Premier League: Phil Taylor secured back-to-back wins in Birmingham

Phil Taylor remains well on course to secure a place in the Premier League play-offs after recording back-to-back wins at the NIA in Birmingham.

Taylor handed down a lesson to his fellow Stoke thrower Adrian Lewis in his first match of the night, winning 7-2, before dispatching Simon Whitlock by a 7-4 scoreline to ease into second position in the table on 17 points.

The result against the Australian was bad news for Lewis as it meant he could no longer qualify for the semi-finals at the O2 in May due to the amount of legs won by Whitlock.

Taylor, who came into the night having suffered four defeats during this season's campaign, showed signs of improvement with a 105.43 dart average and two ton-plus checkouts to cruise past the former two-time world champion.

In a must-win game for 'Jackpot', it was Taylor who breezed into a 5-0 lead before Lewis capitalised on a mistake from the 52-year-old to edge his way back into the contest.
Job done

However, the revival failed to materialise as he missed three darts at double 18 in the eighth leg and Taylor completed the job with double 16.

'The Wizard' came into his clash against Taylor also looking for a second win of the night having upset league leader Michael van Gerwen in his first match.

With the game tied at 2-2, the 16-time world champion upped his averages to move 5-3 ahead after punishing his opponent's profligacy, having seen Whitlock miss three darts at double four.

And after the pair exchanged the next two legs, Taylor picked off 80 with two darts to claim the win and put him in prime position ahead of the penultimate week of league action, in Liverpool on May 2.

Meanwhile, Robert Thornton had a good night as he sealed two victories to move up to fifth spot and give himself a realistic chance of qualifying for the last four.

The Scot defeated an out of sorts Andy Hamilton 7-4 before edging Lewis in the final match of the night 7-5, completing the job with an impressive 145 outshot.