Raymond van Barneveld is out of the 2011 Grand Slam of Darts.
But on a dramatic second night in Wolverhampton, Gary Anderson and Terry Jenkins kept their hopes alive, while James Wade looks to have booked his spot in the knock-out stages.
But unfortunately, it all went wrong for Barneveld, who was highly fancied by the bookies to do well at the GSOD.
He got caught up in a mini classic and the antics of Ted Hankey had the crowd on their feet at the Wolverhampton Civic, but Hankey back up the emotion with some wining darts and his 5-2 victory means that Barney is eliminated from the tournament.
It will be a bitter blow for the Dutchman who came to the GSOD on the back of two terrific victories over Phil Taylor…..but shock defeats to Ian White and now Hankey and that is that…..he will be playing just for pride in his final match against Dean Winstanley on Tuesday night.
There is no doubt that Barneveld was far from impressed with Hankey’s shouting and gesturing with the crowd, but he must also point the finger of blame at himself.
Barney missed three darts to win the opening leg against the throw and missed two more at doubles to go 3-2 in front with a break of throw….and from 2-2, Hankey won three straight legs, including a 180 and 121 finish to send the Dutchman tumbling out of the GSOD.
But in stark contrast, James Wade held his nerve to win a deciding leg against Justin Pipe to go top of Group D…..Pipe had nailed a 160 finish on his way to making it four apiece and both men threw really well in the decider.
Wade missed three darts to win….Pipe missed one dart at the bull, before the Unicorn star returned to hit D10 to make it two wins out of two.
After his shock defeat to Nigel Heydon, Gary Anderson reminded us all of what he can do, with a stunning 5-1 victory over Brendan Dolan.
The Unicorn ace had admitted that “my head isn’t right”, “I am not enjoying it”, and “I am fighting the demons”, struck back in style, averaging 104.60 – the best of the tournament so far.
And if he can beat Wayne Jones in his last group game on Tuesday, he should squeeze into the knock-out rounds…..in his win over Dolan, Anderson hit two 12 darters and a 138 finish.
And what about Terry Jenkins!?
‘The Bull’ came up with his best TV display for some time to beat Dave Chisnall in a thriller….the St Helens man took the opening leg against the throw, but crucially missed two darts to go 2-0 up and that was the signal for Jenkins to burst into life!
In the next four legs, he nailed a 121 check-out, an 11 darter, a 102 finish, four 180s and an 84 finish to race 4-1 ahead!
Chisnall briefly threatened a comeback, but Jenkins wasn’t to be denied and he won it in style, taking out 126 and a 97 average and a huge win.
Jenkins now has to beat Wade on Tuesday night in what should be an intriguing all Unicorn clash, if he wants to make the 2nd Round!
Sunday night results:
Group D:
Terry Jenkins 5-3 Dave Chisnall
James Wade 5-4 Justin Pipe
Group C:
Gary Anderson 5-1 Brendan Dolan
Wayne Jones 5-3 Nigel Heydon
Group A:
Scott Waites 4-5 Tony O’Shea
Group B:
Dean Winstanley 5-4 Ian White
Raymond van Barneveld 2-5 Ted Hankey
By STUART PYKE at the Wolverhampton Civic
Photos courtesy Lawrence Lustig / PDC