The second round of the World Matchplay begins in Blackpool on Tuesday night so here's our match-by-match preview and best bets.
Defending champion Peter Wright is in action alongside other previous winners Dimitri Van Den Bergh, Michael Van Gerwen and James Wade in what looks to be a high quality card.
Here, we look at all four matches with seasonal statistics, predictions, best bests and an acca…
Darts betting tips: World Matchplay day four
1pt Wade and Aspinall both to have 2+ 100+ Checkouts at 3/1 (Sky Bet)
1pt Wright to win, score over 5.5 180’s and checkout over 121.5 at 7/2 (Sky Bet)
2pts Joe Cullen to win at 11/8 (General)
SL Acca: Van den Bergh (-2.5), Wright (-2.5), Aspinall to win and Cullen to hit most 180s with Sky Bet
World Matchplay: Tuesday July 19
- Venue: Winter Gardens, Blackpool
- TV Coverage: Sky Sports (1900 BST)
- Format: Second round, best of 21 legs. Each game must be won by two clear legs, with up to a maximum of five additional legs being played before the sixth additional leg is sudden-death
Rowby-John Rodriguez (9/4) vs Dimitri Van Den Bergh (1/3)
- Overall H2H: 4-6 (TV: 0-0)
2022: 0-0 (TV: 0-0) - Seasonal Average
Rodriguez: 92.81
Van den Bergh: 96.22 - 180s per leg in 2022
Rodriguez: 0.26
Van den Bergh: 0.32 - Checkout % in 2022 (Stage events only)
Rodriguez: 33.83%
Van den Bergh: 40.94% - 100+ checkouts per leg won
Rodriguez: 10.12%
Van den Bergh: 10.56% - Match Treble % in all comps (Win, most 180s, highest checkout)
Rodriguez: 26.51%
Van den Bergh: 29.07%
The opening game of the night and Rowby-John Rodriguez is back in action after causing probably the biggest shock of the opening round, when he defeated number eight seed Jonny Clayton 10-7.
It was a good performance from the Austrian who averaged 99.00, hit three 180’s and had a doubles percentage of 38.5%. Clayton didn’t play too badly but Rodriguez opened up a mid-game lead and it proved decisive as he managed to see the out the game professionally in the end.
He’s been playing relatively well all year with an updated seasonal average of 92.94 for 2022 after his opening game here and is a decent 180 hitter at 0.26 per leg. He’s also been in fine fettle of late. A recent finalist on the most recent Euro Tour event, losing a last leg shoot out to Luke Humphries in a terrific encounter. During the month of July he’s won seventeen of the twenty three matches he’s played. Once again he’ll pose a few problems to his seeded opponent.
That opponent is Dimitri Van Den Bergh. Runner-up last year and winner the year before he sets the standard in the top half after the first round. He registered the highest average of these eight players at 100.03 when he walloped Callan Rydz 10-2. He notched up five maximums but it was his double success that was remarkable, hitting ten of his fourteen attempts.
A dual winner on the World Series recently, he comes into this game on a run of eleven successive victories in all competitions in front of the TV cameras. He boasts superior seasonal statistics to that of Rowby-John with an average of 96.27 and 180 per leg ratio of 0.32.
Dancing Dimitri also boasts the slightly better head to head record at 6-4 albeit ‘Little John’ won their last two encounters, which were played in 2021. This will be the first meeting between the pair on TV and over a longer format. That with the fact that Dimitri brings more experience to the oche is enough to see him advance here.
Predicted Scoreline: Rodriguez 8-11 Van Den Bergh
James Wade (6/5) v Nathan Aspinall (8/13)
- Overall H2H: 7-1-10 (TV: 3-1-2)
2022: 0-1 (TV: 0-0) - Seasonal Average
Wade: 93.69
Aspinall: 95.68 - 180s per leg in 2022
Wade: 0.16
Aspinall: 0.27 - Checkout % in 2022 (Stage events only)
Wade: 44.19%
Aspinall: 44.08% - 100+ checkouts per leg won
Wade: 14.59%
Aspinall: 14.86% - Match Treble % in all comps (Win, most 180s, highest checkout)
Wade: 15.24%
Aspinall: 24.36%
James Wade took care of debutant Martin Lukeman in fairly straightforward fashion 10-4 in his first game but it was a game devoid of any real quality as both men averaged in the mid-80’s and struggled on their doubles. In fact, you felt Lukeman just couldn’t get a grip of the match after ‘The Machine’ raced into an early 3-0 lead and several bounce outs didn’t aide his cause either.
Wade has never been a big 180 hitter and notched up two the other night but in his previous nine matches he didn’t register any on six occasions and a solitary one in the other three times. His seasonal stats show this too at just 0.16 per leg, while a seasonal average of 93.55 is below that of the others at the top of the world rankings.
Having said that, Wade doesn’t get bothered too much by that, he seems to play to the level he needs to, to win and you’d have to imagine his performance will be better this evening.
Aspinall on the other hand was terrific against the widely fancied Luke Humphries on Sunday evening. A draw none of the players would have wanted but it was ruthless from ‘The Asp’ who took his chances and never let ‘Cool Hand Luke’ get a foothold in the match, at one stage he led 7-1.
In the end he ran out a 10-5 winner, averaging 96.57 and hitting six 180’s. These figures aren’t too far off his seasonal data. He’s averaging 95.70 for 2022 and has a 180 per leg ratio of 0.27 per leg. What’s probably most impressive is the way he’s bounced back from an injury that curtailed his World Championship hopes in December and forced him to delay his return to action until the end of February. As a result he’s got a win percentage this year of 72% and you’d have to say he was probably right when he seemed irked about the number of people dismissing his chances. He could actually be a real contender for the title here this week.
An interesting angle for this match is the 100+ checkout market. Both players regularly register the higher checkouts in matches than their opponents. Wade has done so fifteen times in his last twenty matches and Aspinall sixteen times in his last twenty-two. Aspinall notched up two 100+ checkouts in his opening round, as did Wade despite not playing great. It seems possible that both players could repeat that here.
Predicted Scoreline: Wade 9-11 Aspinall
Peter Wright (4/11) v Krzysztof Ratajski (2/1)
- Overall H2H: 10-1 (TV: 1-0)
2022: 1-0 (TV: 0-0) - Seasonal Average
Wright: 97.05
Ratajski: 95.21 - 180s per leg in 2022
Wright: 0.30
Ratajski: 95.21 - Checkout % in 2022 (Stage events only)
Wright: 39.36%
Ratajski: 39.47% - 100+ checkouts per leg won
Wright: 15.96%
Ratajski: 14.02% - Match Treble % in all comps (Win, most 180s, highest checkout)
Wright: 25.23%
Ratajski: 22.37%
Defending champion Peter Wright easily came through his opening fixture against Madars Razma as a scoreline of 10-4 suggests. He raced into an early 5-0 lead and never looked like relinquishing that advantage despite a spirited effort from his Latvian opponent.
His performance in his opener was decent enough too. A 97.42 average, seven 180’s and 37.0% on his doubles. We all know he has the gears to increase this massively however and he might need to from hereon. His recent performance suggests he will too. He’s won eleven of the fifteen matches played in July and has registered eight 100+ averages in these game.
A lot of this has been built on combination finishing. Of his last 86 winning legs, 25 of the have been by virtue of a 100+ outshot and he’s registered at least one three figures outshot in fourteen of his last fifteen matches. Over the course of which his average high checkout has been 126. This could be a key feature in this match.
His opponent Krzysztof Ratajski played to a similar level as Wright in his opener too. A 98.43 average and 45.5% on his doubles as he defeated Stephen Bunting 10-6 in the opening game of the tournament.
He only managed to hit one maximum in that match but he’s never been the biggest of 180 hitters. His season ratio in that respect is 0.21 per leg, compared to 0.31 of Wright.
Over the course of the season he’s averaging 95.28, almost two points behind that of ‘Snakebite’ at 97.06 but he seems to have found some form of late as nine wins in fourteen matches in July suggests.
There is a massive lean in the Head to Heads for Peter Wright, who leads 10-1. That looks to be decisive and I can see the defending champ setting up a mouth-watering Quarter Final against Dimitri Van Den Bergh in a repeat of last years final.
Predicted Scoreline: Wright 11-7 Ratajski
Michael van Gerwen (8/15) v Joe Cullen (11/8)
- Overall H2H: 21-7 (TV: 8-2)
2022: 4-2 (TV: 4-2) - Seasonal Average
MVG: 98.48
Cullen: 94.78 - 180s per leg in 2022
MVG: 0.26
Cullen: 0.30 - Checkout % in 2022 (Stage events only)
MVG: 38.29%
Cullen: 37.84% - 100+ checkouts per leg won
MVG: 13.46%
Cullen: 12.86% - Match Treble % in all comps (Win, most 180s, highest checkout)
MVG: 29.36%
Cullen: 27.88%
Both these players came through against high class opponents in the opening round of matches that looked high on quality beforehand but their method of victories could’ve hardly been more different.
Van Gerwen produced an average of 89.99 and hit just two 180’s as he got the better of Adrian Lewis 10-7 on Sunday Night. He was extremely fortunate to advance against ‘Jackpot’ who just didn’t take his opportunities and is probably sat at home rueing those misses.
This comes on the back of only his second appearance since having carpel tunnel surgery after his Premier League victory against tonight’s opponent in the final.
The one pleasing aspect of that opening round match for MVG would have been his finishing. He hit 43.5% of his doubles and is arguably the reason he’s here and Lewis isn’t. It’s hard to read anything into any seasonal data or recent form for Van Gerwen as we’re still not sure what level he’s actually playing at. He boasts the highest seasonal average of all players but it’s now twelve matches since he averaged 100+ in a match and if the other night is anything to go by you can’t see one here either.
He was outscored by Lewis in his first game and you’d have to imagine it’s likely to be a similar scenario here unless he significantly raises his game against ‘The Rockstar’, He brushed aside Damon Heta 10-2 in the first round after starting the underdog with the bookies despite being the seeded player.
Heta didn’t play to the level we know he can but Cullen was ruthless. Heta didn’t settle early on then Cullen didn’t allow him to later. Joe averaged 95.72, notched up four maximums and hit 47.6% of his doubles in a competent and professional display.
Cullen is the bigger 180 hitter of the two and you’d have to suspect he’ll outscore MVG in that respect here. If he can finish like he did in his opener and MVG doesn’t improve drastically you can only see one outcome here and that’s Cullen gaining some revenge his Premier League final defeat in which he had a match dart to claim the title.
Predicted Scoreline: Van Gerwen 6-11 Cullen
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