TheOche.com

Photo Lawrence Lustig/PDC

By Phill Catterick:

The National Indoor Arena in Birmingham played host to the latest round of Premier League matches on Thursday Evening, with Phil Taylor taking on Adrian Lewis in a battle of the Stokeys.

Taylor used to practice with Lewis before the protégée decided to go it alone, and has now recruited the services of 1983 World Champion Keith Dellar to improve his game. However the youngster failed to live up to hi words and was beaten 8-4 by `The Power.`

Adrian took a 2-0 lead with checkouts of 40 and 16, but Taylor clawed his way back and went in at the break level at 3-3 after hitting double sixteen.

He returned to take four straight legs as Lewis struggled to maintain the form he showed at the start of the match, and in the tenth leg he was nearly on the end of a Taylor nine-darter.

After six perfect darts the crowd were on their feet as Taylor came back to the oche for the third time in the leg, but he couldn’t hit a seventh treble 20 and had to come back again to go 7-3 up.

Lewis took the next with a 56 checkout using tops, but Taylor wasn’t to be denied two points and saw the game out with a 58 finish.

Taylor praised his opponent after the game, but that didn’t take away the fact that the fifteen times World Champion is unbeaten in this year’s tournament, and is odds on favourite to clinch a fifth title.

His rival Raymond Van Barneveld faces an uphill battle if he’s to make the top four as his inconsistency is starting to cost him vital points. The Dutchman has recently changed his darts and has said he will use them for three months, but he may regret saying that as he went down 8-4 to `The Rocket` Ronnie Baxter.

They played out a magnificent game during the Worlds in 2009 where Barney eventually prevailed in sudden death, and this game started magnificently with the five times World Champion hitting two maximums before hitting double eight to take the opening leg.

However Baxter rocketed into action and took five on the spin, including a 124 checkout in the sixth using the Bull.

Barney reduced the deficit to 5-2 before the break, but Baxter continued to throw well and eventually won 8-4 after hitting double seventeen to earn maximum points. Barney’ doubles need to be improved if he’s to make it to Wembley in May, and he’ll know as well as anyone that wins at this stage are vital.

Simon Whitlock has thrown his name into the hat of possible candidates for the final four with an impressive 8-6 win over Mervyn King. The Aussie is starting to produce the sort of from which got him to the final of the World championship, and despite going behind to King he stormed back to give last year’s finalist something to think about.

Whitlock took a 3-0 lead with checkouts of 90, 60 and 40 before Merv burst into life and levelled before the break. He took the next two to go 5-3 ahead, but Whitlock refused to give in and tied level at 6-6 (including a 161 checkout in the 11th) before taking the final two legs to take maximum points.

King will be disappointed not to have won as he’s lost more ground to Phil Taylor, but he seems a certainty for the play-offs if he maintains his form.

In the other match James Wade beat Terry Jenkins 8-5. `The Bull` is rooted to the bottom of the table now and will be looking to get a win under his belt soon to avoid getting the wooden spoon, but Wade is getting back in form and having hit two maximums in the first three legs he fully deserved his win.

Both players struggled with doubles and this will need to be rectified against the bigger players. Jenkins especially struggled and this was the difference between a loss and perhaps claiming a point.

The Premier League party moves to Wales next week as the Cardiff International Arena prepares to welcome the players and fans for week eight of the competition.