Premier League Darts: World champion Gary Anderson beats Phil Taylor again on opening night
Friday 6 February 2015 15:04, UK
World champion Gary Anderson proved too difficult an opponent again for Phil Taylor on the opening night of the 2015 Premier League.
Anderson beat Taylor by 7-6 in sets at Alexandra Palace at the beginning of the year to win the world title for the first time and continued his rich vein of form winning by 7-5 in legs, in front of a capacity crowd in Leeds on Thursday.
The Scot won the first leg and was never behind in his match against the 16-time world champion - though the deficit was never more than one until the deciding 12th leg.
Adrian Lewis had earlier been in simply sensational form in the second match of the night against defending Premier League champion Raymond van Barneveld, thrashing the stunned Dutchman 7-1.
Lewis completed his brilliant win with an 11-darter for an 113.80 average - his highest in a televised game and the fourth highest in Premier League history.
The Stoke thrower avenged his World Darts Championship defeat in incredible style after St Helens' Dave Chisnall had also thrashed Peter Wright 7-1 in the opening match of the league season.
Wright had worked the sold-out Yorkshire crowd up into frenzy before the clash but it virtually all downhill for the Scotsman from there despite levelling at 1-1.
Chisnall was not at his best but he did not need to be as an off-colour 'Snakebike' was left licking his wounds following a dismal display.
Former world champion Michael van Gerwen was also an opening-night winner, beating Kim Huybrechts 7-3, in another high-quality individual performance.
The Dutchman opened with a 180 and victory never looked in doubt against league debutant Belgian Huybrechts.
Van Gerwen was not happy with the temperature in the packed arena but managed to maintain his composure throughout as 'The Hurricane' was all but blown away.
'Mighty Mike' landed a brilliant 145 finish in the final leg to clinch an average of 107.72, only overshadowed on the night by the fireworks of 'Jackpot' Lewis.
In the concluding match, James Wade was left to curse his wasteful finishing after Stephen Bunting battled back from the brink of defeat to claim a 6-6 draw.
With a 6-4 advantage, 'The Machine' appeared to be heading towards victory, but Bunting pulled back a leg with double four and then snatched a break to level the match.
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Wade was wayward with more darts as he tried to secure the win and could only watch on when Bunting took out double 16 to pick up a draw.
Week One results:
D Chisnall 7-1 P Wright
A Lewis 7-1 R van Barneveld
M van Gerwen 7-3 K Huybrechts
G Anderson 7-5 P Taylor
J Wade 6-6 S Bunting
