patience and ability to concentrate for long periods come naturally

Michael van Gerwen will be keen to maintain his red hot form when he returns to action on night six of the Premier League. The world No 1 currently leads the Premier League table, but Phil Taylor or Peter Wright could snatch top spot if Mighty Mike slips up in Nottingham, live on Sky Sports.Defending champion Gary Anderson, Adrian Lewis and Raymond van Barneveld will also be battling for precious points this Thursday. Michael Smith v Gary Anderson Gary Anderson was below his best in last weeks win over Robert Thornton After winning his world title, Anderson has fallen short of his usual high standards and endured a humbling defeat to amateur Barry Lynn at the UK Open.The Scotsmans schedule has been unrelenting since he recovered from the virus which forced him to miss night one and he laboured to victory against Robert Thornton last week. In contrast, Michael Smith appears to be finding his feet in the competition and picked up a morale boosting maiden win over Van Barneveld on night five.Peter Wright v Adrian Lewis Peter Wright suffered two defeats to Michael van Gerwen last week Wright was twice thwarted by Van Gerwen within a few days, as he was knocked off top spot by the Dutchman in the Premier League, then lost to his rival in the final of Sundays UK Open. Last weekends loss means Snakebite is still searching for his first major title, but he has emerged as a genuine title contender and sits in third place in the Premier League ahead of his latest meeting with Lewis.Jackpot averaged just 93 in a humbling 7-1 defeat to Taylor last week and the enigmatic Lewis could produce a spirited response. Raymond van Barneveld v James Wade James Wade will be hoping to build on his win over Dave Chisnall Wade returned to winning ways on night five as he closed out an impressive 7-4 victory over Dave Chisnall.With a record of three wins and three defeats, Wade is yet to find any consistency, but is still capable of match changing moments such as his 161 checkout against Chisnall. James Wade completed a sizzling 161 checkout on the bullseye in his match against Dave Chisnall. Van Barnevelds campaign appears to be heading in the wrong direction as he has lost three of his last four matches, including last weeks lacklustre defeat to Smith.Robert Thornton v Phil Taylor Phil Taylor has picked up four straight wins in the Premier League Van Gerwens headline stealing displays have overshadowed Taylors recent revival and he has quietly moved into second place in the standings.The Power handed out a ruthless lesson in finishing to former protege Lewis in the Premier League and then reached the semi-finals of the UK Open, losing to eventual winner Van Gerwen. Taylor was not interested in inflicting a painful whitewash defeat on Adrian Lewis after beating him 7-1 Thorntons wretched run continued last week, with the 48-year-old suffering another Premier League defeat to fellow- Scot Anderson, just days before he was ousted by Arron Monk in the early stages of the UK Open. Dave Chisnall v Michael van Gerwen Van Gerwen added his sixth title at the UK Open Van Gerwen has set new standards this year, recording the highest average in a televised match on night four, and Sky Sports pundits debated whether the Dutch ace could be considered as the best player ever.He produced another virtuoso performance at the UK Open, which saw him hit a nine-darter and four 170 checkouts on the way to retaining his title. Van Gerwen produced another inspired performance to take top spot on night five of the Premier League in Exeter Chisnall badly needs a positive result to spark his season into life as his only win came on the opening night. Watch this Thursday nights Premier League matches from 7pm on Sky Sports 1. Or watch for £6.99 without a contract, live on NOW TV. Also See: WATCH: Is MVG the best ever? PL Darts talking points Masterful MVG retains title MVG too hot for Wright Pirates Jerseys 2020 . 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Pittsburgh Pirates Shirts . -- On the field, it was business as usual for Jameis Winston and No. Lancashire 276 and 304 for 7 (Hameed 122, Smith 71) drew with Nottinghamshire 476 (Patel 67, Wessels 62, Libby 54)Scorecard Lancashires resilience secured them a draw that is enough to take them back level on points with Warwickshire and ahead by virtue of having won one match more, although now behind Middlesex following their win at Scarborough. Nonetheless, at the halfway stage of the season, it is a position with which they are understandably delighted.They were helped by a docile pitch that was of little real help to any of the bowlers, to the frustration of the legspinner Imran Tahir, to whom Nottinghamshire were looking in particular to lift them out of the doldrums. They are without a win since the opening match of the season.Nonetheless, for all that conditions were not as testing as they might have been, Lancashire still had to pass a test of patience and concentration to come through. Five down at tea and only 51 in front, they lost their sixth wicket soon afterwards as Tahir winkled out Karl Brown for his only success but Steven Croft and Jordan Clark used up another 20 overs before Nottinghamshire made another breakthrough. Lancashire had a lead of 108 and 11 overs remained when handshakes were offered.Crofts 141-ball 34 was a gutsy, captains effort, although it was the opening partnership between Tom Smith and Haseeb Hameed that was the key factor in saving the game. Nottinghamshire needed to part them early but it was almost an hour before Harry Gurney found some extra bounce to have Smith caught at first slip off the shoulder of the bat and there were no further losses before lunch.By then there had been confirmation that their young opener, Hameed, has the attributes required for such circumstances in abundance as he completed a second hundred in three matches.The 19-year-old from Bolton, who delivered an innings of similar match-saving qualities against Surrey in only his third appearance last season, continued until he had batted for almost six and a half hours for a career-best 122, his dismissal coming not until mid-afternoon, more than 24 hours after the innings began on Tuesday.Until that point he had made barely a mistake, certainly nothing that would offer much encouragement to the opposition. But then, faced with a change of bowler and possibly beginning to tire, he was drawn to play a good ball outside off stump and was caught behind.It was his second century in three matches, with an 89 in between. Only Alviro Petersen has made more Championship runs for Lancashire. Mick Newell, momentarily swapping his duties as Nottinghamshire spokesman for his England selectors cap, described him as a pllayer born to open the batting in Test cricket.ddddddddddddHe is a throwback, Newell said. An old fashioned type of cricketer who looks like he was made for Test cricket.Hes gone out to bat 200 runs behind against bowlers of the quality of Stuart Broad and Imran Tahir and played exceptionally well. I thought he was absolutely terrific. I just hope that Test cricket lasts long enough for him to play!The young right-hander admitted that taking on two such accomplished international bowlers was as tough a test as he has faced, revealing as he was asked questions that as well as batting with a maturity beyond his years he is as thoughtful and eloquent in his self-assessment, too, as someone much older.It was a real challenge today against international players but to have that challenge motivates you and gives you that hunger to score runs because they mean more if it is against better opposition, he said.You could see how good they are in the spells they bowled. Broad came back with the new ball and got two quick wickets and we have seen in the past that once he gets a couple of wickets he can go through a side.His patience and ability to concentrate for long periods come naturally, he says. It is not something Ive worked towards, it is the way I have always played, he said.Taking the new ball at lunch, when Lancashire had eradicated their first innings deficit but only just, Nottinghamshires hopes were raised when Broad dismissed Luke Procter and Alviro Petersen in the space of four balls to leave Lancashire effectively 15-3 and when Brett Hutton followed up his dismissal of Hameed by having Liam Livingstone caught at mid-on they were five down and just 35 ahead.Time was always against Nottinghamshire achieving a win, even after a stunning catch by Brendan Taylor at short leg helped Tahir remove Brown just after tea.Yet Newell, switching to his Nottinghamshire director of cricket perspective, saw encouraging signs.There have been parallels with last season in that we have reached the halfway stage looking back at games in which we havent batted well enough and not been able to fight back when we have been under the pump, he said.But I cant fault us for effort and commitment and the skill we have shown over these four days. I cant think of a dropped catch and in terms of batting and bowling we dominated the game.Now we have to maintain this standard. Thats our challenge because weve only got six games left and others have more, and were in the bottom three. We do need quite a lot more points. ' ' '