World Cup of Darts: England, Wales and defending champions Scotland all through to quarter-finals | Darts News

England’s Michael Smith and James Wade will take on defending champions Peter Wright and John Henderson, while Wales set up a meeting with host nation Germany; watch the climax of the World Cup of Darts live on Sky Sports Action from midday on Sunday

England set up a mouth-watering quarter-final clash against the Auld Enemy Scotland at the World Cup of Darts while Wales survived an epic encounter against Austria in Frankfurt on Saturday.

Michael Smith and James Wade were pushed to a doubles decider by Latvia’s Madars Razma and Nauris Gleglu but they eventually came through unscathed to set up a meeting with Scotland.

Reigning champions Peter Wright and John Henderson defeated Jose De Sousa and Vitor Jeronimo of Portugal, but the match will be remembered for a moment of madness from ‘The Special One’ who bust a score of 181 by hitting a maximum in the opening leg of their deciding pairs match.

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“I’m speechless” – ‘The Special One’ Jose De Sousa remarkably busts 181!

Belgium’s Dimitri van den Bergh and Kim Huybrechts eased past Poland’s Krzysztof Ratajski and Sebastian Bialecki.

Australian stars Simon Whitlock and Damon Heta, who came agonisingly close to landing the first doubles nine-darter in World Cup history during their first round win over Lithuania, defeated Swedish duo Daniel Larsson and Johan Engstrom.

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Gerwyn Price imitated Rowby-John Rodriguez’s 180 visit during their clash

In the afternoon session, Gerwyn Price and Jonny Clayton survived a major scare before edging out Austria’s Mensur Suljovic and Rowby-John Rodriguez in a dramatic doubles decider.

Price converted magnificent 156, 149 and 142 finishes to sink Suljovic in a seven-leg thriller, but Rodriguez levelled the tie with an assured 4-2 win over Clayton.

Following six straight holds, Clayton followed up successive two-treble visits by pinning double six to dump out last year’s runners-up.

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Price hit three huge checkouts in a sensational turnaround for Wales against Austria

“At the end of the day it’s about winning,” reflected Price.

“We all want to perform for the crowd but sometimes it’s about grinding out the result. We were under a lot of pressure and didn’t play our best game but we showed a lot of character.”

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Watch all five of Danny Noppert’s 180s in his 4-1 win for the Netherlands

Dutch duo Danny Noppert and Dirk van Duijvenbode sent out a statement to their title rivals with an imperious display in their second round win over 2019 finalists Republic of Ireland.

“I think we’re a good pair,” said Van Duijvenbode, a World Grand Prix finalist in 2020. “We’re here to play well and you have to play well to beat us.

“We won’t say we’ll win it, but we’ll look at it game-by-game. If we play well every game, hopefully we can lift that title.”

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A look back at the best of the action from the afternoon session on Saturday

Host nation Germany will play Wales in Sunday afternoon’s quarter-finals, after seventh seeds Gabriel Clemens and Martin Schindler relinquished just two legs in their last 16 tie against Denmark.

Elsewhere, Northern Ireland will play Netherlands in the last eight, after Daryl Gurney and Brendan Dolan sealed a spot in their second consecutive World Cup quarter-final with a convincing win over New Zealand.

Check out daily Darts news on skysports.com/darts, our app for mobile devices and our Twitter account @skysportsdarts. We’re back for the climax of the World Cup of Darts on Sunday, June 19 – live on Sky Sports Action from midday.