champion Peter Wright averaged 101.95 in his victory. Picture courtesy of Lawrence Lustig/PDC
The reigning PDC World Darts Champion Peter Wright averaged 101.95 in his victory. Picture courtesy of Lawrence Lustig/PDC

Cross averaged 90.13 to Wright's 101.95 and hit one 180 to Wright's three, although he did land the only ton-plus checkout of the match.

Wright raced into a 3-0 lead with a trio of 13-dart legs before Cross claimed the next two with a 14-darter and then a superb 127 checkout on the bullseye to break throw.

World number two Wright hit straight back with a 10-darter before holding throw in the next leg to lead 5-2. Cross finished 80 to hold throw in leg eight, but missed double 11 for a 124 outshot in the next, allowing Wright to hold for 6-3.

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Cross produced successive 14-darters, the second of them for a break of throw, to make it 6-5. He was throwing first in the final leg, but couldn't go out in 15 darts and Wright pinned double five with last dart in hand to seal his victory.

Rob Cross in action in his match against Peter Wright. Picture by Lawrence Lusting/PDCRob Cross in action in his match against Peter Wright. Picture by Lawrence Lusting/PDC
Rob Cross in action in his match against Peter Wright. Picture by Lawrence Lusting/PDC

That left Cross - the 2018 world champion - fifth in a very congested fledgling league table ahead of facing 2015 and 2016 world champion Gary Anderson in Dublin on Thursday night.

Cross - the reigning World Matchplay and European Championship winner - also lined up in the latest two Players Championship events in Wigan last weekend.

The 29-year-old reached the quarter-finals of Players Championship 5 on Saturday, beating Carl Wilkinson 6-2, Joe Murnan 6-0, Luke Humphries 6-4 and Christian Bunse 6-4 before losing 6-5 to South African fan favourite Devon Petersen.

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Cross, nicknamed Voltage, lost 6-3 to Vincent Van der Meer in round one of Players Championship 6 on Sunday.

Fellow local player Adrian Gray was in action in Wigan too and reached round two of both competitions.

He lost 6-0 to Wright in round two on Saturday as the Scot registered an astonishing 120.2 average, having beaten Jelle Klaasen 6-5 in round one.

Gray then edged out Matthew Dennant 6-5 in round one on Sunday before losing 6-2 to eventual semi-finalist Krzysztof Ratajski, the world number 18.