Photo courtesy of Bryan Haraway/PDC.

ADRIAN LEWIS ended two years of disappointment in Championship League Darts by winning Group Eight of the tournament on Wednesday.

Lewis competed in five groups last year without winning one, and had missed out on a place in the final in each of the seven previous groups this time around.

However, he backed up his first placed finish in the Group Eight table by coming through the play-offs to take the last remaining spot in Thursday’s Winners Group.

Lewis lost to Terry Jenkins and Kirk Shepherd in the league phase, winning his other five matches, before hitting a 170 checkout in overcoming Shepherd 6-1 in the semi-finals.

He then capitalised on missed doubles from van Gerwen to assume a 4-2 lead in the decider.

Double 16 gave van Gerwen a third leg, but a brilliant ten-darter from Lewis put him one leg away from the win at 5-3.

He was waiting on 32 when van Gerwen took the ninth on double ten, but punished two misses from his opponent to finally seal the 6-4 win on double top.

“I’m so relieved it’s untrue,” said Lewis, who has now won £16,700 in this year’s event and £31,950 including last year’s prize money.

“After losing in three finals last year I thought it was going to happen again today and Michael kept coming back at me.

“But I managed to get it back together in the end and hopefully I can do the same in the Winners Group now tomorrow.”

Van Gerwen picked up £2,900 in a successful debut in the tournament, shown only on the internet via a series of ten bookmakers’ websites worldwide.

The 20-year-old Dutchman finished second in the league table and then defeated Barrie Bates 6-4 in the semis.

Bates enjoyed a fruitful day in the tournament, picking up £2,050 in his run to the play-offs, while Shepherd made a brilliant recovery to sneak into the last four.

The 2008 World Championship finalist lost his opening three matches, but won his final four games to edge out Tony Eccles on leg difference.

That meant Eccles narrowly missed out on the semi-finals for a second successive day, although he picked up £3,400 overall.

A 6-2 defeat for Wayne Jones in his final league game meant he also missed out on the play-offs on leg difference, but he ends the event on £6,100 from three days of competition.

Terry Jenkins suffered a collapse in his fifth day in the tournament, losing his last three matches – including a brace of whitewashes in 16 successive losing legs – to end the day second bottom, above Holland’s Roland Scholten.

Thursday sees the eight group winners return to Crondon Park GC in Essex, headed by reigning champion Phil Taylor and world number two James Wade.

Mervyn King, Mark Walsh, Wayne Mardle, Colin Osborne, Jelle Klaasen and Lewis will join them for the big-money Winners Group, with prize money of £100 per leg on offer in the league phase and £200 per leg in the play-offs.

The overall winner will pick up an additional £10,000, with the runner-up taking home £5,000 and the semi-finalists £2,500 each.

The day will be doubly crucial for Walsh and Klaasen, who could win a place in next month’s PartyPoker.com Grand Slam of Darts by reaching the final.

Group Matches
Terry Jenkins 6-5 Adrian Lewis
Michael van Gerwen 6-4 Barrie Bates
Tony Eccles 6-4 Roland Scholten
Wayne Jones 6-3 Kirk Shepherd

Barrie Bates 6-5 Terry Jenkins
Roland Scholten 1-6 Wayne Jones
Kirk Shepherd 3-6 Tony Eccles
Adrian Lewis 6-4 Michael van Gerwen

Barrie Bates 6-2 Wayne Jones
Terry Jenkins 1-6 Roland Scholten
Kirk Shepherd 3-6 Michael van Gerwen
Adrian Lewis 6-5 Tony Eccles

Wayne Jones 6-2 Terry Jenkins
Barrie Bates 6-3 Roland Scholten
Adrian Lewis 4-6 Kirk Shepherd
Michael van Gerwen 6-5 Tony Eccles

Michael van Gerwen 5-6 Wayne Jones
Tony Eccles 6-5 Terry Jenkins
Roland Scholten 5-6 Adrian Lewis
Kirk Shepherd 6-3 Barrie Bates

Tony Eccles 1-6 Barrie Bates
Adrian Lewis 6-2 Wayne Jones
Roland Scholten 6-5 Michael van Gerwen
Terry Jenkins 0-6 Kirk Shepherd

Michael van Gerwen 6-0 Terry Jenkins
Wayne Jones 2-6 Tony Eccles
Kirk Shepherd 6-4 Roland Scholten
Barrie Bates 2-6 Adrian Lewis

Semi-Final 1
Adrian Lewis 6-1 Kirk Shepherd

Semi-Final 2
Michael van Gerwen 6-4 Barrie Bates

Final
Adrian Lewis 6-4 Michael van Gerwen