Gerwyn Price and Danny Noppert (Picture: Taylor Lanning/PDC)

Grand Slam of Darts 2022: Night five predictions, betting tips, acca, order of play and TV time

By Carl Fletcher

Darts

Wed November 16, 2022 · 3y ago

The knockout stages of the 2022 Cazoo Grand Slam of Darts begin on Wednesday night so check out Carl Fletcher's match-by-match predictions, stats, best bets and a suggested acca.

The first four matches of the last 16 take place tonight over a best of 19 legs and the talent on show is immense.

Here's our match-by-match guide to all of the action...

Darts betting tips: Grand Slam of Darts day five

1pt Van Duijvenbode to win the match, score over 4.5 180’s and checkout over 93.5 at 11/8 (Sky Bet)

1pt Smith to win and hit the most 180’s at 11/10 (Sky Bet, Paddy Power)

1pt Whitlock to win and hit the most 180’s at 5/4 (Sky Bet, Paddy Power)

1pt Price to hit over 5.5 180’s at 5/4 (Sky Bet)

SL Acca: Van Duijvenbode, Smith, Whitlock and Price all to win at 11/4 with Sky Bet

Sky Bet odds | Paddy Power | Betfair Sportsbook

Grand Slam of Darts: Wednesday November 16

Evening Session (1900 GMT)
TV Coverage: Sky Sports
Format: Second round, best of 19 legs
In the below 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.

Raymond Van Barneveld (10/11) vs Simon Whitlock (4/5)

Head to Head (TV): 19-1-16 (11-1-10)
2022 Head to Head (TV): 1-1 (0-0)
Group Stage position: Winner A - Runner-up B
Three-Dart Average (2022): 93.3 - 92.42
180s per leg (2022): 0.19 – 0.33
Checkout % (Stage Events 2022): 43.28% - 36.36%
100+ checkout per leg won (2022): 10.83% - 8.22%
Match Treble % (Win, most 180s & high checkout): 12.77% - 27.36%

This is a game between two crowd favourites who have met numerous times over the years with a fairly close Head to Head overall all things considered. They have however never met in the Grand Slam of Darts and share a 1-1 record this year in their only two meetings since Van Barneveld’s return following his mini retirement.

Raymond has rolled back the years somewhat this past week and his victory will over Gerwyn Price was arguably the match of the group phase. He advanced from a tough group featuring Dave Chisnall, Gerwyn Price and Ted Evetts, winning all three matches, averaging 95.53 and registering eight maximums too. He has missed two thirds of his darts at the double however and this facet of his game will need brushing up if he’s to go even further here.

Whitlock, who is nursing an injury at present, suffered mixed fortunes to finish second in Group B. He has looked impressive overall though. He clinically defeated Mensur Suljovic in his opener 5-2 before being on the wrong end of the same scoreline against Danny Noppert in his second match. He then concluded his group by defeating a much improved Christian Perez 5-3 to seal his passage to this stage.

His overall statistics read very well indeed. A tournament average of 98.50, a doubles percentage of 48% and eleven 180’s. All three metrics show him to be in better fettle of the two.

The ‘Barney Army’ have been enjoying his performances this week and have had plenty to celebrate over the weekend and if he can get embroiled here and bounce off that support he holds every chance of setting up a potential rematch with Gerwyn Price in the next round. This is not the Barneveld of yester year still however, he’s not as consistent as he was back in his pomp and it would not be a surprise if his efforts fizzled out here.

‘The Wizard’ continues to reinvent himself when his powers appear to be waning and he could produce some more magic tonight. He is defending Semi-Final appearance money from two years ago and will be under no illusions how much a good run here is needed. I prefer to side with him as I believe he’s the more consistent of the two and his maximum hitting could help him edge this one.

Verdict: 6-10

Click here to back Whitlock to win and hit most 180s with Sky Bet

Michael Smith (8/13) v Rob Cross (6/5)

Overall Head to Head (TV): 5-17 (4-11)
2022 Head to Head (TV): 0-0 (0-0)
Group Stage position: Winner C - Runner-up D
Three-Dart Average (2022): 96.66 - 96.55
180s per leg (2022): 0.35 – 0.25
Checkout % (Stage Events 2022): 39.28% - 36.17%
100+ checkout per leg won (2022): 10.52% - 8.22%
Match Treble % (Win, most 180s & high checkout): 31.74% - 20.98%

This is a clash between a duo who represented England together at the World Cup of Darts in 2019 and 2020 and will be there 16th match on TV.

Cross boasts a hugely superior head to head overall and I’m sure both players will be aware of that heading into this. I think this may be due to the slower pace of ‘Voltage’ not suiting ‘Bully Boy’ who likes to just get up on stage and throw darts at a nice pace. Having said that the pair have won two matches apiece in their TV head to head since the start of 2020 and also met at this stage of this event back in 2020 and it was Smith who edged the game on that occasion 10-9.

You have to say that it was Smith who no doubt looked the better player of the two during the group phase. He won all three games, averaging 95.53 to amazingly take him to sixteen current consecutive wins in the group stages of this event. Rather surprisingly however he only mustered up two 180’s across the twenty legs he played.

Cross having looked superb in his opener where he averaged 100.87 to defeat Adam Gawlas 5-2, was then swept aside by Dirk Van Duijvenbode 5-3 in his second match having led 3-1 in what truly was a game of two halves. He then somehow managed to defeat Martin Schindler 5-4 in a last match straight shoot out to advance. The German missed four match darts to win 5-2, which seemed to knock the stuffing out of him.

For an encounter that between 2017 and 2020 threw up 21 clashes, these two have only met once since and are yet to meet in 2022. A lot of these victories for Cross were when he was arguably at the peak of his powers. Whilst we have seen a resurgent and recharged Voltage over the past twelve months you’d probably have to say Smith is on the more upward trajectory of the two of late. Whilst he is yet to taste success in a PDC major he keeps knocking on the door.

I think Smith is the one to favour here. He improved each match in the group stages and if he can start hitting the lipstick with increasing regularity he should have too much for Cross in this longer format.

Verdict: 10-7

Click here to back Smith to win and hit most 180s with Sky Bet

Danny Noppert (7/4) v Gerwyn Price (2/5)

Head to Head (TV): 3-6 (1-4)
2022 Head to Head (TV): 0-3 (0-2)
Group Stage position: Winner B - Runner-up A
Three-Dart Average (2022): 95.39 - 97.24
180s per leg (2022): 0.28 – 0.28
Checkout % (Stage Events 2022): 39.72% - 40.6%
100+ checkout per leg won (2022): 12.87% - 15.48%
Match Treble % (Win, most 180s & high checkout): 26.28% - 25.68%

These pair have met three times in 2022 and it’s the Welshman who has won on each occasion. All matches have been at the business end of events with victories in the quarter finals of the International Darts Open, the semi-finals of both the World Cup of Darts and the World Matchplay. Price will be hoping to make it four from four tonight.

Gezzy has owned this tournament in recent years and will be hoping to make it four wins in the past five years but he is very fortunate to still be in after Dave Chisnall missed two match darts to get rid of him. He did what champions do and found a way to win, producing a 12 dart leg against the throw in the end to win a last leg shootout.

He’s played well however and became the eighth different player in the history of this event to register a 100+ average in all three group games, he’s hit ten maximums and his accuracy of hitting Treble 20 is 47.7%. There’s not much wrong with his game at all and the opportunity to eliminate him could have passed.

Noppert however is enjoying a great 2022. The UK Open champ came through as table topper in Group B with three victories but apart from a very efficient display to defeat Simon Whitlock 5-2 in his second game, he was put through the ringer somewhat by Christian Perez and Mensur Suljovic, winning both of those matches 5-4.

He will need to up things here. At 94.02 his tournament average is almost ten points lower than that of Price at 103.74. Examining those matches between the two from this year and Noppert has simply been outscored hitting just six 180’s compared to the twenty of Price.

This longer format should give Price the opportunity to stamp his superiority even further over his opponent and although Noppert defeated him 10-7 in the World Matchplay in 2020, when Price wins their encounters he tends to win by a significant margin as scorelines of 6-1, 2-0 (Sets), 10-3, 4-1 and 17-11 suggest.

Verdict: 6-10

Click here to back Price to hit over 5.5 180 with Sky Bet

Dirk Van Duijvenbode (8/13) v Joe Cullen (6/5)

Head to Head (TV): 6-2 (0-0)
2022 Head to Head (TV): 1-1 (0-0)
Group Stage position: Winner D - Runner-up C
Three-Dart Average (2022): 97.11 - 94.33
180s per leg (2022): 0.38 – 0.29
Checkout % (Stage Events 2022): 39.54% - 38.2%
100+ checkout per leg won (2022): 11.2% - 13.79%
Match Treble % (Win, most 180s & high checkout): 36.43% - 27.52%

Last game of the night sees Group D table topper Dirk Van Duijvenbode face off against Group C runner up Joe Cullen. These pair first met way back in 2011, during which year they faced each other in the World Youth Championship. Fast forward eleven years and they are now both currently sat in the Top 16 in the PDC Order of Merit.

Dirk won all three of his group games but was pushed in all three encounters against Martin Schindler, Rob Cross and Adam Gawlas despite averaging an impressive 98.78 across his three matches. He amassed nine 180’s across the group and remains the biggest maximum hitter on planet darts.

Cullen on the other hand survived a huge scare to advance here. After comfortably defeating Ritchie Edhouse 5-1 in his opener, he was on the end of a 5-1 defeat to Michael Smith in his second match. He then trailed 3-1 to Lisa Ashton before the match turned in the 5th leg, in the end running out a fairly comfortable 5-3 winner. The Rockstar averaged 94.19 in his group and notched up four 180’s as he somewhat tumbled over the line.

‘The Aubergenius’ boasts a healthy head to head record overall but they’ve shared the spoils in their two meetings in 2022, each winning a match 6-3. In these two games Dirk has played extremely well averaging 108.88 and 106.90 and he also hit the most maximums and secured the highest checkout in both games registering out shots of 127 and 130.

Given the way they advanced from their respective groups I fancy the Dutchman to prevail here, he’s played the better of the two overall in this event and has been fairing the better of the two in recent tournaments on the whole. Having looked at various options here there’s a number of angles that could be tempting to go for as a bet as the match should be played at a decent tempo, which should suit both players and could help produce a classic.

Verdict: 10-8

Van Duijvenbode to win the match, score over 4.5 180’s and checkout over 93.5

Grand Slam of Darts: Group stage standings and results

Scoring System: Each competitor plays each other once in a best-of-nine legs match, with two points going to the winner. The top two from each group will then progress to the knockout stages. Any two-way points tie in any position, the player with best leg difference will finish higher. If two players are still level then the winner of the match between them will progress. There is the potential for a Nine-Dart Shoot-Out should three or more players be tied for points and leg difference. For more details see the format section further down.