Phil Taylor gained sweet revenge over Adrian Lewis with a fabulous display at the National Indoor Arena in Birmingham.
And it is a big blow to Lewis’ hopes of qualifying for the semi-finals….but for Taylor, the perfect way to celebrate his 100th Premier League match, with a 10th consecutive win.
Remember Lewis took out Taylor 8-2 on the opening night of the Premier League at the O2 back in February….’The Power’ had to make do with 8-3 but he wasn’t complaining too much!
Lewis probably needs to win his last three games to get to Wembley, but Taylor ‘powers’ on.
“It is always a massive match when we play and I wanted revenge! Adrian is a great player but I was after him tonight,” Taylor said.
“Sometimes not being World Champion takes the pressure off. Adrian is World Champion and is under pressure, because everyone wants to beat him,” he added
After four legs, both players averaged an incredible 120…..after six legs it was still an impressive 114 and at the end, Taylor was on 107.46 with Lewis on 101.
Four 180s and a 139 finish took Taylor out to a 3-0 advantage, but Lewis came up with an 11 darter and a two-dart 86 finish to get on the board.
Taylor led 4-2 at the break and it was still all to play for, but crucially Lewis missed one dart to break the throw in the 7th leg and Taylor wasn’t about to give him any more chances.
He won three legs on the spin, and just to make a point, when he needed 50 in the 9th leg, Taylor went straight for the bull and hit it!
Lewis managed to get one more leg back, but it mattered not, as Taylor hit a fantastic 130 finish to win the match in style.
“Don’t write me off just yet!” said Unicorn’s World Champion. “I am playing well enough to still reach the play-offs.”
On a dramatic night in Birmingham, the all Unicorn showdown between Raymond van Barneveld and Terry Jenkins produced only the second draw of this year’s Premier League.
In a high quality affair, Jenkins led only once after taking the opening leg, but ‘The Bull’ battled away with his best display of the year to snatch a thrilling draw.
The point takes Barney to 13 points and should be enough to take a semi-final spot, but he knows just one win from his last three matches will make absolutely certain.
“He always plays his best against me!” said the Dutchman. “But I am happy with the point. My last three games are against Wade, Anderson and Webster, so I know what I have to do.”
Jenkins knows that he is only playing for pride, but was pleased with his gutsy performance. “I threw too fast at the start of the match because I was so keen to get a win! But it was much better overall!”
Both players averaged 100 in a terrific tungsten tussle!
Barneveld led 3-1, 4-2 and 5-3 but Jenkins kept chipping away….and an 11 darter, a third 180 and 88 finish got the match back to five legs apiece.
In a tense finale, the last four legs were all won against the throw!
After Jenkins just wired D19 for a 155 check-out, Barneveld nailed 106 to move ahead. But the Dutchman missed three darts at double in the next and Jenkins levelled.
Barney hit D8, despite another Jenkins maximum to go 7-6 in front and was favourite for the win, throwing first in the final leg….both players hit 180s but a 12 darter from Jenkins snatched the draw, as he hit 83 on the bull….great stuff!
James Wade produced probably his best performance for six months as he demolished Mark Webster 8-1.
It’s a third straight win for ‘The Machine’ and his tungsten looked well oiled against Webster, who slumped to a 7th consecutive defeat.
Wade averaged a brilliant 106, hit 8 doubles from 11 attempts (a 73 per cent check-out success rate) and hit fantastic finishes of 170, 120 and 110….he was that good.
Poor Webster’s confidence is shot and he has now won only six legs in his last five PL games.
“That was not far off the real James Wade,” said the Unicorn ace. “I felt sorry for Mark because he is struggling at the moment and I know what that feels like. But I have put myself in with a chance of reaching the play-offs but I have to keep on winning.”
We knew Wade was in the mood as he nailed 120 and 110 to take the opening two legs….in fact he raced into a 6-0 lead, culminating in that fabulous 170 finish.
Webster avoided what would have been only the third whitewash in the seven-year history of the event, but Wade wrapped up a crucial win with the minimum of fuss.
In the other match of the night, Gary Anderson produced a spell-binding display to beat Simon Whitlock 8-6, and in the process, secure his spot in the play-offs.
And he also smacked in 11x180s to break the record for maximums in a single PL match (Barney held the previous record of 9)…..Anderson is an immense talent and could well prove to be Taylor’s biggest challenger over the next few years.
He averaged 103.52 against the Aussie and that is all the more remarkable because he also missed 21 darts at doubles during the match!
In one leg, he hit seven perfects darts but then missed seven attempts at the double and ended up losing the leg!
Week 11 results – Birmingham NIA –
James Wade 8-1 Mark Webster
Terry Jenkins 7-7 Raymond van Barneveld
Simon Whitlock 6-8 Gary Anderson
Phil Taylor 8-3 Adrian Lewis
Latest Premier League table:
1 – Phil Taylor 20pts
2 – Gary Anderson 16pts
3 – Raymond van Barneveld 13pts
4 – Simon Whitlock 10pts
5 – James Wade 10pts
6 – Adrian Lewis 9pts
7 – Terry Jenkins 6pts
8 – Mark Webster 4pts
Week 12 schedule – Liverpool Echo Arena:
Mark Webster v Terry Jenkins
Gary Anderson v Phil Taylor
Raymond van Barneveld v James Wade
Adrian Lewis v Simon Whitlock
By STUART PYKE in Birmingham
Photos courtesy Chris Sargeant