'Not a Lakeside final, not the Premier League final, that night in Blackpool was the greatest' - Glen Durrant recalls World Matchplay win over Van Gerwen

This weekend, the 2025 World Matchplay gets underway at the iconic Winter Gardens in Blackpool. Glen Durrant will be present in a punditry capacity for Sky Sports, but on his debut back in 2019, 'Duzza' reached the semi-finals, something the three-time world champion and Premier League Darts winner calls his career highlight.

After a dominant 10-4 win over Adrian Lewis in the opening round Durrant was met with the unenviable task of a meeting with Michael van Gerwen in the last 16. In an instant Winter Gardens classic, Durrant edged the world number one 13-11.

“The memories are real, because right over my shoulder — I'm not sure how much you can see — but just there, among a few red ones, there’s a blue shirt. That’s the shirt I wore when I beat Michael van Gerwen," Durrant recalls of his win in an interview with the Weekly Dartscast. "My semi-final loss to Martin Adams at Lakeside runs it very, very close, but for me, beating Michael tops everything. Not a Lakeside final, certainly not the Premier League final night — no, that night in Blackpool was the greatest."

With Durrant still new to the PDC at the time, the chance to prove himself against the world's best on arguably the most iconic stage in the sport was a really emotional moment. "The crowd took to me," he remembers fondly. "I think they saw this working-class, 50-year-old player coming from the BDO, and I had them on my side. It was just mental."

"We did this sort of podcast-video thing with the PDC during the tournament, and honestly, if I’d won the event, I reckon it could have got an Oscar. It was warts and all — tears when I was coming off the oche, interviews during the day — it captured everything," Durrant continues. "Even when I played Michael van Gerwen, we were trying to film this video, and we had to keep saying ‘cut’ because the fairground noise was mixing with the electrics. I ended up with unbelievable sunburn — red face, white neck. I looked like Rodney Trotter, if you’re an Only Fools and Horses fan! In a way, that helped distract me from the nerves of playing Michael."

Although Durrant avoided the trap of failing to back up such a big win and going out in the next round by dealing with James Wade in the quarter-finals, 'Duzza's debut World Matchplay campaign came to a head in the semis.

"It was just a brilliant competition. Of course, Michael Smith ended my run, but I’ve only got positive memories," concludes the Englishman. "It’s such a wonderful, iconic arena — very similar to the Lakeside. It was unreal.”