Six to ponder from Super Series: Jose de Sousa, Joe Cullen and Peter Wright shine but Michael van Gerwen continues his title drought

By Paul Nicholson

10:50 · MON June 21, 2021

Jose de Sousa was undoubtedly the star performer from Super Series and is one of six players Paul Nicholson discusses in his latest darts column.

The Special One picked up back-to-back Players Championship titles on days two and three while Joe Cullen won the first tournament of the week before Peter Wright had the final say.

The Asset reflects on all three title-winners but was also impressed with Gerwyn Price for his impressive displays after such a long absence and Adrian Lewis, who is in the group of players facing a desperate late charge to qualify for the World Matchplay.

However, how many positives could Michael van Gerwen take after his title drought continued...

Jose de Sousa

Jose de Sousa didn’t just hit the headlines for his two titles – after all, he got away with one of them because Ryan Searle really should have beaten him – but also because of his stunning 127 average in his very first game of the week.

On top of that he broke the record for the most 180s in a single day with 34, eclipsing the previous mark of 32 set by Peter Wright. Imagine what he could’ve got to if he’d hit more than 2 in a 15 leg final.

He has an A-game right now which is rivalling the best ever and his record-breaking exploits prove that – not to mention how consistently high his performances have been on both stage and floor.

As we also saw in the Premier League, his level of ability on the treble 20 bed is better than anyone right now.

He’s also starting to take out more and more big shots and the miscounting is becoming less of a problem with every passing week. He’s scoring so heavily, he’s having to count less.

When he gets his counting wrong we call him on it but despite occasionally leaving the wrong shots due to staying on 20s when he should switch to 19s, for example, he often gets away with it. And besides, it’s only ‘wrong’ if you miss. The dart board is incredibly flexible and you can finish in lots of different ways.

He’s entertaining because he hits things differently and some people will brand it ‘wrong’ because they don’t like change.

Joe Cullen

It’s not a surprise to see Joe battling for these Pro Tour titles anymore and he’s really starting to play like a proper number one seed with plenty of belief.

As a former number one seed in these types of events myself, I can say for a period of several months you can walk into the building and say ‘right, I’m winning this today’. It’s great to see Joe exude that confidence and I think he’s surrounding himself with the right people who make him feel like a winner.

There’s no pressure on him despite the number one seed tag because he now has two titles already this season and has the mental side of his game cracked. Even after winning the opening event of the week he said: “I won the title but I didn’t even feel that good’. What a feeling that must be.

Michael van Gerwen

As much as I don’t want to keep going on about it, Michael van Gerwen is going to head into July without a title of any kind to his name all year.

He left on Wednesday without playing in the final event of the week, which means this is now his longest title drought for nine and a half years.

We are seeing good form from him, however, and he’s often being beaten by very good performances, but there are other players with a greater winning habit than him.

It’s got to the point when you wonder where his next title is coming from and he’ll have his work cut out at the World Matchplay next month where so many star players will fancy their chances in the longer format events. MVG used to be considered a lot stronger over longer formats but loads of others can contend with him now.

On the plus side he averaged 106 a couple of times on his route to the final on Tuesday, which he lost to Jose de Sousa, and also managed a 107 the previous day prior to losing to eventual champion Joe Cullen.

At those times you get the feeling he thinks he’s cracked it again, but then you’ll see him throw some low 90s averages and he even dipped into the 80s against Alan Tabern.

Overall he’s averaging well compared to most, but his 97.25 on the Pro Tour this year puts him behind de Sousa (99.35), Jonny Clayton (98.66), Gerwyn Price (98.54) and Peter Wright (97.43) while he’s several points behind his levels of previous years.

The stats don’t lie – other players are performing better and continue to raise their game.

Gerwyn Price

Gerwyn Price didn’t win a title but he was coming back after a long break and produced enough decent performances to suggest to me that he will win a title in Coventry during the next Super Series.

He thrashed Jonny Clayton 7-1 with a 104 average in the semi-finals of the first event before going down to Joe Cullen in the final, then lost the next day to Luke Woodhouse with a 101 average, to Maik Kuivenhoven with a 109 average and then to Dirk van Duijvenbode with a 100 average!

Even when his runs were ended he didn’t play poorly at any point so don’t let the lack of titles cloud your judgement over how well he was performing.

Bare in mind he hadn’t played competitive darts for three months! It shows he’s been putting in the hard work behind the scenes and those titles will come again.

Peter Wright

It was a strange week for Peter Wright because he started so slowly that we almost forgot about him.

After winning just one match in the opening two days he then warmed up with a run to the quarter-finals on day three and then blitzed through the field to bag the last title of the week.

Peter looked in the mood for much of the day, and averaged 103 against Rob Cross in the quarters, 106 against Callan Rydz in the semis and 109 to defeat Luke Humprhies in the final.

He likes to have the last word in these Super Series weeks, and just when we’re starting to think he’s not doing so well, he quickly bounces back to that premium level.

Peter now has 19 Players Championship titles in his career and you wouldn’t bet against him taking that tally to 20 in Coventry next month to warm up for the World Matchplay.

Adrian Lewis

I was really encouraged by Adrian Lewis’ form during the Super Series and it was great to see him weigh in with some fantastic 100+ averages on a consistent basis. Although he couldn’t quite reach a final having twice got as far as the quarters on the final two days, he was giving everything he had and you couldn’t fault him for effort or desire.

He’s desperate to maintain his streak of qualifying for a 17th successive World Matchplay but he’ll probably need to win a title at the next Super Series in early July – or reach a final at the very least – to climb up into the qualification places.

Adrian is currently £6,000 in prize money and 15 places behind Madars Razma in the last qualification spot for Blackpool with just four events remaining so he does have his work cut out but he does have momentum.

He was using slightly smaller flights and a longer stem which really seemed to suit him, and his darts were going in so beautifully. If he can stick with that and retain his confidence then there’s no reason why he can’t reach a final in the next Super Series.

He’s hardly ever been a chaser in his career in terms of qualifying for the World Matchplay is concerned but that’s the position he finds himself in and we’re about to see if he’s cut out to thrive in that role.