The 2022 Cazoo Grand Slam of Darts gets under way on Saturday so check out Chris Hammer's match-by-match predictions, best bets and a suggested acca.
The group stage begins across two sessions on Saturday, with defending champion Gerwyn Price in action during the afternoon before Peter Wright takes on Fallon Sherrock in the evening.
Here's our match-by-match guide to all of the action...
Darts betting tips: Grand Slam of Darts day one
1pt Joe Cullen to beat Ritchie Edhouse and hit most 180s at 5/4 (Sky Bet)
1pt Ryan Searle to beat Josh Rock at 11/8 (Betfair)
1pt Heta to beat Wattimena and hit most 180s at evens (Sky Bet)
1pt Wright v Sherrock to have over 6.5 legs, a checkout over 88.5 and more than 2.5 180s at 13/8 (Sky Bet)
1pt Price to win, hit most 180s and highest checkout v Evetts at 11/8 (Ladbrokes, Sky Bet)
SL Acca: Cullen, Chisnall, Heta, Aspinall & Humphries all to win at 7/2 with Sky Bet
Grand Slam of Darts: Saturday November 12
- Afternoon Session (1300 GMT)
- TV Coverage: Sky Sports
- Format: Best of nine legs sets
- In the below graphics and stats (courtesy of @CarlyFletch) and his @DartsTracker), the averages and 180 per leg data is for all PDC events in 2022, while checkout percentage is for stage events only. In terms of Lisa Ashton, the data is only for Women’s Series events, while and Fallon Sherrock also has her World Series appearances included. Leonard Gates is the CDC Tour and Perez is the Asian Championship. Checkout percentage data is not available for Ashton, Gates or Perez due to their lack of stage tournaments.
Evening Session (1900 GMT)
- TV Coverage: Sky Sports
- Format: Best of nine legs sets
Ross Smith (2/5) v Luke Woodhouse (7/4) (G)
- Head to Head (TV): 5-2 (0-0)
- 2022 Head to Head (TV): 0-0 (0-0)
- Three-Dart Average (2022): 94.03 - 91.41
- 180s per leg (2022): 0.33 – 0.22
- Checkout % (Stage Events 2022): 38.84% - 33.56%
- 100+ checkout per leg won (2022): 11.04% - 10.35%
- Match Treble % (Win, most 180s & high checkout): 26.73% - 15.38%
Ross Smith is still on cloud nine after winning the recent European Championship against all the odds while Luke Woodhouse is only here by virtue of scraping through the Grand Slam qualifying event.
Ross Smith dominates in all the key stats between the pair this season and backing Smith to win and hit most 180s is a very reasonable option.
Verdict: 5-3
Ryan Searle (6/5) v Josh Rock (8/13) (H)
- Head to Head (TV): 2-0 (0-0)
- 2022 Head to Head (TV): 2-0 (0-0)
- Three-Dart Average (2022): 95.86 - 97.74
- 180s per leg (2022): 0.24 – 0.3
- Checkout % (Stage Events 2022): 39.02% - 39.81%
- 100+ checkout per leg won (2022): 13.32% - 12.38%
- Match Treble % (Win, most 180s & high checkout): 23.47% - 26.4%
Josh Rock is one of the names on everyone's lips right now although readers of Paul Nicholson's Sporting Life column will have picked up on him a lot earlier in the year.
This time in 2021, hardly anyone had heard of him and although he's only played in a couple of televised tournaments, he boasts one of the highest averages on the PDC Tour this season.
He backed up the hype somewhat by beating Nathan Aspinall at the recent European Championship as well as winning his maiden Pro Tour title but let's not write off Ryan Searle!
Heavy Metal is a far more experienced operator on the biggest of stages while his average of almost 96 this season is also highly impressive. He might feel rather disrespected to be the underdog here and it wouldn't surprise me one bit to see him make a winning start.
Verdict: 5-3
Damon Heta (1/3) v Jermaine Wattimena (9/4) (F)
- Head to Head (TV): 2-0 (1-0)
- 2022 Head to Head (TV): 0-0 (0-0)
- Three-Dart Average (2022): 97.69 - 92.43
- 180s per leg (2022): 0.31 – 0.17
- Checkout % (Stage Events 2022): 38.22% - 34.72%
- 100+ checkout per leg won (2022): 12.81% - 12.9%
- Match Treble % (Win, most 180s & high checkout): 34.59% - 16.19%
Damon Heta should be vying to win this group with Jonny Clayton and given the standard of darts he's produced this season - but is about time we saw more of his high averages and relentless 180 hitting on the TV stage.
The inconsistent Jermaine Wattimena can be explosive on his day and he averaged close to 100 across his four qualifying matches on Sunday - but generally this season he's been cooler than hot.
All the stats and performance levels point to a comfortable win for the Heat.
Verdict: 5-2
Nathan Aspinall (2/5) v Alan Soutar (7/4) (E)
- Head to Head (TV): 0-1 (0-0)
- 2022 Head to Head (TV): 0-0 (0-0)
- Three-Dart Average (2022): 94.99 - 91.64
- 180s per leg (2022): 0.26 – 0.21
- Checkout % (Stage Events 2022): 42.04% - 42.86%
- 100+ checkout per leg won (2022): 13.84% - 10.46%
- Match Treble % (Win, most 180s & high checkout): 22.69% - 18.37%
Since telling everyone off at the World Matchplay for forgetting about him, Nathan Aspinall has gone from strength to strength and will be one of the most popular picks for a long run this week.
He won a Players Championship title back in August and then produced a string of stunning displays to reach the World Grand Prix final, where he gave MVG an almighty scare.
Alan Soutar has enjoyed a steady season but exceeded his stats during Sunday's qualification event where he managed a couple of 100+ averages but I'd still expect the Asp to make a winning start.
Verdict: 5-2
Luke Humphries (1/3) v Scott Williams (9/4) (H)
- Head to Head (TV): 0-0 (0-0)
- 2022 Head to Head (TV): 0-0 (0-0)
- Three-Dart Average (2022): 97.51 - 92.83
- 180s per leg (2022): 0.33 – 0.3
- Checkout % (Stage Events 2022): 40.75% - 38.1%
- 100+ checkout per leg won (2022): 12.61% - 11.78%
- Match Treble % (Win, most 180s & high checkout): 31.51% - 24.29%
Luke Humphries is one of my tips to top his group so I'll clearly have to side with him to make a winning start against Scott Williams, who qualified for his Grand Slam debut by topping this year's Challenge Tour Order of Merit.
Even without a PDC Tour Card he managed to win a maiden Players Championship title this season which underlines his threat, while his prolific 180 hitting could challenge Humphries on that metric.
Some may put this down as upset potential, but I'll keep faith with Humphries who has enjoyed such a great season.
Verdict: 5-3
Peter Wright (1/20) v Fallon Sherrock (8/1) (E)
- Head to Head (TV): 3-0 (3-0)
- 2022 Head to Head (TV): 1-0 (1-0)
- Three-Dart Average (2022): 97.54 - 80.85
- 180s per leg (2022): 0.31 – 0.18
- Checkout % (Stage Events 2022): 39.43% - 30.57%
- 100+ checkout per leg won (2022): 14.7% - 7.36%
- Match Treble % (Win, most 180s & high checkout): 23.6% - 8.89%
It would be very easy - as the odds suggest - to expect a 5-0 or 5-1 scoreline in the headline match of the night purely because of Fallon Sherrock's struggles this year.
She wasn't able to produce those glass-ceiling smashing displays during the World Series and she was then usurped by Beau Greaves at the Women's Series, costing her a place at the World Championship.
But she's got positive memories of facing Peter Wright on this stage, twice nearly beating him last year including in a thrilling quarter-final that reached a 29th leg, while she also ran him close at the World Series of Darts Finals, bowing out 6-4.
Despite the flak she's taken, Sherrock is still well capable of taking a few legs at the very least and as we know, Wright has made hard work of many matches this season.
Verdict: 5-3
Michael van Gerwen (1/5) v Nathan Rafferty (10/3) (G)
- Head to Head (TV): 0-0 (0-0)
- 2022 Head to Head (TV): 0-0 (0-0)
- Three-Dart Average (2022): 98.14 - 91.48
- 180s per leg (2022): 0.27 – 0.16
- Checkout % (Stage Events 2022): 38.1% - 36.36%
- 100+ checkout per leg won (2022): 13.56% - 9.15%
- Match Treble % (Win, most 180s & high checkout): 28.15% - 18.68%
Tournament favourite Michael van Gerwen will be heavily expected to make a comfortable winning start against Nathan Rafferty, who qualified for being last year's World Youth Championship runner-up.
The 22-year-old could be a real star for Northern Ireland alongside fellow youngster Josh Rock in the coming years but at the moment he lacks big stage experience to give MVG much of a fright tonight.
Verdict: 5-1
Jonny Clayton (1/6) v Leonard Gates (7/2) (F)
- Head to Head (TV): 0-0 (0-0)
- 2022 Head to Head (TV): 0-0 (0-0)
- Three-Dart Average (2022): 96.97 - 89.57
- 180s per leg (2022): 0.24 – 0.17
- Checkout % (Stage Events 2022): 41.36% - Unavailable
- 100+ checkout per leg won (2022): 14.2% - 4.81%
- Match Treble % (Win, most 180s & high checkout): 13.58% - Unavailable
Jonny Clayton will be heavily expected to win this against Leonard Gates but the North American Championship winner did pick up victories over Fallon Sherrock and Devon Peterson in World Series events this year before giving James Wade a run for his money.
In all those games he averaged in the mid to high 80s so although Clayton can't afford to be complacent, he won't have to be at his very best to ease to victory.
Verdict: 5-2
Afternoon session
Simon Whitlock (4/5) v Mensur Suljovic (10/11) (Group B)
- Head to Head (TV): 6-11 (2-3)
- 2022 Head to Head (TV): 0-0 (0-0)
- Three-Dart Average (2022): 92.42 - 92.87
- 180s per leg (2022): 0.33 – 0.14
- Checkout % (Stage Events 2022): 36.36% - 38.68%
- 100+ checkout per leg won (2022): 8.22% - 9.15%
- Match Treble % (Win, most 180s & high checkout): 27.36% - 8.89%
The opening match of this year's Grand Slam of Darts is arguably the most pivotal of Group B, where Simon Whitlock and Mensur Suljovic are expected to battle it out for second place behind Danny Noppert.
Neither have enjoyed particularly impressive seasons from an individual perspective but while Whitlock is here by virtue of his World Cup of Darts heroics with Australia, Suljovic only needed to beat Kevin Burness, Brian Raman and Steve Lennon during the last-ditch Grand Slam qualifying event on Sunday. Make of that what you will.
I've tentatively predicted Suljovic will qualify in my group-by-group preview so I ought to go with him in this clash but as you'll see from the stats, Whitlock should hit the most 180s.
Verdict: 3-5
Dirk van Duijvenbode (1/2) v Martin Schindler (6/4) (D)
- Head to Head (TV): 2-2 (1-0)
- 2022 Head to Head (TV): 1-0 (1-0)
- Three-Dart Average (2022): 97.11 - 95.01
- 180s per leg (2022): 0.38 – 0.33
- Checkout % (Stage Events 2022): 39.54% - 38.92%
- 100+ checkout per leg won (2022): 11.2% - 10.3%
- Match Treble % (Win, most 180s & high checkout): 36.43% - 35.82%
I made the case for Martin Schindler qualifying from the group stages at even money in my outright preview so obviously he'll need to beat either Dirk van Duijvenbode or Rob Cross to do so.
The diminutive German is still yet to showcase his talents on the televised stage but as you'll see from the seasonal stats above, he certainly has the scoring power to give 180 machine Dirk van Duijvenbode more than a game.
I'll go for a minor upset but if the maximum per leg data is anything to go by, this match will get the afternoon crowd warmed up nicely.
Verdict: 3-5
Joe Cullen (4/11) v Ritchie Edhouse (2/1) (C)
- Head to Head (TV): 4-2 (0-0)
- 2022 Head to Head (TV): 2-0 (0-0)
- Three-Dart Average (2022): 94.33 - 91.47
- 180s per leg (2022): 0.29 – 0.23
- Checkout % (Stage Events 2022): 38.2% - 32.56%
- 100+ checkout per leg won (2022): 13.79% - 13.29%
- Match Treble % (Win, most 180s & high checkout): 27.52% - 24.21%
Joe Cullen is expected to breeze through this group alongside Michael Smith so should make light work of Ritchie Edhouse.
The major-winning Rockstar has a significantly higher 180 per leg ratio than his opponent this season but I'd stop short of backing him in the Match Treble market because Edhouse has won 13.29% of his legs with 100+ checkouts (that's pretty high in comparison to most in the field) and while I don't expect him to win many, most of his chances may come from mid to long range.
Verdict: 5-2
Dave Chisnall (1/3) v Raymond van Barneveld (9/4) (A)
- Head to Head (TV): 12-12, 1 draw (8-8, 1 draw)
- 2022 Head to Head (TV): 0-0 (0-0)
- Three-Dart Average (2022): 96.43 - 93.3
- 180s per leg (2022): 0.35 – 0.19
- Checkout % (Stage Events 2022): 39.81% - 43.28%
- 100+ checkout per leg won (2022): 10.87% - 10.83%
- Match Treble % (Win, most 180s & high checkout): 27.88% - 12.77%
Dave Chisnall is one of my outright picks for the title while I also think he's good value to win Group A ahead of Gerwyn Price - so obviously I'm siding with him to beat Raymond van Barneveld.
Chizzy qualified at the start of the year by virtue of being the Masters runner-up but recently he's produced some formidable darts to win titles on the European Tour and Pro Tour.
He's won 13 of his 19 matches since that last title, averaging over 100 on nine of those occasions, so expect him to cruise past Barney and hit most 180s.
Verdict: 5-2
Rob Cross (1/4) v Adam Gawlas (11/4) (D)
- Head to Head (TV): 0-0 (0-0)
- 2022 Head to Head (TV): 0-0 (0-0)
- Three-Dart Average (2022): 96.55 - 89.57
- 180s per leg (2022): 0.25 – 0.25
- Checkout % (Stage Events 2022): 36.17% - 40.21%
- 100+ checkout per leg won (2022): 8.22% - 12.12%
- Match Treble % (Win, most 180s & high checkout): 20.98% - 20.88%
Rob Cross is the heavy odds-on favourite here and it's hard to see an upset.
Adam Gawlas booked his spot by coming through the last-ditch Grand Slam qualifying event but failed to average above 90 in any of his four matches.
That said, the Czech youngster boasts the same 180 per leg ratio as Cross this season so that could be a closely-fought battle even if the match isn't. Both are 5/4 to hit most maximums.
Verdict: 5-2
Danny Noppert (1/8) v Christian Perez (9/2) (B)
- Head to Head (TV): 0-0 (0-0)
- 2022 Head to Head (TV): 0-0 (0-0)
- Three-Dart Average (2022): 95.39 - 85.12
- 180s per leg (2022): 0.28 – 0.22
- Checkout % (Stage Events 2022): 39.72% - Unavailable
- 100+ checkout per leg won (2022): 12.87% - Unavailable
- Match Treble % (Win, most 180s & high checkout): 26.28% - Unavailable
Christian Perez is here by virtue of winning the Asian Darts Championship but as you can see from the stats above, he didn't have to play to a particularly high standard to do it.
It's never nice predicting someone will lose 5-0, but given the quality Danny Noppert has produced this season, it should be a good hiding.
Verdict: 5-1
Gerwyn Price (1/6) v Ted Evetts (7/2) (A)
- Head to Head (TV): 6-1 (2-0)
- 2022 Head to Head (TV): 1-0 (0-0)
- Three-Dart Average (2022): 97.24 - 90.87
- 180s per leg (2022): 0.28 – 0.21
- Checkout % (Stage Events 2022): 40.6% - 39.13%
- 100+ checkout per leg won (2022): 15.48% - 9.72%
- Match Treble % (Win, most 180s & high checkout): 25.68% - 13.89%
There won't be many backing an upset here as Gerwyn Price begins his quest for a fourth Grand Slam title in five years at a venue where he's only ever lost two of his 21 matches.
The defending champion averages significantly heavier than Ted Evetts, has a much higher 180 per leg ratio and is far more prolific at finding those 100+ checkouts.
Price has won over a quarter of his matches this season with the match treble and I'd expect him to dominate all departments against last year's World Youth champion.
Verdict: 5-1
Michael Smith (1/16) v Lisa Ashton (7/1) (C)
- Head to Head (TV): 3-1 (1-0)
- 2022 Head to Head (TV): 0-0 (0-0)
- Three-Dart Average (2022): 96.66 - 81.23
- 180s per leg (2022): 0.35 – 0.11
- Checkout % (Stage Events 2022): 39.28% - Unavailable
- 100+ checkout per leg won (2022): 10.52% - 8.42%
- Match Treble % (Win, most 180s & high checkout): 31.74% - Unavailable
Michael Smith is one of my picks to win the Grand Slam of Darts title and the bookies make him the hottest favourite of the whole day to get off to a winning start.
The 5-0 and 5-1 scorelines can be backed at 10/3 and 9/4 respectively while Smith is 8/11 to bring up the match treble with Sky Bet.
Verdict: 5-1
Click here for this year's Grand Slam of Darts draw and results
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