Phil Taylor & Mervyn King head the Whyte & Mackay Premier League Darts league table after continuing their 100% records at Bournemouth last week. They are amongst the eight in action as the show heads to Belfast on Thursday night:
Mervyn King v Ronnie Baxter
A spectacular weekend has just gone by for Mervyn King. After continuing his 100% start to the 2010 Premier League season, the 43-year old became only the fourth man in PDC history to claim back-to-back tour titles on consecutive days as ‘The King’ ruthlessly made his way through 150+ runner fields to take the £6,000 first prize on both days in Swindon. Despite the absence of Phil Taylor & Raymond van Barneveld, King still disposed of quality opposition over the weekend with Premier League rivals Adrian Lewis, James Wade, Simon Whitlock & tonight’s opponent Ronnie Baxter all brushed aside en route to glory and it’s with little surprise that we see King installed as 8/15 favourite here. Baxter was actually beaten on both days in Swindon by King and will no doubt be sick of the sight of him should a third defeat within a week to the same man follow tonight. Many had ‘The Rocket’ pencilled in as cannon-fodder material in this tournament but a bright start on opening night with a point against Terry Jenkins was followed by last week’s defeat to Taylor – a match that he will be disappointed not to take anything from having led 4-0 in the early stages. The bookmakers have alighted to the fact that neither of these men are particularly regular 180 hitters (both hit 6 in 2 games so far) and have tonight’s 180 line set at 4.5. Given that all eight Premier League encounters thus far have covered this mark, we’re willing to chance that the trend will continue and will be taking the 8/11 for it to do so.
Adrian Lewis v Terry Jenkins
The star pupil of week two turned out to be Adrian Lewis as ‘Jackpot’ came out on top in all departments in Bournemouth. A 105.14 average, 6 180s and a 121 checkout could not be bettered by anyone on the night and were all instrumental in an 8-3 drubbing of Raymond van Barneveld. With Lewis blistering out of the blocks with his power scoring and merciless finishing, it looked as though we were on the verge of only the third whitewash in Premier League history as Lewis raced into a 6-0 lead at the interval before the customary lapse in concentration aided a Barney mini-revival. We are slightly taken aback by the generosity of the 5/6 available on Lewis tonight as he looks to take a ninth win in twelve meetings against ‘The Raging Bull’ Terry Jenkins. The most recent of those meetings came in the last 16 of Saturday’s Players Championship; Lewis coming out a 6-4 victor. Jenkins seemed to find his form during last week’s second consecutive Premier League draw with Simon Whitlock. He averaged over the 100+ mark on the TV for the first time since November and there may be takers for the 23/10 dangled by European giants Bwin. Despite Jenkins’ battling qualities and Adrian’s tendency for sloppy spells, If Lewis manages to get off to a flier, as if often the case, he has to be fancied to finish off the job. The Lewis/Lewis half time/full time double pays 2/1 at Skybet.
Verdict
Mervyn King v Ronnie Baxter to produce over 4.5 180s at 8/11 (Various)
Adrian Lewis/Adrian Lewis double result at 2/1 (Skybet)
*** Part 2 of our Premier League Darts preview is now available *** http://www.puntinplay.com/story/premier-league-darts---week-3-part-2
