Premier League Darts (Wk 5)

I never missed Thursday night's darts when I was back in the old country - half a dozen Guinness and bit of in-play betting... sweet. Unfortunately, over here, the old darts is taken about as seriously as a village idiot. ESPN and Fox provide an excellent football service but you've no chance of seeing coverage of the 'lesser' sports. Consequently, I have to put with some dodgy streaming in order to follow the darts on the laptop every Thursday afternoon (the Guinness is out of the fucking question at 14 bucks a tin).

The good thing for darts is the variety of nationalities in this year's competition: English, Scottish, Welsh, Dutch, and Australian. I have been trying to spread the gospel in South America but it has fallen on deaf ears. Played with a few locals a while back who insisted on standing about 10 feet from the board, hurling the dart like an RPG. The best bet is getting some expats involved - spoke about it a couple of years ago, but it came to nothing.

The big game this afternoon is Taylor v Anderson. The Scot is 4 for 4, so far, and hasn't really had a tough game. The Power lost his first match to Lewis but made easy work of the next three. I reckon Taylor will take this one 8-6 for the simple reason that Anderson has to lose one, sooner or later.

I fancy Whitlock v Lewis to throw up a few sparks. The Aussie has bounced back well after a shit start, whilst Lewis has gone in the opposite direction, beating Taylor and then losing the next three. Jackpot had a super World Championship but he isn't disciplined enough (at the moment) to consistently string results together. Hasn't been a draw thus far so I'm going for 7-7.

Wade plays Barney in what I think will be a battle of attrition. Both players have had dodgy starts, especially Wade, and neither can afford to lose (from the ministry of Stating the Bleeding Obvious). Barney to win ugly, 8-5.

Webster v Jenkins. The Welshman did well to bounce back against Lewis after being hammered by Anderson the week before. The Bull won his first outing against Barney but has completely lost his way since then. If he doesn't find a bit of form soon I think he'll end up being the league's whipping boy. Webster, 8-2.