Darts, Beers, & Cheers

Premier League Darts week 5 results

The results n write-up from the fifth league night of the 2010 Whyte & Mackay Premier League Darts in Manchester… and we were treated to the loverly Nicola Cowell again tonight, I think the first time we’ve seen her since Xmas?

Game 1:  James Wade 7-7 Ronnie Baxter

Phew I can’t believe it, game 1 went completely to my prediction, with Wade and Baxter locked in a darting battle to near death.. and it ending up a deserved draw for both players.  Wade took grade A stick from the fans, and he didn’t like it one bit!  A bit of advice James – if the crowd give you the full boo treatment, don’t bring it up on camera at the end – as you’ll get twice as much next time!  Put it down to experience and move on.  James was 7-4 up at one point, but Baxter showed real bottle and got back to 7-7.

“I’ve been practising hard and am trying turn it around, but the results aren’t quite coming for me,” – James Wade

Game 2: Phil Taylor 7-7 Mervyn King

I thought I had this one predicted too – we were shouting at the TV at one point… Taylor was looking ripe for the taking, but then showed true brilliance hitting 3 ton+ finishes in a row, two of em with bull finishes!  At that point I thought it would be game over for Merv, but he kept it together well, taking the point of Taylor.  Merv is a bit gutted, thinking he let it go, but to be honest Taylor knows he was in a scrap against Mervyn yet again, and must know he’s not to be messed with.

King added: “I’m a little bit disappointed that I only got a draw because I had Phil by the throat and let him off.

Raymond van Barneveld hits top form this week - FINALLY! (courtesy Chris Sargeant/PDC)

Game 3: Terry Jenkins 4-8 Raymond van Barneveld

OK now my predictions went completely wrong, as Barney suddenly hit 110% form and cruised this one against Jenkins.  Raymond’s 106.92 3 darts average is the highest of the 2010 premier league series so far, and it was a really powerful display.   At one point Barney was 7-1 up – so Jenkins earned some respect for getting three legs on the trot back to lose 8-4.  Barney had a good chat after the game, and seemed to blame cold hands on his poor performance last week… hmm.  Lets hope this is the start of things to come – we need all the top players playing at the top of their game!  Barney again confirmed he’s not looking to play at the weekends at the floor tournaments, so we might not see Barney at the Circus Tavern again next year if he’s not playing and winning Players Championship points.  A real shame (especially as I’ll be going again if all things go well).

Game 4: Adrian Lewis 4-8 Simon Whitlock

Again Lewis let down my crystal ball.. by playing very poorly, missing many doubles in this fairly one sided game. (I got the result right, but thought it would be closer!)  Simon Whitlock played steady darts – although he was right calling the game ‘ugly’ – it was far from a classic, and ended up with pretty low averages.

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