Lewis: will he beat Taylor?

Taylor is doing with tungsten to his opponents what Brutus and Cassius did to Julius Caesar. If The Power had been living in Ancient Rome 2,000 years ago he'd be Emperor and they'd be saying "beware the hidings of March!"

Sid Waddell
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Whyte & Mackay Premier League Darts heads to Birmingham this week with the table looking tighter than ever.

Sky Sports commentator Sid Waddell will be here every week of the season in 2008 to share his thoughts on skysports.com. This week he reflects on how Taylor has transformed the world of darts in recent weeks, but tips him to lose the "match of the year" against Lewis.

Sid on Van Barneveld v Part
Sid on Jenkins v Wade
Sid on Lewis v Taylor
Sid on Mardle v Manley

Out of this world

In the last month, the world of darts has been like finding another planet.

Some of the things that have been happening have been totally crazy and I never thought the game could ever, ever get to where it's got to now.

Last weekend in Germany for example, Colin Lloyd, Dave Askew and Phil Taylor all threw nine-darters - with Lloyd and Askew doing them in games they lost!

We started showing darts on Sky Sports in 1994 and it wasn't until 2002 that we got our first nine-dart finish. When I was at the BBC, it took us 12 years to get one. And now they're coming along like buses!

Incredibly, Taylor did a nine-darter with his practice darts on the stage before his Premier League match with James Wade last week.

One of the markers spotted it and started screaming as he came off stage. Before long there were senior officials banging on the door of the commentary box telling me what Taylor had just done.

Taylor also told me he did two nine-darters 36 hours earlier at his mate Sean's house - and he was rewarded with two cups of peppermint tea.

So he threw two in a semi-detached house in Burslem on Tuesday, another in front of 4,000 people in Brighton on Thursday and then another in Germany at the weekend. That's just out of this world.

There is no doubt that the big match of the night in Birmingham is going to be Taylor against Adrian Lewis and I wouldn't be surprised if we saw a nine-darter or two in that one.

I've never seen Adrian looking more confident and we could see one of the greatest ever matches in the history of televised darts between the sorcerer and the apprentice. It's going to be very special.

That one should start at about 9pm so tune in because I think we're going to see the best darts match of the year.

Raymond van Barneveld v John Part

What kind of a night is it when I'm giving second billing to a match between the current world champion and last year's world champion?

Barney can go back to the top if he wins, but I'm inclined to favour Part who surprised me against Manley last week. He went 5-1 up without breaking sweat and had a 97 average.

Barney was not so good in his match against Mardle. During that one I pointed out how Barney is normally as ruddy as the skin on an Edam, but now he's pale, pale as Leerdammer.

I was very proud of that line, but Dave Lanning also had a great one. During Taylor's match I said: "Sit back, get the Hob Nobs in, have a cup of tea and make sure the three ducks are safely secured to the wall" and Dave replied: "In darts terms, Sid, we are licking the lid of life."

Anyway, I'm favouring Part in this match. He got his first win of the season in Manchester against Mardle when he came back from 5-2 down and won five legs on the trot. I believe that sort of consistency will see him win this one.

I'm going to say it'll be 8-5 to Part and that will put him in contention near the top of the table.

Terry Jenkins v James Wade

This is a tight one to call and it's a match that will test Wade's temperament.

Last week, he threw five 180's and had a 102 average; that ought to be enough to beat anybody, but he lost 8-4 to Taylor.

Jenkins only had a 96 average last week and he'll play a bit better than that, but I can imagine Wade might try too hard to improve his average, which was already very good.

Therefore I say this will be a draw and that would be enough to take Wade to the top of the table if Barney and Taylor lose.

The major factor in this match will be who gets the big three-dart shutouts because I think it will be decided on finishes above 100.

Adrian Lewis v Phil Taylor

It's anorak heaven for me at the moment because the numbers that Taylor has been putting up in the last month have been absolutely frightening.

His averages in his last four Premier League matches have been 97, 107, 111 and 104 (last week's effort seemed a bid pathetic after the previous two)! In Germany at the weekend he beat Barney with a 116 average and the next day he averaged 107 to beat Wayne Jones, throwing a nine-darter in the process.

Taylor is doing with tungsten to his opponents, what Brutus and Cassius did to Julius Caesar. If The Power had been living in Ancient Rome 2,000 years ago he'd be Emperor and they'd be saying "beware the hidings of March!"

But Adrian is in scintillating form right now. He averaged 102 last week in beating Jenkins and produced some of his best ever scoring in the Premier League.

Adrian's on a surge and I have a feeling he might just shade this one because there's got to be a Taylor blip at some point.

The glitch could come against Lewis because while Taylor is not his mentor any more, they still practise together quite a lot and Adrian is the opponent he's fondest of.

If The Power's afterburners are going to switch off a little bit, then it will come against Adrian. There's bound to be some sort of reaction to the hidings of March.

I'm going to say Adrian will win 8-6 - and we'll probably get a nine-darter from one of them in the match!

Wayne Mardle v Peter Manley

This one sees two of the biggest pals in the game going head to head.

If my predictions are correct and Barney and Taylor both lose, then this is a massive opportunity for Mardle to get his third win on the trot and get right on the heels of the leaders.

Last week Mardle went 4-1 up against Barney on the back of two shutouts above 100. If he is that solid on the big three-dart finishes then he'll be too strong for Manley.

Manley had 30 scores of more than 100 last week, but he still lost to Part, which suggests he was missing his doubles badly. He's scoring well, but not finishing it off.

So I think Mardle will win because he has converted his confidence away from showmanship into solid achievement.

A year ago, he'd come on stage doing cartwheels, but last week he gave a clenched-fist, gladiator-style salute to the crowd and got on with the game. I was very impressed by that.

We are seeing the maturing of Mardle and I think he'll beat Manley 8-5.