Unibet Premier League Darts - Night 12, Cardiff - Van Gerwen returns to top of table with victory over Cross

Michael van Gerwen is back at the top of the Premier League table Gerwyn Price won in front of his home crowd in Cardiff.

Photo from BBC Sport

Mensur Suljovic punished Daryl Gurney for double trouble with an 8-5 win.
Going into the match, both players were on 12 points in a tight race to make the top four for the O2 play-offs.
The Northern Irishman missed 19 of 24 darts at double in a match he never led.
A turning point may have been a missed dart at bull for the former World Grand Prix champion for a 170 checkout, allowing the Austrian back to checkout 100 for a 14-darter.
Suljovic, who won the Champion's League on the same Cardiff stage, hit eight of his 26 double attempts, allowing Superchin to stay in touch at 3-3.
The Gentle reeled off two legs in 27 darts for some daylight, he then finished 76 for a 6-4 lead before guaranteeing at least a point in the next leg.
Gurney pulled one back before Suljovic converted his fourth match dart in a scrappy affair.
Suljovic averaged 92.45 compared to his opponent's 91.42 while both players only managed a pair of 180s.

Michael van Gerwen continued his winning streak over Rob Cross in the Premier League, with an 8-2 demolition.
Voltage raced to a 2-0 lead hitting an 80 checkout to break the throw, before Mighty Mike found his rhythm and dominated from then on.
The Dutchman averaged nearly 108 hitting eight out of 12 darts at double, and this was his fourth straight league win over the Englishman, he also defeated him 10-6 in last year's semi-final on the way to his fourth title.
The former world champion missed an attempt at tops for a 125 in the third leg, which the current world champion punished with a 13-dart break of throw.
Cross didn't have any more darts at double in the match, averaging 94 without hitting a 180.
Van Gerwen only managed the one maximum himself, and hit two 12-dart legs on his way back to the top of the pile.

Photo from sportinglife.com

The Cardiff crowd were delighted to see the home-favourite Gerwyn Price win 8-5 over Michael Smith.
Pandemonium ensued early on when the Bully Boy took out 170 for a 12-darter in leg three to lead the match.
The Iceman then hit his own 12-darter and 170 checkout to level the match.
The Englishman came into the match on eight points, who edged ahead twice more only for the Welshman to equalise at 4-4.
Four successive 180s followed in the next leg, Price finished in 11 darts having gone eight into the perfect leg, only after Smith missed two at tops for a 12.
The wind was in Price's sails at this point, he went on to win two of the next three legs, before and 11-darter to seal victory.

James Wade tightened his grip on third place, but only on leg difference, with an 8-2 win over Peter Wright.
The Machine won five legs in succession from 3-2 up, the task was made easier by some missed doubles from Snakebite.
The Scot spurned four in the opening leg before winning it with his fifth, and blew a further three before a clinical 78 kept him in it.
By the time the Englishman hit his match-winning double, Wright had missed eight more (four of which came in the final leg) summing up a frustrating season for the former UK Open champion.
Wade wasn't, and didn't need to be, at his best with an average of 94 to Wright's 85 with both players hitting a pair of maximums.

FIXTURES & RESULTS
Night One Results 

7 February, Newcastle
James Wade 7-4 Raymond van Barneveld
Gerwyn Price 7-4 Daryl Gurney
Chris Dobey 6-6 Mensur Suljovic
Michael van Gerwen 7-5 Michael Smith
Peter Wright 6-6 Rob Cross

Night Two Results
14 February, Glasgow
Peter Wright 6-6 Michael Smith
Rob Cross 7-4 James Wade
Raymond van Barneveld 6-6 Gerwyn Price
Daryl Gurney 7-3 Glen Durrant
Mensur Suljovic 3-7 Michael van Gerwen

Night Three Results
21 February, Dublin
Gerwyn Price 6-6 James Wade
Steve Lennon 5-7 Peter Wright
Michael van Gerwen 7-2 Rob Cross
Michael Smith 5-7 Daryl Gurney
Mensur Suljovic 6-6 Raymond van Barneveld

Night Four Results
28 February, Exeter
Luke Humphries 6-6 Gerwyn Price
Daryl Gurney 1-7 Rob Cross
Mensur Suljovic 7-4 Peter Wright
Michael van Gerwen 3-7 James Wade
Michael Smith 7-4 Raymond van Barneveld

Night Five Results
7 March, Aberdeen
Michael Smith 3-7 Rob Cross
Daryl Gurney 0-7 James Wade
Mensur Suljovic 3-7 Gerwyn Price
Peter Wright 7-3 Raymond van Barneveld
Michael van Gerwen 6-6 John Henderson

Night Six Results 
14 March, Nottingham
Nathan Aspinall 2-7 Michael Smith
James Wade 3-7 Mensur Suljovic
Rob Cross 7-3 Raymond van Barneveld
Gerwyn Price 2-7 Michael van Gerwen
Peter Wright 6-6 Daryl Gurney

Night Seven Results
21 March, Berlin

Gerwyn Price 4-7 Rob Cross

James Wade 6-6 Peter Wright

Michael van Gerwen 5-7 Daryl Gurney

Michael Smith 2-7 Mensur Suljovic

Max Hopp 3-7 Raymond van Barneveld

Night Eight Results 
27 March, Rotterdam
Gerwyn Price 5-7 Michael Smith
James Wade 6-6 Dimitri van den Bergh
Rob Cross 5-7 Mensur Suljovic
Peter Wright 1-7 Michael van Gerwen
Raymond van Barneveld 1-7 Daryl Gurney

Night Nine Results 
28 March, Rotterdam (Judgement Night)
Daryl Gurney 7-3 Mensur Suljovic
Peter Wright 5-7 Gerwyn Price
Rob Cross 7-4 Jeffrey de Zwaan
Raymond van Barneveld 1-7 Michael van Gerwen
James Wade 7-4 Michael Smith

Night 10 Results
4 April, Belfast
Mensur Suljovic 8-6 James Wade
Michael Smith 7-7 Peter Wright
Rob Cross 8-4 Daryl Gurney
Michael van Gerwen 7-7 Gerwyn Price

Night 11 Resultss
11 April, Liverpool
Rob Cross 8-5 Peter Wright
Gerwyn Price 8-5 Mensur Suljovic
James Wade 7-7 Daryl Gurney
Michael Smith 3-8 Michael van Gerwen

Night 12 Fixtures
18 April, Cardiff
Mensur Suljovic 8-5 Daryl Gurney
Rob Cross 2-8 Michael van Gerwen
Michael Smith 5-8 Gerwyn Price
Peter Wright 2-8 James Wade

Night 13 Fixtures
25 April, Birmingham
Mensur Suljovic v Michael Smith
Rob Cross v Gerwyn Price
Daryl Gurney v Peter Wright
James Wade v Michael van Gerwen

Night 14 Fixtures
2 May, Manchester
Rob Cross v Michael Smith
Peter Wright v Mensur Suljovic
Daryl Gurney v Michael van Gerwen
James Wade v Gerwyn Price

Night 15 Fixtures
9 May, Sheffield
Michael Smith v James Wade
Mensur Suljovic v Rob Cross
Daryl Gurney v Gerwyn Price
Michael van Gerwen v Peter Wright

Night 16 Fixtures
16 May, Leeds
Gerwyn Price v Peter Wright
Daryl Gurney v Michael Smith
Michael van Gerwen v Mensur Suljovic
James Wade v Rob Cross

Night 17 Fixtures
23 May, London
Semi-Finals (Best of 19 legs)
Two matches TBC

Finals (Best of 21 legs)

One match TBC

Current Standings

#	Competitor	P	W	D	L	LD	Pts
1	Michael van Gerwen (NED)	12	8	2	2	+33	18
2	Rob Cross (ENG)	12	8	1	3	+17	17
3	James Wade (ENG)	12	5	4	3	+14	14
4	Gerwyn Price (WAL)	12	5	4	3	+5	14
5	Mensur Suljovic (AUT)	12	6	2	4	+4	14
6	Daryl Gurney (NIR)	12	5	2	5	-5	12
7	Peter Wright (SCO)	12	2	5	5	-14	9
8	Michael Smith (ENG)	12	3	2	7	-14	8
R	Raymond van Barneveld (NED)	9	1	2	6	-22	4

Tie-breakers:
1) Points
2) Leg difference
3) Legs won against throw
4) Tournament average

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