2012 Premier League Darts: Week Three

The oche moved across the sea this week as the Premier League headed to Belfast. Kevin Painter faced Simon  Whitlock in the opening match and Painter surged into a 3-0 lead. The Australian fought back to within one before The Artist once again extended his lead. Whitlock did make it 5-3 but Painter was in top form and took the match 8-3, scoring four points in the opening three games.

World Champion, Adrian Lewis, is still yet to win (or lose) in this year's campaign after securing a draw against Andy Hamilton in a rematch of this year's World Final. It was Hamilton that started the better this time around and found himself 3-0 in front. Lewis managed to take out 130 before finding himself 4-1 behind. But The Jackpot fought back and was able to level the match at 4-4, making it anybody's game. Hamilton never went behind in the game as Lewis won the 14th leg to earn the 7-7 draw.

James Wade is still to find a point in this year's tournament after picking his third successive loss. The 2009 Premier League Champion took on the current Premier League Champion and found himself 2-0 ahead. The Machine then found a 107-check-out to make it 3-1 and it would then be 4-2 going into the break. Anderson came flying back from the break and managed to turn it around to lead 7-4. Wade was able to prolong the inevitable for a leg as Anderson took the game 8-5 to move to the top of the league.

Anderson's lead the top lasted all of 45-minutes as Phil Taylor soon replaced him. Raymond Van Barneveld was the unfortunate victim of a Taylor master-class and it began with a 131 check-out in the opening leg. It took five legs before Barney could get a score on the board and then posted a 145-check-out to make it 5-2. But Taylor wasn't to be undone and hit managed a Shanghai 120-check-out to extend his led further. The Dutchman averaged just under 109 and against anyone else he would have surely won the game. He did manage to claw his way back to 6-4 before Taylor finished the job. The Power ended the match two darts away from another nine-darter and a 112.91 average, the second highest in Premier League history.