TheOche.com

By Phill Catterick:

WITH the Whyte and Mackay Premier League now having come to an end, its time to look back and reflect on the success of the tournament, and what players made the biggest impact over the three month period.

James Wade is the new name on the league trophy after Phil Taylor’s dominance in the competition throughout the last four seasons came to an end in the semi finals, when Mervyn King overcame him 10-6 to prevent even a defence in the final.

Prior to finals night, there was of course fourteen weeks of gruelling competition which was in my opinion the best Premier League campaign to date, with the best four players making it to Wembley.

Every week I’ve watched the tournament unfold, writing previews and reviews for every meeting-and infact attended one of the evenings at the National Indoor Arena in Birmingham.

For people that have followed my work across the web, they will know that each week I put together my own predictions for each game and try to correctly put together a scoreline for each match.

I’ve been through the past fourteen weeks to see exactly how accurate my predictions were, and who I believed the man of the tournament to be.

Week 1- The Echo Arena in Liverpool:
(My predictions in brackets)

Correct Winners: 2
Correct scores: 0

James Wade 7-7 John Part
(Wade 8-3 Part)
Jelle Klaasen 7-7 Terry Jenkins
(Klaasen 8-5 Jenkins)
Mervyn King 8-1 Wayne Mardle
(King 8-4 Mardle)
Raymond Van Barneveld 4-8 Phil Taylor
(Barneveld 5-8 Taylor)

Week 2- Royal Highland Centre, Edinburgh:

No. of correct winners= 1
No. of correct scores= 0

John Part 7-7 Raymond Van Barneveld
(Part 4-8 Barneveld)
Wayne Mardle 7-7 Terry Jenkins
(Mardle 4-8 Jenkins)
Phil Taylor 8-2 Jelle Klaasen
(Taylor 8-5 Klaasen)
James Wade 1-8 Mervyn King
(Wade 7-7 King)

Week 3: The Ricoh Arena, Coventry

No. of correct winners= 1
No of correct scores= 0

Terry Jenkins 7-7 Phil Taylor
(Jenkins 6-8 Taylor)
Raymond Barneveld 4-8 James Wade
(Barneveld 8-5 Wade)
Mervyn King 8-2 John Part
(King 8-5 Part)
Jelle Klaasen 6-8 Wayne Mardle
(Klaasen 7-7 Mardle)

Week 4: The Odyssey Arena, Belfast

No. of correct winners= 2
No. of correct scores= 0

John Part 8-1 Wayne Mardle
(Part 8-6 Mardle)
Mervyn King 8-4 Jelle Klaasen
(King 8-2 Klaasen)
James Wade 8-4 Phil Taylor
(Wade 5-8 Taylor)
Terry Jenkins 6-8 Raymond Barneveld
(Jenkins 7-7 Barneveld)

Week 5: The Metro Radio Arena, Newcastle

No. of correct winners= 1
No. of correct scores= 0

Jelle Klaasen 6-8 James Wade
(Klaasen 4-8 Wade)
Phil Taylor 7-7 Mervyn King
(Taylor 8-6 King)
Wayne Mardle 7-7 Raymond Barneveld
(Mardle 3-8 Barneveld)
John Part 8-5 Terry Jenkins
(Part 5-8 Jenkins)

Week 6: The Manchester Evening News Arena, Manchester

No. of correct winners= 2
No. of correct scores= 0

Raymond Barneveld 8-3 Mervyn King
(Barneveld 6-8 King)
Jelle Klaasen 7-7 John Part
(Klaasen 5-8 Part)
Terry Jenkins 5-8 James Wade
(Jenkins 6-8 Wade)
Phil Taylor 8-4 Wayne Mardle
(Taylor 8-3 Mardle)

Week 7: The Brighton Centre, Brighton

No. of correct winners= 3
No. of correct scores= 0

Mervyn King 5-8 Terry Jenkins
(King 8-5 Jenkins)
Wayne Mardle 3-8 James Wade
(Mardle 5-8 Wade)
Raymond Barneveld 8-3 Jelle Klaasen
(Barneveld 8-4 Klaasen)
Phil Taylor 8-3 John Part
(Taylor 8-4 Part)

Week 8: The National Indoor Arena, Birmingham

No. of correct winners= 1
No. of correct scores= 0

Wayne Mardle 2-8 Mervyn King
(Mardle 4-8 King)
Terry Jenkins 6-8 Jelle Klaasen
(Jenkins 8-5 Klaasen)
John Part 7-7 James Wade
(Part 5-8 Wade)
Phil Taylor 8-2 Raymond Barneveld
(Taylor 7-7 Barneveld)

Week 9: The Scottish Exhibition and Conference Centre, Glasgow

No. of correct winners= 3
No. of correct scores= 0

Raymond Barneveld 8-1 John Part
(Barneveld 8-6 Part)
Terry Jenkins 8-2 Wayne Mardle
(Jenkins 8-5 Mardle)
Jelle Klaasen 6-8 Phil Taylor
(Klaasen 4-8 Taylor)
Mervyn King 8-3 James Wade
(King 7-7 Wade)

Week 10: The Westpoint Arena, Exeter

No. of correct winners= 0
No. of correct scores= 0

John Part 8-6 Mervyn King
(Part 5-8 King)
Phil Taylor 7-7 Terry Jenkins
(Taylor 8-5 Jenkins)
James Wade 8-5 Raymond Barneveld
(Wade 6-8 Barneveld)
John Part 7-7 Jelle Klaasen
(Part 8-6 Klaasen)

*Weeks 11 and 12 are void as both previews were submitted before Wayne Mardle’s inclusion in either event was changed at the last minute.

Week 13: The Sheffield Arena, Sheffield

No. of correct winners= 3
No. of correct scores= 1

Raymond Barneveld 7-5 Adrian Lewis
(Barneveld 7-5 Lewis)
Phil Taylor 7-4 Dennis Priestley
(Taylor 7-2 Priestley)
Terry Jenkins 8-3 John Part
(Jenkins 7-7 Part)
James Wade 8-4 Jelle Klaasen
(Wade 8-3 Klaasen)

Week 14: The Cardiff International Arena, Cardiff

No. of correct winners= 3
No. of correct scores= 0

Jelle Klaasen 7-3 Mark Webster
(Klaasen 7-5 Webster)
John Part 4-7 Gary Anderson
(Part 6-7 Anderson)
Raymond Barneveld 7-7 Terry Jenkins
(Barneveld 8-4 Jenkins)
Mervyn King 2-8 Phil Taylor
(King 5-8 Taylor)

My predictions over the fourteen weeks were just less than 50% correct in terms of choosing the match winners so the efforts weren’t too bad, although predicting the scores as you can see was much trickier.

The opening stages of the UK Open might be a little easier to predict as the `minnows` of the darting world have their chance to take on the world’s elite at the Reebok Stadium.

This kicks off next weekend, and James Wade will be out to defend his title-just days after winning his first Premier League campaign.

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