World Champion Adrian Lewis handed defending champion Phil Taylor one of his heaviest defeats in recent times on a dramatic opening night to the 2011 Premier League.
A crowd of over 10,000 saw Lewis thrash Taylor 8-2 at the O2 Arena, on a night when Terry Jenkins beat Raymond van Barneveld in the other all Unicorn affair, but James Wade lost heavily to Mark Webster and Gary Anderson won on his Premier League debut.
But Lewis made all the headlines!
Taylor may have been feeling under the weather but he made no excuses….an average of 90.54 in his worst ever Premier League defeat.
Not surprisingly, Lewis was jubilant.
“I kept focused and it was a great win and a great start but I can’t let myself get carried away because there is a long way to go,” he said.
“Phil is a great player and he will be back but I have to be pleased with that!”
Lewis averaged just shy of 101 but he was firing – and how – in London!
Taylor said: “I was awful. I have a lot of work to do to put it right but I am determined to do that. I can’t keep playing like that. I have to sort it out soon.”
From 2-2, Lewis put his foot on the gas and won six brilliant legs on the spin, including a brilliant 11 darter, a 90 finish using bull and ‘tops’ and he was hitting 180s for fun.
A 6th maximum and D8 wrapped up another 13 darter for the win to put Taylor out of his misery.
It was certainly a sensational start to the 2011 Premier League.
In the other all Unicorn clash, Barney was kicking himself for not getting at least a point against ‘The Bull’.
The Dutchman came from 1-3 down to lead 5-3 and 6-4 and actually looked on course for an impressive win, but ended up with nothing.
Jenkins did extremely well to haul the match back to six legs apiece and a third 180 gave him the lead, but only after Barneveld missed darts for a point and ‘tops’ won it for ‘The Bull’ to complete Barney’s frustrating night
But Team Unicorn star James Wade suffered at the O2…..last year’s PL runner-up simply never got going against debutant Mark Webster.
The Welshman reeled off five consecutive legs from 3-3 to claim a convincing win against an out-of-sorts Wade, who is really struggling to find any form at the moment.
Wade averaged just 87 and could only watch as Webster got up a head of steam, which included two 13 darters, a 101 finish and a 91 check-out to complete an 11 darter.
In the other match on opening night, Gary Anderson and Simon Whitlock hit 11x180s between them, but the Scot won because of his superior finishing.
Week One results:
Mark Webster 8-3 James Wade
Gary Anderson 8-5 Simon Whitlock
Raymond van Barneveld 6-8 Terry Jenkins
Adrian Lewis 8-2 Phil Taylor
By STUART PYKE
Photos courtesy Chris Sargeant