The NIA, Birmingham, saw Adrian Lewis officially exit the competition after losing both of his games. Two wins for Phil Taylor, one of which Lewis, has The Power move in to second place with Raymond Van Barneveld level on points and a game in hand, James Wade is a point behind with a game in hand after losing to Barney. Defeat for Hamilton against Robert Thornton means he is now six points from the play-offs and now all but out of the competition as well. A win and a defeat for Simon Whitlock means he's three points off and still just about alive in the competition but two wins for Thornton means he's now just a point behind Wade in fifth.
Taylor kicked the night off against Lewis and just like in week two, Taylor served up a thrashing against his protege. A 129-checkout followed by a 109-finish saw The Power classily move in to a 5-0 lead. Taylor then missed two darts at the double in the sixth leg and Lewis cleared-20 with only his second dart at the double in the match. A further three missed darts allowed Lewis to gain another leg and Jackpot should have made it 5-3, but he missed four darts and Taylor guaranteed himself a point. Taylor completed the victory, a leg better than he managed in Aberdeen, with a 105.24 average, all but sealing Lewis' fate.
A win for Van Gerwen over Whitlock and he was mathematically through to the play-offs with two weeks to go. But Whitlock needed the win to still have a slim chance of qualifying. A 106-checkout from Van Gerwen saw the Dutchman instantly break the throw, only to miss two darts in the second leg to allow Whitlock to equalise. The third leg also went against throw before Van Gerwen managed to hold this time to go 3-1 in front. That became 4-2 before a ton checkout via two double tops put Van Gerwen a leg away from a point. Van Gerwen would miss four darts to get the point in the tenth leg and Whitlock managed to equalise. The Australian then took the lead for the first time in the match by getting to the point first before taking the 12th leg to see off the birthday boy.
Thornton's first match of the night came against Hamilton in which Hamilton is now all but out of the competition. After Thornton missed three darts to win the opening leg, the Scot took a 4-1 lead. That became 5-2 before Hamilton took two legs on the bounce to reduce the deficit to a single leg. Thornton then managed to secure the point before an 83-checkout on the bull gave the Scot the victory.
The performance of the night goes to Van Barneveld whose demolishing of Wade sees the Dutchman move one point ahead of him. Wade missed a dart to take the opening leg and Barney quickly stole the advantage to take a 4-0 lead. The Dutchman missed a dart to make it five straight legs but he made amends by taking out-101 after Wade missed two darts to make it 4-2. A brilliant 145-checkout from Wade made it 6-2 only for Barney to win the match with a stylish 116-checkout.
A win for Whitlock over Taylor would have definitely closed the bunch together but it was not to be. Whitlock missed a dart to hold the third leg but the Australian retaliated with a ton checkout after Taylor missed two darts to go 3-1 in front. But Taylor broke again in the fifth leg and this time held his own throw to go 4-2 ahead. The Wizard crucially then missed five darts to level the match and The Power guaranteed the point a leg later. Whitlock did extend the match for another leg before Taylor took the match 7-4 to make it a very good day at the office for the 16-time world champion.
With Lewis now officially out of the league, all that is left to play for is pride. But when Thornton went 2-0 ahead, it wasn't looking promising. That became 3-1 before Thornton then missed two darts to allow Lewis to level the match. Thornton had to produce a fantastic Shanghai 120-checkout to level the match at 4-4 before Lewis missed four darts to give the Scot the lead. A 152-checkout from Thornton assured himself of a point but he then missed a dart to win the match in the next leg. Lewis looked like he was going to earn a draw but Thornton produced another brilliant 145-checkout to steal the victory. Table after week 12:
1. Michael Van Gerwen PL 14 20 +25
2. Phil Taylor PL 14 17 +17
3. Raymond Van Barneveld PL 13 17 +15
4. James Wade PL 13 16 +14
5. Robert Thornton PL 13 15 +7
6. Simon Whitlock PL 13 13 +5
7. Andy Hamilton PL 13 10 -12
8. Adrian Lewis PL 13 7 -26
No comments:
Post a Comment