Durrant won a PDC Tour Card in 2019 and won 2 ranking PDC titles that year before winning the 2020 Premier League, his only PDC major title. Subsequently, his form declined and he retired from professional darts in 2022.[1] He now works as a commentator on Sky Sports and for the MODUS Super Series.
BDO
Early career
Although he began playing in 1985, Durrant's first major appearance was in the 2004 Winmau World Masters, where he lost out in the early stages to Dietmar Burger.[2] He would have more success the following year however. Two consecutive 3-0 wins put him in the last 32 and this was followed by a 3–1 win over Anthony Miera, to set up a last 16 match against Martin Adams. Durrant almost pulled off a famous victory but lost out 2–3.[3]
Durrant has appeared in the PDC's UK Open on three occasions. In 2005, he won his opening match against Darren Moulsley before losing a deciding leg against Ray Cornibert in the last 64.[4] In 2009, Durrant defeated Graham Usher and John McGuirk before losing out to Terry Jenkins 1–9.[5] Durrant also qualified for the UK Open in 2012 by winning the Riley's qualifier in Middlesbrough. He drew a fellow Riley's qualifier in Stephen Bunting and lost 0–4 in the preliminary round.
2011–2014
In 2011, Durrant made his third appearance in the Winmau World Masters. Four consecutive wins and losing only three legs put him into the televised stages of the tournament where he defeated Craig Baxter 3–2 in sets in the last 24. In the last 16, he faced 2000 world champion John Walton. A 3–1 win in sets saw an emotional Durrant set up a rematch against Martin Adams, where Adams won 3–1.[6]
Durrant came within one match of qualifying for the World Championship in 2012, but was beaten in the final round by Alan Norris who went on to reach the quarter-finals.
Durrant is a dominant force locally in his own Teesside area and has won the Teesside darts championship 3 times in the last 4 years.[7]
He threw his first competitive nine-dart finish in the England Darts Organisations Grosvenor Casino Tyneside Classic. This was part of a dramatic comeback from 0–4, to win 5–4, against England teammate Garry Thompson in the last 16.[8]
The first major International open tournament win for Durrant came in September 2012, when he recorded victories against Martin Adams, Robbie Green and Martin Atkins, amongst others, before defeating Scott Waites in the final to win the 2012 EDO England Classic and the £3000 first prize. At the same tournament he "did the double" by winning the pairs competition with his playing partner Tony Eccles and also was runner up in the inaugural EDO England Matchplay.[8] After adding the 2012 Jersey Open, Durrant retained the England Classic in 2013.[8]
Durrant made his debut at the World Championship in 2014 as a seeded player. He defeated qualifier Mike Day 3–0 in the first round before losing 4–1 to Norris.
Durrant reached the semi-finals of the Masters in 2014. He survived six match darts en route including four against Scott Mitchell in the quarter-finals (the other two were against Brian Dawson in a previous round), before losing in a deciding leg against eventual champion Martin Phillips having missed one match dart at the bullseye. Durrant then lost to Mitchell in the final of the Jersey Open, televised on Eurosport, having led 5–3 in a race to six and missed three match darts.
2015–2019
Durrant's reached the last four of the 2015 World Championship, maintaining a 90+ average in each of his first three wins over Karel Sedláček, Jamie Hughes and Darryl Fitton. In the semi-final, Martin Adams defeated Durrant 6–5, despite Durrant having led 5–4 and missing one match dart to win 6–4, and then leading the deciding set 2–0 in legs and missing two further match darts. The match was lauded as one of the best in the history of the tournament as Durrant averaged 99.57 to Adams` 97.92 and they hit 12 ton+ finishes between them. After the world championships, Durrant approached renowned sports mind coach Stephen McKibben from Northern Ireland, who was accredited with leading Scott Mitchell to world glory. He has worked with Stephen ever since and it has enabled him to win his majors and dominate the BDO world tour.
Durrant had a fine 2015 on the BDO Circuit and has picked up the English Classic, English Matchplay, Welsh Open, Denmark Open and Isle of Man classic titles, and was finalist in the Scottish Open, Isle of Man Open, English Open and British Classic. He also helped his country to win the WDF World Cup team title.
Durrant won his first major title with the 2015 World Masters title, after showing superb form throughout the tournament. He defeated the former World Matchplay champion, Larry Butler, 7–3 in the final. Durrant mentioned about how much working with Stephen has changed him from a nearly man to a major winner.
His second major BDO title came in December when he won the 2015 Zuiderduin Masters, beating Martin Adams 5–2 in sets in the final and averaging 100.69.[9]
Durrant entered the 2016 World Championship as the favourite to win the tournament, and won his first two matches without dropping a set, defeating Dean Reynolds and Larry Butler. In the quarter-final, the 2013 world champion and eventual winner, Scott Waites, defeated Durrant 5–4, despite Durrant leading 3–1 and 4–2 in sets and being 2–0 up in legs during the seventh set.
Durrant entered the 2017 BDO World Darts Championship as the number 1 seed and won the tournament for the first time, beating Danny Noppert in the final 7–3. Durrant had a pressure filled tournament, and contacted his mind coach Stephen McKibben after a near miss against Paul Hogan. Durrant excelled in the rest of the tournament, dominating his remaining games.
On 15 November 2018, Durrant announced his intentions to enter the PDC Q-School in January regardless of his performance in the BDO World Championship due to there being no penalties from the BDO, unlike previous years.[10] He lost in the last 128 round at the first two days of Q School to Darren Herewini and Vince Tipple, collecting two points on the Q School Order or Merit. Durrant did better on the third day, but lost at the final hurdle to Reece Robinson.
On 21 January 2019, Durrant survived match darts from Matthew Dennant before going on to reach the last 32 and seal his two-year PDC Tour Card via the UK Q-School Order of Merit.
Following Gary Anderson's withdrawal from the 2019 Premier League, Durrant was selected as one of nine 'contenders' to replace him. He would play a one-off match against Daryl Gurney on night two in Glasgow which he lost 7–3.
At the second PDC Players Championship event in 2019, Durrant made his first PDC final after he beat Joe Cullen 7–4 in the semi-final. He hit a 170 checkout to stay in the match against Dave Chisnall, but eventually lost the final 8–7. The following week, Durrant would claim his first PDC title in just his fourth Pro Tour event, dispatching Dimitri Van den Bergh 8–3 in the final. On 18 May 2019, Durrant clinched his second PDC title at Players Championship 15 after a series of impressive performances on the day, beating Darius Labanauskas 8–1 in the final, having already dismissed World number 1 Michael van Gerwen 7–2 in the semi-final. At the World Matchplay in July, Durrant advanced to the semi-finals, a run which included wins over Adrian Lewis, van Gerwen and James Wade.
In October 2020, Durrant won the 2020 Premier League on his debut appearance in the tournament, beating Nathan Aspinall in the final after surviving four match darts against Anderson in the semis. Durrant also topped the league phase, making him the third player to do so after van Gerwen the previous seven years and Phil Taylor the eight years previously.[11] Two weeks after winning the Premier League, Durrant contracted COVID-19, forcing him to miss a couple of tournaments.
At the 2022 PDC World Darts Championship, Durrant suffered a 3–0 whitewash to William O'Connor in the second round. He appeared on Eggheads with Keegan Brown on 1 November 2022.[13] Durrant reached the fourth round of the UK Open, but failed to qualify for any other PDC major that year. After failing to qualify for the 2023 World Championship, Durrant tweeted: "Well that's it I'm no longer a professional dart player", though he later clarified that he was not retiring, he was just no longer a professional.[14]
