TAYLOR ADMITS PLAYERS DO NOT FEAR LEWIS AFTER COMEBACK

PHIL TAYLOR admits players “aren’t frightened” of Adrian Lewis as he made his long-awaited return to darts after a 29-month absence from the sport. 

‘Jackpot’ teamed up with Steve Beaton for Team England at the Modus International Pairs but failed to qualify for the finals.  

The duo finished their group-stage campaign with four wins and four losses, landing in fourth place and just missing out as only the top three nations advanced to the next stage. 

16-times World Champ Taylor insists Lewis will need time to recoup full match fitness and get back to his best after a long lay-off. 

He said: “I’m pleased I missed not watching him on TV to be honest, so I was looking forward to watching him.  

“Obviously it hasn’t gone their way today but never mind, he will be alright. He will come back again. 

“It was always going to take time to get back into it. When I was playing with him he was very competitive playing week in and week out.  

“He was what you call match fit now he isn’t at the minute, so he has to get that fitness back up again.  

“He needs to get used to playing in longer games again and competitive games against people what can play against you as well.” 

Stoke-on-Trent thrower Taylor says Lewis should enter as many tournaments as possible to regain his confidence and scoring power. 

He added: “That’s another thing people aren’t frightened of him at the minute.  

“Adrian should enter as many competitions as he can to get his confidence up and his scoring power because Adrian is a big scorer. 

“He needs to get as much match practice as he can. It’s the competition where you need to hit that double and hit that 180 at the right time that is the difference.” 

Lewis and Taylor won four World Cup of Darts titles together for the Three Lions.  

They beat Australia in 2012 and then Belgium the following year later to become the first back-to-back winners.

Image by Taylor Lanning.