Mardle value to open league account

Wayne Mardle can reward an interest at best odds of 11-4 and post his first victory of the Whyte & Mackay Premier League by beating Adrian Lewis at the Ricoh Arena on Thursday. The fourth night of league action is live on Sky.

Mardle, who famously claimed the scalp of Phil Taylor in the quarter-finals of the Ladbrokes.com PDC World Championship in December, has not made the start that he would have desired after his wild-card recall to the league, yet nor has he been far off the mark.

An 8-4 defeat to Raymond van Barneveld in the first round has been followed with a 7-7 stalemate with Peter Manley and, last week, an 8-6 defeat to world champion John Part.

Last week’s loss will probably have hurt the most, given that Mardle led 3-0 and 5-2, but the effervescent 34-year-old is not the sort of character to let his head drop.

Assured of the support of the majority of a 3,000-plus capacity sell-out, he looks overpriced at the odds to cause an upset.

Lewis is a general 4-6 chance to regain the winning thread after following an 8-4 reverse to practice partner Taylor with a 7-7 stalemate with James Wade last week. He survived a spirited fightback from Terry Jenkins to win 8-4 in week one.

The match between Mardle and Lewis is the second of the evening, following that between Part and Wade. Peter Manley then plays Taylor, with the match between Jenkins and van Barneveld bringing the curtain down.