The MEN witnessed history as the sixth week of the Premier League saw Phil Taylor lose for the second consecutive week, a feat that hasn't happened since 2008. The win for Hamilton sees him level with The Power with Simon Whitlock also joining them on six after beating the in form James Wade. A draw against Robert Thornton was enough Raymond Van Barneveld to keep his place at the top with fellow Dutchman Michael Van Gerwen moving in to second after seeing off Wes Newton. The defeat for Newton has allowed Adrian Lewis to move level on points at the bottom of the table after drawing with Gary Anderson.
Van Gerwen looked in the mood in the opening match of the match and produced an 11-darter in the second leg to go 2-0 up. Newton was also playing well and replied with a 110-checkout before finding himself 3-2 behind. A 10-darter in the eighth leg saw Newton level the match at 4-4 before Van Gerwen powered away to take the following three legs to win 7-4 and claim that second spot.
It perhaps a must-win game for both Lewis and Anderson in which both players ended with a point. It also unsurprising to see a colossal 32-missed darts at the double throughout the encounter. Anderson got out of the blocks quickly to take a 2-0 lead before levelled the match with the next two legs. Five missed darts allowed Lewis to turn that in to a 3-2 lead which was then stretched further in the following leg. Anderson responded with a ton checkout before levelling the match himself with a classy 116-finish. Anderson again had to equalise to make it 5-5. As the game drew closer to the end, the doubles began to miss and Lewis just about managed to guarantee himself a point first. But Anderson performed a fantastic 10-dart leg in the last to earn a deserved draw.
The best game of the night has to be between Whitlock and Wade who provided six ton plus checkouts in the 11-legs. A monumental 170-checkout from Wade put him 2-1 ahead after losing the initial leg. Whitlock replied with a ton checkout with two double tops and then a 103-finish to turn the match around. The crucial leg was the sixth as Wade missed four darts to level the match and allowed Whitlock to go 4-2 in front. That became 6-2 when the Australian fired in a 101-checkout. Whitlock then missed three darts to win the match 7-3 and Wade managed to keep himself in the match with a 144-checkout. But The Wizard atoned for his error with a Shanghai 120-checkout to win 7-4.
Van Barneveld wasn't at his best against Thornton but the Scot still had to win the last two legs to earn the point. Thornton took the opening leg but then had to win the fourth to level the match. Thornton missed a dart in the fifth leg to take the lead before Barney then made it 4-2 with his sixth dart at the double in that leg. Thornton missed another two darts to level the match at 4-4 and the score would soon read 6-5 as the Dutchman secured the point. Thornton forced that deciding leg with a ton checkout before holding his nerve to rescue a valuable point.
Andy Hamilton had already beaten Phil Taylor last weekend and definitely had the momentum over the underwhelming World Champion. Taylor started okay with the first and third legs but he would then miss three darts to make it 3-2 and duly found himself behind. With a sniff of the lead, Hamilton quickly extended that to 5-2 before missing two darts to seal at least a point in the eighth leg. But it didn't deter The Hammer as he would take the next two legs to record a huge 7-3 victory over Taylor. Table after week six:
1. Raymond Van Barneveld 9 +10
2. Michael Van Gerwen 8 +9
3. James Wade 7 +6
4. Robert Thornton 7 +1
5. Phil Taylor 6 +3
6. Andy Hamilton 6 0
7. Simon Whitlock 6 -2
8. Gary Anderson 5 -6
9. Wes Newton 3 -9
10. Adrian Lewis 3 -12
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