Dave Chisnall suffered an embarrassing miscount before crashing out of the World Darts Championship on Monday night – celebrating a leg he thought he’d won before being informed he’d left eight still on the board.
Chizzy became the 13th seed to crash out of the tournament in round two at Alexandra Palace with a 3-2 defeat to Ricky Evans.
He lost a sudden death leg in the decisive fifth set – but not before a brain fade on the oche. Chisnall pulled off a 131 finish with triple 19, triple 14 and double 16 before pointing his finger to the sky in celebration.
But he was then informed he actually needed D20 and not D16, so had not won the leg as he’d thought.
Sky Sports commentator Glen Durrant reacted: “Can we get any more drama than this? A miscount at the most important time!
“Chisnall doesn’t know what day it is. What a match this is and it deserves to go the distance!”
Evans needed 130 and could only set up double 20, allowing Chisnall to win the leg after all on a double eight.
But he lost the sudden death leg with Evans cashing out a D20 at the first attempt to conclude a classic contest.
A triumphant Evans couldn’t believe the support he was getting from the Ally Pally crowd. He told Sky Sports in an amusing post-match interview: “It’s not even what it is, again I’ve played a world-class darts player. I’ve played quite well and won.
“Normally it’s poo, I can say poo. Look at this, wow. I don’t understand it, why are they cheering me on?”
“I wish I’d beat Chizzy 3-0, my ticker would be a bit slower. The another 11 months of the year, what am I doing? Apart from my wedding. I must be a Scott Williams prodigy.
“It must be the gingers. I don’t get this reception in my household. Thank you very much. You’ve made a very fat guy very happy.”
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