World Cup of Darts: Wales beat England 3-0 to win their first title
- Published
Wales won the World Cup of Darts for the first time as they beat top-seeds England 3-0 in Salzburg.
The second seeds had lost two previous finals - in 2010 and 2017.
England survived four match darts in the quarter-finals against Austria and were seeking to become the first nation to win the event on five occasions.
But Gerwyn Price and Jonny Clayton combined to beat Michael Smith and Rob Cross in the doubles and complete only the second whitewash in the final.
England had seen off Belgium 2-0 in the semi-final, with Smith beating Kim Huybrechts 4-3 and Cross defeating Dimitri Van den Bergh by the same margin after his opponent missed five darts to level the tie and take it to a deciding match.
Wales advanced with a 2-0 win against Germany, Price beating Gabriel Clemens 4-2 and Clayton emulating that scoreline against Max Hopp, courtesy of a 121 finish on the bull.
In the final, world number three Price, who played in the 2017 final defeat against the Netherlands, punished some wayward finishing from the mercurial fourth-ranked Smith to record a 4-1 win.
World number 16 Clayton averaged 105 as he beat Cross, ranked 11 places higher, 4-2.
The Welsh pair, who lost to Singapore in the first round last year, maintained their unbeaten record in the doubles in the event this time around as World Grand Prix winner Price finished a 64 checkout in the deciding leg with double top to seal the title.
"I'm the proudest man on the planet at this moment," Clayton said. "To play alongside this great player - the best in the world at this moment - it's awesome."
Price added: "I've won the Grand Slam back-to-back and the Grand Prix a couple of weeks ago and the World Series, but to win for Wales it means a lot."