He might well be the two-time world champion, but that didn’t matter a jot to Simon Whitlock who put the Leyland Paints name up in lights with a ‘wizardry’ performance to beat Adrian Lewis.
The Australian wrote more headlines last night than Dr Karl Kennedy wrote prescriptions for his patients in Neighbours while beating ‘Jackpot’ 8-4.
Simon hit eight 180s and was in scintillating form live in front of the Sky Sports cameras, in the final Premier League game of the evening.
Whitlock had dropped out of the top four after suffering defeat last week, thanks to a record breaking average from Phil Taylor.
He said: “To get a win tonight is fantastic for me. The crowd were behind me, which was great and I was pleased to win that. This is the greatest Premier League ever. I played well against Phil Taylor last week but you can’t beat him when he’s in that form so it was nice to get back to winning ways tonight. I’m pleased to be back in the playoff places because I
hate being in that bottom four.”
Whitlock responded to early pressure from the world champion by taking out a brilliant 118 finish to hold his throw. ‘The Wizard’ hit his first maximum in the second leg but was unable to break his opponent. Whitlock hit double top to go back in front but back to back 180’s in the fourth leg were not enough to prevent Lewis holding again. The Australian held his throw once more before grabbing the first break of throw in the match to take a 4-2 lead.
‘Jackpot’ broke back immediately despite Whitlock hitting his fourth maximum, but ‘The Wizard’ restored his advantage when he took out 68 to win another leg against the throw.
The world number five hit his fifth maximum in the ninth leg before hitting double top to open up a 6-3 lead. Another 180 followed for ‘The Wizard’ as he broke Lewis’ throw again to ensure he would take at least a point from the match.
Whitlock hit his seventh maximum in the next leg but Lewis responded in kind, hitting a seventh of his own on his way to grabbing a break of throw. ‘The Wizard’ went back in front on the maximum count before hitting double sixteen to seal the win and move up to fourth in the table.
Whitlock heads to Glasgow next week, where he faces Scotsman Gary Anderson.