The Numbers Behind Adrian Lewis’s 7–1 Rout of Van Barneveld
A 7–1 Premier League rout built on three 11-dart legs, five maximums and a 138 checkout; it was Lewis’s televised personal best at the time.
Adrian Lewis recorded a 113.80 three-dart average in a 7–1 victory over Raymond van Barneveld on the opening night of the 2015 Premier League. Contemporary coverage described it as Lewis’s best televised average and the fourth-highest Premier League average then recorded—not the highest televised average ever. Sky Sports reported the result and its historical standing.
The direct answer: Lewis averaged 113.80 in a 7–1 win
The match was a Week One fixture in Leeds, with Van Barneveld beginning the competition as the defending Premier League champion. The lopsided score meant Lewis conceded only one leg while producing the highest televised match average attributed to him at that point.
Sky Sports published its report on 6 February 2015. That is the article’s publication timestamp, however, and should not by itself be treated as definitive proof of the individual match date.
This was the players’ Premier League meeting. It should not be confused with their separate World Championship encounter earlier in the season, which Van Barneveld had won.
Match statistics at a glance
The specialist Darts Database results page lists these figures:
| Player | Legs won | Three-dart average | Average gap |
|---|---|---|---|
| Adrian Lewis | 7 | 113.80 | +28.12 |
| Raymond van Barneveld | 1 | 85.68 | — |
The average gap of 28.12 points is calculated by subtracting Van Barneveld’s 85.68 from Lewis’s 113.80. It shows the difference between their overall scoring rates during the match; it is not a measure of finishing alone.
That distinction matters when using averages to assess a performance.
The available figures do not provide either player’s checkout percentage, number of darts attempted at doubles, exact total of darts thrown or complete leg sequence. For players who track their own matches or practice sessions, the practical lesson is to treat the average as one useful measurement rather than a complete verdict. Checkout data and leg results are separate measures and should remain separate rather than being inferred from the headline average.
How Lewis produced the 113.80 average
The documented highlights offer a partial explanation for Lewis’s scoring rate. He recorded three 11-dart legs, hit five maximums and completed a 138 checkout. Contemporary coverage also said that he closed out the victory with an 11-dart leg. Those details are recorded in the archived contemporary Darts Journalist account.
Three legs completed in 11 darts would have kept the dart count low in a substantial portion of a match that lasted only eight legs. Five scores of 180 added significant scoring weight, while the 138 finish combined a large checkout with immediate conversion.
These details help account for the exceptional average, but they are not a substitute for a visit-by-visit record. The evidence does not show every score Lewis hit, how many darts he attempted at doubles or precisely how the other five legs developed. It would therefore be unsafe to calculate a checkout percentage or reconstruct the whole match from the reported highlights.
The measured conclusion is narrower: multiple documented short legs, five maximums and a three-figure checkout are consistent with the recorded 113.80 average. They demonstrate that the performance contained repeated high-value scoring and quick leg completion without establishing every component of the display.
Where 113.80 ranked in February 2015
Contemporary reports described 113.80 as Lewis’s highest average in a televised match at that time. It was a personal televised best, not the record for the highest televised average by any player.
The distinction is especially important because the headline on the archived Darts Journalist article called it the “highest average ever on TV.” The body of that same article supplied a more limited and accurate account: it identified the figure as Lewis’s televised best, listed three higher Premier League averages by Phil Taylor and also named a higher televised performance by Taylor.
As reported in February 2015, the Premier League comparison was:
| Rank reported then | Player | Three-dart average | Competition |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Phil Taylor | 117.35 | Premier League |
| 2 | Phil Taylor | 116.10 | Premier League |
| 3 | Phil Taylor | 116.01 | Premier League |
| 4 | Adrian Lewis | 113.80 | Premier League |
The figures and ordering come from the archived report’s historical comparison. They establish where Lewis’s performance was reported to stand at the time, not where it ranks in the Premier League record book today.
That dated framing also avoids mixing different claims. “Lewis’s highest televised average,” “fourth-highest Premier League average at the time” and “highest televised average ever” are not interchangeable descriptions. The supplied reporting supports the first two but contradicts the third.
What the available records do and do not establish
The central result is well corroborated. Sky Sports’ contemporary match report, the archived Darts Journalist account and the specialist Darts Database agree that Lewis defeated Van Barneveld 7–1 with a 113.80 average.
Among those records, Sky Sports is the strongest supplied contemporary match report. Darts Database provides useful statistical corroboration, particularly Van Barneveld’s listed 85.68 average, but it is an unofficial specialist database. The supplied material does not include an archived official PDC match record, so this account does not present every statistic as officially verified by the governing body.
The additional performance details—three 11-dart legs, five maximums and a 138 checkout—come from the archived specialist report. They can be attributed to that account, but they should not be portrayed as independently confirmed by a complete official match log.
The evidence is nevertheless sufficient for the central finding. Lewis produced an exceptional scoring display in a decisive opening-night win over the defending champion. Properly framed, its historical significance is that it was reported in February 2015 as his televised personal best and the Premier League’s fourth-highest average at that point—not as the highest televised average ever recorded.