Bunting Left Cross After Dutch Final Defeat

At this month's Bahrain Masters teenage sensation Luke 'The Nuke' Littler was the name on the tip of everyone's tongues, but by the end of the tournament 39 year old Stephen Bunting had somewhat stolen the youngsters thunder as in taking an 8-4 victory over Welshman Gerwyn Price, he helped himself to his maiden World Series title. It was Rob Cross's turn for the headlines this week though.

It was a good run to the final for Bunting who was also competing in Bahrain for the first time in his career, and the somewhat unexpected victory set him up almost perfectly for this weeks Dutch Masters. Bunting again impressed with the consistency of his performances from the oche, and that would have been no surprise to those who regularly use the top betting sites covering darts. Although he came out as a defeated finalist at this time of asking he knew he could be proud of his showing to have made it that far again.

34 year old, Rob 'Voltage' Cross, was ultimately a worthy winner on the day and having established a solid 5-2 lead early on, he saw his control on the game tested as Bunting worked it back to 5-5 as he rallied on his own performance. However, Cross bounced back and never fell behind in the tie, and in winning the next three legs it took the 8-5 win of his own to register his fifth World Series title and his first in Europe.

The 2018 world champion joked at the end that it was 'about time' that he had won in the Netherlands, although the current world No 4 had to later admit that he had been unable to take the Dutch Darts Masters trophy back home with him as the size and the weight of his new trophy proved to be problematic.

Having seen off Richard Veenstra, Jermaine Wattimena and Gerwyn Price earlier in the weekend, he eventually scooped £30,000 in prize money and the Toon Greebe Trophy, but the highlight silverware he had added to his trophy cabinet was simply too big for his luggage allowance on his return flight home, and he ultimately had no choice but to leave it behind and make alternative arrangements.

Speaking about the situation and the size of the Dutch Masters trophy, he explained that although the Worlds is a bit heavier, he felt like he was going to pull a muscle when he tried to lift it so he quickly thought better of it, especially as it had already almost slipped out of his hand, but the whole thing had been a bit of a humorous end to what had been a fantastic tournament and final win for him.

Advertorial: Although he was left looking around for someone to do him a favour and bring his trophy back home with them, the win was probably even sweeter for the Englishman as he had had a poor start to this year's World Series, so bouncing back in that fashion would have been a great boost of confidence for the dates and battles that lie ahead.

With a couple of unexpected upsets already in the New Year and the 2025 calendar, darts fans will certainly be looking forward to more unexpected outcomes in the competitions that are yet to be held.