Adrian Lewis is the subject of this week's column

Adrian Lewis returns to competitive darts action: Can this be the start of an exciting new chapter for the legendary two-time world champion?

By Paul Nicholson

Darts

Thu August 28, 2025 · 3M ago

Adrian Lewis makes his eagerly-anticipated return to competitive action for the first time since the 2023 UK Open when he links up with Steve Beaton to represent England at the Modus International Pairs 2 event, which runs from Monday August 25 until Saturday August 31 and is screened live on Pluto TV throughout the week.

In this week's column, Paul Nicholson shares his thoughts on what we can expect from Jackpot and whether it could prove to be the start of a successful journey back to the top of a sport in which he won two world titles during an exhilarating career and thrilled millions of darts fans for well over a decade.

The Asset, who is a regular commentator on the Modus Super Series, also gives you a breakdown of how the tournament works and reveals the biggest threats to Lewis' chances of glory alongside the Bronzed Adonis.

What is the International Pairs and when will Adrian Lewis play?

This is the second edition of International Pairs after the inaugural edition back in May - which was won by the Netherlands duo of Danny Van Trijp and Jimmy Van Schie - the event was widely praised.

It follows a similar schedule and group stage format as a usual Modus Super Series week, and just like the current PDC's World Cup of Darts, every match between competing nations will be comprised only of pairs matches.

Wales, Scotland, Canada, South Africa, Sweden and defending champions Netherlands are in Group A from Monday to Wednesday, which means Jackpot fans will need to wait until Thursday night for their hero to return to the oche in Group B.

The winner of Group A will automatically qualify for the Final Group on Saturday evening, while those who finish second and third will go into Group B alongside England, the USA and Republic of Ireland, taking place on Thursday and Friday nights. Those who finish fourth, fifth and sixth in Group A go into Group C with Germany, Denmark and Switzerland, with their games being played on Thursday and Friday afternoons.

The top three in Group B and the top two in Group C will advance into the six-nation Final Group on Saturday night, and whoever finishes in the top four of six nations in a two group round robin format will advance to the knockout stages. All matches throughout the tournament are best of seven legs.

The action will all be screened by Pluto TV and it would be no surprise at all if Adrian's return sets new viewing record figures for the channel!

GROUPS AND PAIRINGS

Group A - Monday to Wednesday
Canada (Jeff Smith & Dawson Murschell)
South Africa (Devon Petersen & Carl Gabriel)
Sweden (Andreas Harrysson & Anton Ostlund)
Scotland (Scott Campbell & Robert Thornton)
Netherlands (Danny Van Trijp & Jimmy Van Schie)
Wales (Richie Burnett & Kurt Parry)
* Winner advances to Finals Group
Group B - Thursday night & Friday night
USA (Alex Spellman & Jason Brandon)
England (Steve Beaton & Adrian Lewis)
Republic of Ireland (Conor Heneghan & John O'Shea)
* Joined by teams who finish 2nd & 3rd in Group A
* Top three advance to Finals Group
Group C - Thursday morning & Friday morning
Germany (Rene Eidams & Paul Khrone)
Denmark (Ivan Springborg-Poulson & Andreas Toft-Jorgensen)
Switzerland (Stefan Bellmont & Bruno Stockli)
* Joined by teams who finish 4th, 5th & 6th in Group A
* Top two advance to Finals Group

Are Adrian Lewis and Steve Beaton the favourites?

Everyone loved the last International Pairs and it was a raving success but with all due respect to the other teams this time around, including the defending champions, this edition is all about Adrian because the darting world has been waiting for his competitive return for quite some time.

However, while I'd rank the England pairing among the top four most likely winners I think it's important that fans don't get carried away with expectations about Adrian's chances of reaching Finals Night and potentially lifting the trophy.

He's done a lot of exhibitions recently, and he's won some of them against some very good players including the likes of Simon Whitlock and Raymond van Barneveld, but this will be a genuine competitive environment with a lot more pressure.

He's not been sticking in vast 100+ averages that we would associate with Adrian during his peak years between 2010 and 2015 but the fact remains he's still a very, very good dart player.

As for Steve, he's been playing pretty well this year and has made numerous finals in this building in Portsmouth including at the Legends week which he lost to Richie Howson.

The Netherlands duo are not only defending champions but they have also won individual weekly titles in Modus recently, with Jimmy even reaching the Grand Final of Super Series XI before losing to Jeff Smith.

Jimmy and Danny have great chemistry together and are also using this to prepare for the WDF World Cup in South Korea, so I really do think they are fair favourites to retain their title.

Aside from Lewis and Beaton, there are several other familiar individuals in this tournament such as Robert Thornton, Ritchie Burnett and John O'Shea while Andreas Harrysson has won everything the Super Series has to offer except this International Pairs event.

The Swedes will therefore be dangerous but perhaps the second favourites behind the Netherlands should be the United States because Alex Spellman and Jason Brandon are in great form right now.

Alex won a big event in Florida recently and Jason, of course, beat Stephen Bunting at the US Darts Masters back in June as well as impressing away from the TV cameras.

Canada will also be in the mix due to the form of Smith, who won the Super Series XI event for £25,000, but we don't know what to expect from Dawson Murschell, who hasn't played competitively in front of the cameras for quite a long time.

Will this be the start of an exciting chapter in Adrian's career?

I really like the fact that Adrian is dipping his toe in the water in a pairs environment, because I think he's still quite unsure as to what he wants to do in the future.

The group stage format means he'll get plenty of match time without any worries of going home after one defeat and in Steve Beaton he has an excellent partner whom he trusts and can help him get back into the swing of things.

It's the perfect way for him to get the feel of competitive darts again and there's no doubt Steve was carefully selected to make Adrian feel a lot more comfortable than if it had been someone completely random or unknown to him.

As for Adrian's future in darts, it's just a question of whether the flame still burns from within and if he still has the fire to make him play at that higher level.

We know he's got talent, we know there are no physical ailments that are going to stop him from competing. It's all about how much he wants it.

Essentially, he's an exhibitionist right now and there's nothing wrong with that.

I actually applaud the fact that he's been able to look at himself in the mirror and say PDC darts isn't something he needs right now and there are more important things in life to deal with.

He's been taking care of his family and wife in particular so we should all praise Adie for that.

He's probably got some level of peace, knowing that if it doesn't go to plan and never returns to the PDC, he can just keep being a great exhibitionist for the fans.

And we have to be prepared for that. He might get to the end of the week and realise he just didn't enjoy the experience or the anxiety.

He might decide that he'd rather just do exhibitions, meet people and tell stories.

Not all sports stars have to stick around as long as Tom Brady, Novak Djokovic, Ronnie O'Sullivan and Phil Taylor, pushing their bodies and minds to the absolute limit before they can't do it anymore.

Hardly anyone can stay at such an incredible level of performance for their entire career.

Adrian shouldn't feel strong-armed into playing darts just because the fans want him to come back and nobody should put pressure on him to be the world champion-style Adrian Lewis again because that was 13 years ago now.

We should just be really happy about the fact that we're going to get to watch him play. If he hits a 26 or a 180, I really don't care. I just want to see a smiling, happy, healthy Adrian Lewis play darts, because that is exciting to watch.

Can you sum up how good was Adrian Lewis at his peak?

Adrian was a moment creator. That's what I always used to say about him.

Whenever Adrian was in the building, something would happen. Whether he was playing Phil Taylor, Van Barneveld, Gary Anderson, something exciting was always happening.

I used to love playing Adrian because it was never boring. Some players, you come up against them and think, "OK, I'm gonna have to get through this." When it was a game with Adrian, you literally couldn't wait to get out of bed.

He brought the best out of so many players which is why he was involved in so many classic matches and is probably one reason why he didn't win as many majors as he should have.

The other reason he was only able to add a UK Open and European Championship to his two world titles is the incredible array of talent he was competing against during his peak era from 2008 to around 2018.

There was Taylor, MVG, Anderson, van Barneveld, Wright and also James Wade all vying for trophies - it was an achievement if anyone could get their hands on one.

It was almost like in tennis when Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal and Djokovic were keeping greats like Andy Murray, Juan Martin Del Potro and Stan Wawrinka from winning a huge haul of trophies that they would have managed in any other era.

Is it possible that one day he gets back to his best?

At this moment in time it might seem like one of those highly unrealistic sporting dreams for a peak Adrian Lewis to be battling it out in an electrifying 180-fest against Luke Littler in a World Championship final.

But if he really wants to be a darting superstar challenging for titles, he can.

Look at Peter Wright in 2014. Despite only being in his early 40s at the time, he was so, so close to walking away from the game.

Instead, he knuckled down and went on to become one of the best players of all time and now has a much better CV than Adrian. If you'd have said in 2014 that at the end of their careers, Peter Wright would be regarded as a better player than Adrian Lewis, people would have questioned if you were feeling alright!

In darts there's always the possibility of a second or third wind in a career. Your best darts can always be ahread of you and there's many examples of players who produce their best in their 40s because a lot of life stresses are behind them.

Maybe a bit of financial security's been found or their kids have grown up, flown the nest and given you a little bit of freedom. Look at the standard Gary Anderson is producing in his 50s!

Adrian's previous career management wasn't good and he found himself working too much. He was a shadow of himself at times. That’s only my opinion.

Now he's got more information about how to manage his schedule better with a manager who is probably the best in the business so from this perspective, there's no reason why he can't come back stronger.

But it's all his choice.

You can have all the natural talent in the world but when that fire you feel in your stomach goes out, you stop because you can't manufacture it.

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