On top of the League

Sid Waddell tells you everything you need to know - and more - about the Premier League Darts season.

Sid has all the stats as he previews the new season...

It's the year 2011, so I've become Digital Sid... and boy did I need to! As usual, I took a very big and quite expensive suitcase with me to the World Championship, stuffed with files on all 72 of the players plus notes that I've carried around with me since 1977. It was stuffed to the brim and when I went down to the hotel reception to leave for the Christmas break, the case exploded sending underpants and scraps of paper all over the lobby. Eventually I got on the train home with all my things stuffed into a tatty holdall I bought for 15 quid and a suitcase mummified with gaffer tape. As a result, I decided I needed to put all my darts data onto a computer and that's what I've been doing all January. It means that when I head off to the O2 Arena for the first night off the Premier League I can simply print off two pages on each of the eight players. (I'll still take the list of all the checkouts that I've used since 1977 though. Some things never change...) Several of these players have plenty of Premier League pedigree, but there are two debutants this year in Gary Anderson and Mark Webster. I'm also fascinated to see how new World Champion Adrian Lewis continues his progress. For various reasons, those three have proved in the last few months that they will be able to compete in this company in front of 10,000 people. This is pomp rock arena darts... eat your heart out Black Eyed Peas! So to kick things off, here are some of my notes on this year's Premier League field. And be warned... I've got stats falling out of my ears.

Adrian Lewis

SID SAYS: I said on Sky Sports News an hour before the World Championship Final that Aidy would win because I had noticed a change in him ever since he beat Phil Taylor in the semi-final of the World Grand Prix. In this game you have to get rid of the agony or the ecstasy of your last shot in seconds. You can't dwell on your emotions and that has been drilled into him by his manager Keith Deller. He has learned to swallow his emotion and that set him up to win at Ally Pally. Back in 2006 he walked off stage after some comments by Peter Manley, but we won't see a repeat of that. If you rise to the bait then your opponents will put whales on the hooks instead of tiddlers! He threw a nine darter and averaged 123 in the first set of the World Final, so he will be hard to beat in this. As a former practice partner of Taylor, he picked up some of his habits, especially concentrating at the right time. PREMIER LEAGUE RECORD: In 2007 he lost six weeks in a row and finished seventh, but in 2008 he finished fourth only to be hammered 11-1 in the semis by Taylor. Last year in Bournemouth he went 6-0 up on Barney in nine-and-a-half minutes and ended up winning 8-3 with a 105 average. He then beat James Wade for the first time on TV, but missed out on the semis after being battered by Taylor 8-1 on the final night. SID THE STATTO
- He threw ten 180's against Gary Mason in the 2007 UK Open and still lost. That taught him to put up with disappointments.
- He averaged 100 in every round of the 2010 World Championship before getting knocked out by Taylor.
- In seven meetings in the Premier League he has lost to Taylor every time, so he'll have something to prove on Thursday night.

Mark Webster

SID SAYS: For my money, he is set to be mentioned in the same breath as the great Welsh darts players Alan Evans and Leighton Rees. He won the Lakeside World Championship in 2008, but looked incredibly nervous when he first came over to the PDC. He doesn't show it as much as Aidy, but he's every bit as competitive. In the last few months he has grown ever more consistent, particularly on the treble 19, and was very impressive at the World Cup and then reached the semi-final of the World Championship. I definitely think he will do himself justice in the Premier League and he won't go backwards in this format. PREMIER LEAGUE RECORD: Debut season SID THE STATTO
- At the 2010 World Championship he scored 32 treble 19's in a match against Kirk Shepherd, which is absolutely phenomenal. He won nine legs in no time at all and later said he wanted to win the match without losing a leg.
- In 20 consecutive legs of singles at the 2010 World Cup, he averaged 102. He almost single-handedly took the Welsh to the final against Holland.
- He lost the final of the International Darts League to Gary Anderson in 2007, which shows he has been a top-level player for some time.

Gary Anderson

SID SAYS: Gary Anderson is probably the most interesting character in the field. I asked him, as a Scotsman, what he did for Hogmanay, and he said he's been living like a monk. He drinks 17 cups of coffee by mid afternoon, but he has finally seems to have gotten over his phobia of missing doubles. He did that at the UK Open when he reached the final and then he reached the World Final, beating Barney 5-1 along the way. He tends to stab the dart rather than throw with a smooth curve and he sometimes tends to pull his face to the left as he releases when he's tense. Hopefully those days are behind him now he isn't so worried about his doubles. Perhaps his coffee bill will finally go down this year! PREMIER LEAGUE RECORD: Debut season SID THE STATTO
- He scored fifty-eight 180's at the 2011 World Championship, second only to Adrian Lewis's 60.
- He beat Andy Smith 4-0 with a 108 average at Alexandra Palace, the highest average in the entire tournament.

Simon Whitlock

SID SAYS: He was inspired at last year's World Championship, but this year he was somewhat disappointing. He's a great practiser and will tailor his regime to short-course darts because he can't afford to get off to a bad start in the Premier League. He knows the demands of playing in big-money tournaments each week, often over nine-hour days and he says you need to be fit. He'll be well prepared for this. He had form before joining the PDC, reaching the semi-final of the 2005 BDO World Championship and then reaching the final in 2008. That big-time background set him up for his fabulous run at Alexandra Palace last year. He has been playing with the PDC lads every week for the last 12 months, which will have done him good. I think he'll be more accustomed to the shorter format than he was last season. PREMIER LEAGUE RECORD: He was the big news in last year's Premier League and his best performance was an 8-2 win over Mervyn King, averaging 105. He recorded an 80% checkout ratio on three occasions, but did lose to Taylor twice, even though he was 4-0 up in one of those matches. SID THE STATTO
- He had twenty 100+ checkouts on his way to the final of the 2010 World Championship.
- He also scored fifteen 180's when he beat James Wade in the quarter-finals of that tournament, averaging 105.
- He then beat Raymond van Barneveld in the semis, coming back from 4-2 down with six 100+ finishes.

James Wade

SID SAYS: If James Wade had been a footballer he'd have definitely played for Newcastle United. He'll beat Brazil on Monday and then lose to Blyth Spartans on Wednesday! You never ever know what's going to happen when he steps on the oche. He's a darting genius and came onto the scene with a bang, winning three majors in 12 months (the Matchplay and the World Grand Prix in 2007 and the UK Open in 2008). So how do you explain what happened in the Grand Slam of Darts final when he lost to Scott Waites from 8-0 up or at the World Championship when he went out in round two to Mensur Suljovic? I'm not taking in any notes when I commentate on him because even he doesn't know what's going to happen. What chance have the rest of us got? PREMIER LEAGUE RECORD: In 2008 he became the first bloke to beat Taylor in 45 matches and also thrashed Lewis 8-1 before losing to Taylor in the final. But then one year later he won the Premier League title, beating Mervyn King 13-8 in the final. He is the only man to have beaten Taylor twice in this competition, but he lost 10-8 to The Power in last year's final (although he needed two nine-darters to beat him!) SID THE STATTO
- In 2006 he threw three nine darters in non-TV events.
- He was 8-0 up on Scott Waites at the 2010 Grand Slam of Darts, but lost eight of the next nine legs and 16 out of 20 to lose the match.
- In the Premier League in Nottingham in 2009 he played two matches on one night, averaging 108 as he beat Terry Jenkins 8-1 and then drawing with 7-7 with Taylor. He threw fourteen 180's in those 15 legs.

Terry Jenkins

SID SAYS: You get boring draws in some sports, but in Premier League Darts they're always exciting - and Terry Jenkins is the master of the tied game. You never know what he's capable of, but it's 60-40 certain that he'll come out fighting when his back is against the wall. He rarely averages more than 100, but still managed to reach the semi-finals of the World Championship. That's because he gets 100+ finishes when he has to, but I don't think he has the higher gear that the other have. On a humorous note, he's known as the David Dickinson of darts because he's obsessed with antiques. If he goes round your granny's house and says nice things about the furniture, he's not just being polite! PREMIER LEAGUE RECORD: He had an up-and-down season in 2007, beating Adrian Lewis 8-1 and losing 8-0 to Colin Lloyd. He made the semis and beat Barney before losing to Taylor in the final. Then in 2008, he beat three world champions - Taylor, Barney and John Part - in consecutive weeks and in 2009 he drew with Taylor twice. He had a disappointing time last year when he finished bottom, the highlights being his two wins over Lewis. SID THE STATTO
- He won five of the last seven legs to record a shock win over Raymond van Barneveld in the 2008 Premier League.
- He has never won a major, but was a finalist at the World Matchplay and the World Grand Prix in 2007, losing to Wade on both occasions.

Raymond van Barneveld

SID SAYS: Barney needs more consistency and Agony Aunt Sid has some advice for him. Forget Zen Meisters, forget changing your darts all the time, forget retail therapy (he loves shopping) and instead get yourself down to the gym. Darts is a physical game now, you often need to be on your feet for nine hours a day at the weekend, so you need to get yourself into shape. It can't hurt. Short of coming on dressed as R2-D2 he's tried everything else! It's tricky for him to commute from Holland, but I also think he should play the circuit more. He finds it easier to play in a week-long tournament than commuting to events each week, but I think he should try to attend more and also work on his fitness. PREMIER LEAGUE RECORD: His form has always been patchy, but he has reached four semi-finals. In his first season in 2006, he beat Wayne Mardle 8-4 with five 100+ checkouts and in week five he threw a nine-darter against Peter Manley. However, he lost to Roland Scholten in the semis. In 2007 he was beaten by Jenkins in the semis and he lost to Wade at the same stage in 2008 and 2009. He didn't reach the last four last year, but he did throw a nine darter in Aberdeen. SID THE STATTO
- He won the Lakeside World Championship in 1998, 1999, 2003 and 2005, but got hammered by Taylor in the £100,000 challenge at Wembley back in 1999.
- In his first year in the PDC he won the International Darts League, the UK Open and the World Championship.
- He has thrown two nine-dart finishes in the Premier League and two in the World Championship.

Phil Taylor

SID SAYS: The Power means business. How dare his one-time protégée Adrian Lewis swipe his world title from him? I think there were three factors that contributed to him losing his world crown. Firstly, I think he lost too much weight. Secondly, he was on for a grand slam in 2010 but lost in the semis of the World Grand Prix and I think that got him down. Thirdly, he lost to Lewis, Wade, Whitlock, Cullen, Beaton and Walsh in quick succession just before the World Championship and that may have affected him too. I'll be interested to see how he weighs in on Thursday. I hope he had a big Christmas dinner, a big New Year's dinner and even a big February 1 dinner! If he's at his fighting weight he'll be looking to set some more records this year. PREMIER LEAGUE RECORD: He has won five of the six editions of this tournament and has only lost five times in 100 Premier League outings. He threw two nine darters in last year's final at Wembley - and only narrowly missed out on a third! He memorably lost three times in the first four weeks of 2008, but then went mad and averaged 107 in the last 11 matches on his way to the title. SID THE STATTO
- He won the Players Championship in Doncaster last weekend, despite being outscored in 180's and 140's by Anderson.
- He won every major title in the calendar year 2010, apart from the last one, the World Grand Prix in Ireland.
- He threw a record Premier League record average of 116.01 against John Part in 2009, but his eyes will be on the world record of 118.66 that he set against Kevin Painter at Bolton last year.