Wayne Mardle highlights Rob Cross' stamina after UK Open final defeat to Nathan Aspinall

The 2018 world champion lost 11-5 to Nathan Aspinall in the Minehead final. It came at the end of a long weekend in Minehead, in which Cross played six games in the space of just over 48 hours. Fans were surprised by the low standard of play in the UK Open showdown. Cross could only manage a record low 84.79, handing Aspinall his first major title. And Sky Sports pundit Mardle believes that it was a case of Voltage being short on spark.
"He didn't play great all tournament, but he did play to a standard where he was going to be difficult to beat," he told Sky Sports.
"Put it this way - if you play poor against him he'll have you and if you play average against him he will still have you. To be honest, I didn't see that performance in the final coming from him at all.
"I always felt to beat Rob Cross, someone would have to play really well on a really tough day because that finals day in Minehead - I'm just not sure it's 100 per cent fair on the players to be totally honest. It's more like a battle of the fittest, rather than a battle of the best."

As ever, the UK Open served up plenty of drama across three days and 159 days. Aspinall overcame the odds to win the title, while the likes of Ross Smith and Simon Stevenson sprung surprises. Michael van Gerwen, Gary Anderson and Peter Wright all suffered early exits. Mardle, who himself never passed the last 16 at the 'FA Cup of Darts', outlined how the tournament can take it out of players. "It's a great event although I never liked it as a player, but to watch it was fun. However, I don't think players should be expected to play under pressure, Thursday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday. Not after they've played the full week before and he got found out in the final - he completely ran out of puff," Mardle asserted. "Rob will be absolutely fuming with himself but it's one of these situations where there's not a player on the circuit that's been around for a while that hasn't felt like this. "Every now and again, you run out of gas, you can't concentrate, your muscles feel weary and you haven't got that zip in your throw. You can't follow through with that force and speed that you do normally and that's why some of the darts from Cross were low. They were coming out of the hand wrong - it was just a really bad final at the office."