Josh Rock again struggled on the big stage, as Gian van Veen suffered his first quarter-final defeat as a Premier League player, but Jonny Clayton impressed once more, justifying his own inclusion in the line-up. Express Sport hands out player ratings following the second week of Premier League action.
There are only so many weeks you can have stinkers on a Premier League stage before eyebrows start to be raised. Rock didn’t exactly play badly on debut last week, but you can’t extend the same grace this time around. The Northern Irishman averaged below 80 in his clash with Van Gerwen – nowhere near good enough!
There’s no excuse for a player of Humphries’ quality not seeing out a 4-1 lead, even if it was against the world champion. In fact, it makes Cool Hand’s slip-up even worse, given that opportunities to beat Littler don’t come around that often.
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And then there’s Bunting. At 4-0 up, it felt like it could be a seminal moment for the Bullet, given his Premier League woes last year. Instead, he contrived to lose six legs in a row, including three breaks of throw, to be dumped out in embarrassing fashion. It’s looking like it could be another testing campaign for Bunting.
Would’ve wanted to build on last week’s defeat in the final, but it wasn’t to be for Van Veen. His performance was still commendable though, with the Dutchman averaging just under a ton during the tight defeat to Clayton. He’ll be back stronger, that’s for sure.
He was staring down the barrel of a second consecutive opening match defeat, but pulled a rabbit out of the hat with his comeback against Humphries. Lacked that same magic in the semi-final but will be glad to have got some points on the board.
Has been a welcome addition to this year’s Premier League line-up, with the former champion having slotted straight back in. Back-to-back semi-final apperances is a solid effort from Clayton, who has given himself a good foundation to build on.
Michael van Gerwen – 8/10
Crisis, what crisis? Having been written off by most after a disappointing World Championship campaign, Van Gerwen has responded in style. His
There were some who questioned his involvement in this year’s edition, but the Welshman has surely put those criticisms to bed now. The Iceman looked back to his best in Antwerp, with a 94 and 100 average in the quarter and semi-final respectively, before posting an even better 104 average in the final.