England ease through with victory over Philippines, Austria avoid potential shock with brilliant win over Russia

The former eased past their opponents who were backed to potentially upset the new pairing; but they showed their class in a 5-1 win. Lerchbacher and Suljovic for Austria also showed their class coming from behind to edge out Russia having nearly been on the end of a shock defeat.
In the first tie, Cross started the match for England by showing his form by smashing in a 106 checkout; after Malicdem had previously hit a 180 to potentially put the Philippines in the driving seat.
He missed one dart at tops and Smith who has been known to have a poor time of it on his doubles this season made no mistake to hit double 16 to go 2-0 up.
Ilagan missed darts himself in the next leg and Smith punished again smashing in a 72 checkout to make it 3-0. Their partnership continued with 'Bully Boy' moving them to the brink; with double five at 4-0 up. Malicdem hit a second 180 and finished 61 to ask the questions of England; but it was too big of a mountain to climb.
In the following tie, Russia started the brightest with Koltsov levelling at 1-1 after hitting his first 180; before Kadochnikov who starred throughout hitting a maximum himself and a 116 checkout to make it 2-1.
A potential shock was on with them going 3-1 up over the side; but this is when they started to crumble of sorts. Lerchbacher got better and he landed double eight to make it 3-2; with Koltsov having missed two to go 4-1 up.
Suljovic produced himself with an 83 checkout on the bullseye to break back and level it up. 'The Hypercane' further showed his worth; with a stunning 138 checkout to take the lead. From there Suljovic finished it off to produce a brilliant comeback.
Click here to check out the PDC World Cup of Darts 2019 tournament centre. Keep up with all the live scores and stats from the World Cup of Darts 2019 in our live score center.
Friday schedule (play starts 1800 BST)
China (76.06) 1-5 (79.21) USA
Italy (95.47) 3-5 (97.56) Canada
Poland (92.33) 5-2 (84.11) Czech Republic
Republic of Ireland (87.24) 5-1 (84.28) Greece
England (91.53) 5-1 (87.59) Philippines
Austria (92.87) 5-3 (95.12) Russia
Australia v Finland
Netherlands v Spain
https://twitter.com/OfficialPDC/status/1137079347687305216
https://twitter.com/OfficialPDC/status/1137085412944404480