Season review - 888.com Premier League Darts stats

2011 888.com Premier League Darts - Final League Table

	P	W	D	L	+/-	Pts
Phil Taylor (Q)	14	13	0	1	+57	26
R v Barneveld (Q)	14	8	2	4	+18	18
Gary Anderson (Q)	14	8	1	5	+16	17
Adrian Lewis (Q)	14	6	2	6	+7	14
James Wade	14	6	1	7	-9	13
Simon Whitlock	14	5	1	8	-6	11
Terry Jenkins	14	3	2	9	-34	8
Mark Webster	14	2	1	11	-49	5

On the eve of the finals night of the 2011 Premier League Darts season, let’s take a brief look back on the 14 nights of competition that have brought us to this point. There are some interesting quirks in the statistics along the way, not least the fact that the individual with the highest 3 dart average in any single match this season (Mark Webster) has finished rock bottom of the league. It may also provide some pointers for who might beat the seemingly unstoppable Phil ‘The Power’ Taylor at Wembley Arena on Thursday night (Live on Sky Sports).

Final Stats (from PDC.tv)

	League Points	Legs Played	Legs Won	Legs Lost	Legs won against throw	3 dart Average
Taylor	26	155	106	49	38	102.67
v Barneveld	18	172	95	77	31	95.41
Anderson	17	168	92	76	31	97.4
Lewis	14	163	85	78	28	95.62
Wade	13	167	79	88	29	93.47
Whitlock	11	168	81	87	30	96.78
Jenkins	8	166	66	100	22	92.61
Webster	5	151	51	100	16	91.75

The stats shown in the table above are a testament to the remarkable consistency that ‘The Power’ has shown in this season’s premier league, after the disappointment of the World Championships. The only player to achieve a 3-dart average of 100+ over the 14 nights of the season, he also lost 28 fewer legs than his nearest rival, and won 7 more against the throw.

Total 180s

Player	Total 180s
Anderson	68
Whitlock	56
Taylor	55
Lewis	40
Jenkins	40
Wade	39
v Barneveld	33
Webster	30

Looking at maximums, it’s interesting that Raymond van Barneveld finished second in the final league table, and second bottom in the total number of 180s thrown during the 14 nights of the season. There’s a saying in golf “Drive for show, putt for dough”, i.e. a good drive might look flashy but it’s how well you finish each hole that wins you the money. This table seemingly illustrates that darts is similar – 180s might look impressive, and get the crowd on their feet, but on their own they won't win you matches.

3 dart average – best performances

Looking at the season as a whole, the three highest 3-dart averages achieved in individual matches were:

110.19   -              Mark Webster vs Adrian Lewis in Week 4

109.36   -              Phil Taylor vs James Wade in Week 13

107.93   -              Simon Whitlock vs Raymond van Barneveld in week 9

It’s interesting to see that Mark Webster, in such terrific form in week 4 against Adrian Lewis, fell to pieces afterwards and ultimately ended with the lowest three-dart average of all the players, despite being the only player to average over 110 in any individual match.

It’s also worth highlighting that further down the list Phil Taylor occupies 6 of the top 10 places in terms of the highest 3 dart averages in individual matches, again underlining his dominance of this year’s season so far.

Checkout percentages

There are some missing stats in relation to checkouts on Planet Darts, but from the available statistics, the following are the highest checkout percentages achieved by players in individual matches this season:

80%        -              Mark Webster vs Adrian Lewis in week 4

73%        -              Adrian Lewis vs Simon Whitlock in week 5

73%        -              Adrian Lewis vs Mark Webster in week 8

73%        -              Terry Jenkins vs Mark Webster in week 12

Again, Mark Webster comes top with that awesome performance in week 4. He’s also been on the receiving end of two of the next  best checkout performances though, which depending how you look at it may highlight how well opponents played against him in some of his losing matches, or the lack of pressure that he was able to put them under.

Interestingly, Phil Taylor has just one place in the top 10 checkout percentage performances (6^th for his 57% against Adrian Lewis in week 11), while Adrian Lewis has 4. Phil Taylor occupies all of the next 5 positions though (places 11-15) showing that he has been remarkably consistent in taking his chances this season, despite others having more clinical individual matches.

Will anyone beat Phil Taylor to the title?

The stats suggest that it’s unlikely. Taylor’s 3 dart average for the whole season is within a point of the best one-off achieved by Anderson and Lewis, and within 2 points of Van Barneveld’s. His average checkout percentage (at 48%) is as high as anyone else in the league too - only Lewis matches him - and of the four finalists only Lewis has had a better night this season in terms of checkouts (73% on his best night compared with Taylor’s 57%).

In short, looking purely at the stats from the 14 weeks of the Premier League so far, if Phil Taylor has an average night tomorrow night then it will probably be good enough to beat the best that the other three players have demonstrated so far this season in the Premier League. For anyone else to win the title will require them to be at their very best, and for Phil Taylor to be slightly below par.

You can never say never in darts though, and upsets are always a possibility. Looking at the stats, despite finishing last of the four qualifiers, Adrian Lewis might have the best chance of providing that upset. He's the only guy to beat Phil Taylor in this year's premier league, as the reigning world champion he shouldn’t be intimidated by the occasion, and the stats so far show that he is likely to match Phil Taylor in terms of checkouts IF he’s able to score well enough to give himself the opportunity to take them...

	Overall 3 dart Average	Average Checkout %	Best 3 dart average	Highest checkout %
Taylor	102.67	48%	109.36	57%
v Barneveld	95.41	40%	104.54	50%
Anderson	97.4	35%	103.52	56%
Lewis	95.62	48%	103.26	73%