Thursday, 26 April 2012

2012 Premier League Darts: Week 12

Echo Arena, Liverpool, the venue for the reply of the fixtures from week four in Exeter. James Wade opened the night against Kevin Painter, whom he secured his first win of the tournament against. The Artist secured the first break of the night with a Shanghai, 120, check-out in the third leg. Painter would then break the throw again in the fifth leg before Wade broke straight back, making it 4-2 to Painter going into the break. Wade secured a 123-checkout on the bull to make it 5-4. Painter would be the first to gain a point before Wade held on a 7-6 to force a deciding leg. Painter would then miss his chance to win the match, allowing the Machine to also secure a vital point. This result means Painter has finally had a draw in this year's campaign.

The second game of the night saw Phil Taylor take on Simon Whitlock. When these two met in Exeter, Taylor won 8-4 and set a new three dart average. Whitlock secured the first break of throw in the third leg after Taylor missed the bull for a 161-checkout. Whitlock would then rub it in as he then hit the bull for that elusive 161-checkout. But Taylor fought back to level the match at 3-3 going into the break. Taylor came back from the break and secured a break to take a 5-3 lead. That soon became 7-3 before he went onto wrap up yet another victory.

Raymond Van Barneveld faced Andy Hamilton in the penultimate match of the night. Barneveld won his first match of the league against Hamilton back in week four. Hamilton broke Barney's heart early on as he secured a 152-checkout in the second with the Dutchman on 20, making it 2-0 to the Hammer. He then made it 3-0 with a 93-check-out on the bull. Barney managed to pull it back to 4-2 as the players went off stage for the break. Hamilton missed three darts at the double in the seventh leg, allowing Barney to break back and then levelled the match at 4-4. From there, neither player could gain a break a throw and the game finished 7-7.

The final game of the night saw Gary Anderson take on Adrian Lewis. Back in Exeter, the Premier League Champion dispatched the World Champion 8-1. But since then, Lewis has made his way into the top four whilst Anderson has slipped to the bottom of the league. Anderson instantly broke the throw and went onto take a 2-0 lead. But Lewis fought back and managed to hit the first 170 check-out of the tournament to level the match at 2-2. The Scot broke the throw once again in the fifth leg before Lewis retaliated to make it 3-3 at the break. Anderson then missed five darts at the double in the eighth leg to allow Lewis to break the throw and take a 5-3 lead. Anderson then managed to break back in the eleventh leg to make it 6-5 but it was to no avail as Lewis would guarantee himself a point by once again breaking the throw. But the Scot did force a deciding leg and managed to get a draw, which is unfortunately not good enough to give him a chance at making it into the semi-finals.

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