Adrian Lewis needs to keep his cool at World Matchplay, says Wayne Mardle
Wednesday 20 July 2016 13:05, UK
Adrian Lewis showed vulnerabilities during a hot-headed win over Gerwyn Price, according to Wayne Mardle.
After days of back-and-forth jibes on Twitter, Lewis persevered with an 11-5 victory on Tuesday to set up a quarter-final against Peter Wright at the World Matchplay in Blackpool.
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But Lewis, in his post-match interview, called Price a "nobody" and claimed his beaten opponent "bottled it", which has drawn ire from Sky Sports expert Mardle.
"As you can see from Adrian in the interview, he's still not in control of his emotions," Mardle said. "Whether it's anger, or he's just annoyed, or whatever it is with Gerwyn. He clearly doesn't like him.
"It didn't help. I don't think the likes of Gary Anderson or Phil Taylor or Michael van Gerwen would have got involved on social media. But that is Adrian.
"He does have this 'banter' and I just think it's got out of hand."
Lewis also compared his relative "greatness" to Price being "not so great" on Tuesday night but Mardle didn't see anything impressive from the victor.
'Jackpot' will need to up his performance or risk being eliminated by Wright in his next match, Mardle believes.
I don't think the likes of Gary Anderson or Phil Taylor or Michael van Gerwen would have got involved on social media.
He said: "If an 84 average is 'great', then I'm better than that. It just wasn't good, it wasn't good enough, and Peter Wright will be sitting in his hotel room thinking, 'I should really get past Adrian'.
"He's got to control himself. We know how good Adrian is - he knows how good he can be. But don't get embroiled, just play the game that he plays so well."
