Nicholson no asset to the Premier League

by Harry Mills

As 2011 drew to a close, Paul Nicholson's Premier League darts aspirations vanished with it.

Nicholson, known as "The Asset", yet again failed to make an impression in the Ladbrokes 2012 World Championship capping off a successful year in bad fashion.

The maturity that Nicholson had gained on the circuit this year was undermined by his scathing attack on Kim Huybrechts’ girlfriend Dana Verhaegen, following his 4-1 loss to the Belgian in the last 16 of the World Championship.

Such is the tenacity of Nicholson that he claimed that Verhaegen was "the most important thing in the match" saying that she was getting the loudest cheers.

Cheers

In fact, the biggest cheers came from the crowd when Nicholson missed dart after dart at a double.

Nicholson, usually composed in the face of adversity hit only a single 180 and had a lowly checkout rate of 21 per cent.

Nicholson had eased through the first two rounds with convincing displays against a dangerous Mensur Suljović and a lackluster Alan Tabern.

In the pre-match build up to his clash with Huybrechts there was talk from the number nine seed about his potential to win two world titles within the following eight years.

But was this ambitious, deluded or just plain arrogant?

Nicholson has added an extra dimension to darts as a sport with his 'bad boy' persona and at times he has proved he has the ability to follow this up.

Capable

His victories over Gary Anderson and Phil Taylor at the 2011 UK Open show what the Australian is capable of achieving.

There is no questioning the entertainment value of The Asset; his antics at the World Grand Prix in Dublin caused a stir when he sat down on stage during Taylor's walk on as a tribute to wrestling inspiration CM Punk.

Earlier in the year, Nicholson famously warned Taylor, "If Phil doesn't bring his A game, I'll put him to bed," while being interviewed at the 2011 World Matchplay in Blackpool.

Naturally this outraged pundits and a few professionals. Wayne Mardle and the 15-time World Champion himself wisely stated, “It’s silly because he's not really done anything yet. My dad used to say 'shut up and let your darts do the talking.'"

There’s no doubt that Taylor has done that his entire career.

Wild cards

The McCoy’s Premier League is made up of the eight most coveted darts player of Professional Darts Corporation.

Four automatic berths are gifted to the world’s top four (currently Taylor, Adrian Lewis, Anderson and James Wade).

The remainder of the places are wild cards and this is where Nicholson could get the chance to compete.

Yet Nicholson’s reputation was rightly not enough for him to earn a spot this year, with Kevin Painter and Andy Hamilton making late surges at the end of 2011 to ensure they made the cut along with Simon Whitlock and a struggling Raymond van Barneveld.

However, Nicholson’s personality will continue to see him flirt with the possibility of Premier League darts and if he keeps focused on the game rather than a crowd, surely his ambition will be fulfilled in the next three years.

The Australian’s passion for darts is second-to-none and if he thrives in 2012, he will deservedly earn his spot next year through ability rather than aggravation.