After a short night it was back on the road in the morning for the second session of the 2025 Jack’s Casino World Series Finals.
Back in the AFAS Live the crowd was still pretty big and loud for an afternoon session as we got started with Chris Dobey and Luke Woodhouse.No interviews meant a bit more time to feel the atmosphere in the main arena.
The first thing that was made very clear: the Dutch crowd loves a bit of The Beatles! ‘Hey Jude’ was sang very loud as Chris Dobey walked on to start the afternoon. ‘Hollywood’ saw off debutant Luke Woodhouse 6-2.
Peter Wright then went up against fellow Scotsman Cameron Menzies. It was a much improved performance from Wright compared to the past few weeks but it is just not to be for ‘Snakebite’ right now as Menzies won three legs on the spin for a 6-3 victory.
Jonny Tata, all the way from New Zealand, then took on Ross Smith. Tata took a 4-2 lead but it was the experienced Smith who won four legs on the spin, ending the game in style with a 121-checkout and got a 6-4 victory.
For the crowd, it was then time for the game of the afternoon as five time world champion Raymond van Barneveld returned on home soil to take on Norwegian debutant Cor Dekker. I went back downstairs to the main arena as I had the gut feeling that this might be the last chance to hear ‘Eye of the Tiger’ in a Dutch arena given ‘Barney’s poor form.My gut feeling was very close to being right.
Dekker took a 5-3 lead but then missed six matchdarts to the absolute delight of the Amsterdam crowd. Van Barneveld showed his experience and kept his head cool as the Dutchman won three legs on the spin to complete the comeback win.
Gerwyn Price then managed to beat an out of sorts Danny Lauby 6-1 with no bother at all We then moved on to the defending chamion as Luke Littler went up against Simon Whitlock. Whitlock’s finishing was superb and kept him in the game until 4-4 when it was a brutal 92-checkout from ‘The Nuke’ to get the one break of throw he needed before closing out a hard fought 6-4 win.
It was not the afternoon of the Americans as Jonny Clayton averaged 101 in a 6-0 win over Jason Brandon as the Welshmen sent home the Americans with just one leg won.
The afternoon was closed out with a game between Nathan Aspinall and Dave Chisnall and the main point taken from this afternoon is that this crowd should start a chorus! That was by far the best ‘Mr. Brightside’ I have ever heard from a Dutch crowd, in fact they usually struggle to even know the correct lyrics!
It was Dave Chisnall who went on a late run in this one as he won five legs on the spin from 1-2 and closed out the afternoon with a superb 160-checkout for a 6-2 win over an annoyed Nathan Aspinall.Despite some darting drama between Cor Dekker and Raymond van Barneveld and a tough battle for Luke Littler over Simon Whitlock it still felt like a bit of a flat afternoon.
Tonight however is going to be very special with games like MVG against Cross, RVB versus Price and Littler v Clayton!
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Words and Images: Wim Blokpoel
