Sporting Life's Chris Hammer looks ahead to Thursday's darts action

World Darts Championship: Thursday predictions, odds, betting tips, accas, order of play & TV times

By Chris Hammer

Darts

Thu December 20, 2018 · 7y ago

Our preview of Thursday's action at the PDC World Darts Championship includes the order of play, match-by-match predictions, Sky Bet odds and a suggested acca.

The first round is now over and this is also the penultimate day of second-round games at Alexandra Palace today, with the likes of Adrian Lewis, Mensur Suljovic and Stephen Bunting among those in action across the afternoon and evening sessions.

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World Darts Championship: Thursday December 20

AFTERNOON SESSION

Click on the odds for more Sky Bet match markets

TV Coverage: Sky Sports (1230 GMT)
First/Second Round: Best of five sets

Jermaine Wattimena (2/5) v Michael Barnard (2/1)

Head-to-head: 0-0
2018 Meetings: 0-0
PDC Titles in 2018: 0-0
Career PDC Titles: 0-0

The fastest player in the world faces one of the slowest for the right to play Gary Anderson in round three.

Jermaine 'The Machine Gun' Wattimena is a warm favourite to extinct Michael 'The Dinosaur' Michael Barnard from the tournament but it'll be fascinating to see whose style disrupts the other the most.

You could almost put a line through the fact that Wattimena is the 'better' player based on rankings and his two Players Championship semi-final runs this season, such is their contrast in styles.

We saw, for example, on Wednesday how the free throwing Joe Cullen really struggled against Brendan Dolan's much slower pace and ended up losing nine of the 10 legs played.

Wattimena hasn't played Barnard before but his record against Dolan is played six won three lost three (including a 6-1 thumping this year) while he's lost all five against Mensur Suljovic and both of his ties with Andrew Gilding, both of whom take their time. Maybe that's something to bare in mind.

Prediction: 2-3

Alan Norris (11/8) v Steve Lennon (4/7)

Head-to-head: 1-2
2018 Meetings: 0-0
PDC Titles in 2018: 0-0
Career PDC Titles: 3-0

Alan Norris finds himself the outsider here despite being seeded but that's largely down to his below-par season and Steve Lennon's potential being so highly regarded.

The Northern Irishman whitewashed his first-round opponent James Bailey 3-0 but he wasn't really tested and the only advantage that's given him is blowing the cobwebs away.

That may help him make a more settled start against Chuck, who's only twice gone as far as the last 16 in any ranking tournament in 2018, while he edges their head-to-head record 2-1 even though they haven't met this season.

I think Lennon is prime acca material today but Sky Bet's 'match action' targets are pretty modest, with even-money available for over 14.5 legs, a checkout of over 116.5 and more than 5.5 180s.

Prediction: 1-3

Stephen Bunting (8/15) v Luke Humphries (6/4)

Head-to-head: 0-2
2018 Meetings: 0-2
PDC Titles in 2018: 0-0
Career PDC Titles: 1-0

One of England’s rising stars Luke Humphries produced one of the performances of the first round but can he maintain that form against a man whose career is back on the rise?

The 23-year-old lost the opening leg against fellow prospect Adam Hunt in round one but won the next nine, averaged 97 and fired five 180s to power through in impressive fashion.

Lying in wait is Stephen Bunting, who looked like he had such a bright future ahead of him when becoming BDO world champion in 2014 and then enjoying a super run to the 2015 PDC World Championship quarter-finals, where he lost a classic to Raymond van Barneveld.

In those two years he also reached the semi-finals of the World Grand Prix and UK Open but since then he’ll be the first to admit he hasn’t delivered on the televised stage and it’s well documented that he was close to packing the sport in.

However he’s enjoyed a resurgence this year, particularly in recent months when comfortably winning his group, that also contained Mensur Suljovic, at the Grand Slam of Darts and defeating Peter Wright en route to the quarter-finals of the Players Championship Finals.

The 33-year-old is feeling confident but is aware Humphries has a good record against him having won their only two meetings this year. In an interview with the Liverpool Echo, he said: “Luke always plays out of his skin against me for some reason.”

It’ll be a cracker for sure so the two bets I feel have potential are Bunting to win and hit the most 180s at 6/4 and the match to have over 14.5 legs, a high checkout of over 116.5 and a total of 7.5 180s at 11/10.

Prediction: 3-2

Steve Beaton (6/5) v Chris Dobey (4/6)

Head-to-head: 2-2
2018 Meetings: 0-0
PDC Titles in 2018: 0-0
Career PDC Titles: 3-0

If you ask Steve Beaton if he prefers to practice darts or golf, he’ll say the latter.

The smooth throwing Bronzed Adonis relies on his natural timeless talent to stay in the world’s top 32 for what seems like eternity and this will be his 28th world championship in succession, if you include his days in the BDO prior to his switch in 2002.

Beaton can’t ever be underestimated even at 54 and earlier this year he knocked Rob Cross out of the World Grand Prix and has also reached three Players Championship semi-finals.

Chris Dobey wasn’t given any kind of a work out by Boris Koltsov in the previous round although overall he came into this tournament with plenty of confidence having beaten Dave Chisnall and James Wade at the Players Championship Finals.

I’m going with Beaton in this one but would expect the match to go the distance.

Prediction 3-2

EVENING SESSION

TV Coverage: Sky Sports (1900 GMT)
First/Second Round: Best of five sets

Cristo Reyes (8/13) v Rowby-John Rodriguez (5/4)

Head-to-head: 4-1
2018 Meetings: 4-1
PDC Titles in 2018: 0-0
Career PDC Titles: 0-0

Rowby-John Rodriguez defied the fast throwing of Ricky Evans with a really gutsy performance on Tuesday but this will be an even tougher assignment.

Since setting the record for the highest losing average in a World Championship of 106 against Michael van Gerwen in the 2017 edition (which was later ‘bettered’ by Barney later), Cristo Reyes has steadily continued to climb the rankings.

Although he’s yet to win a PDC title, he’s showing positive signs of late that one could be coming in the not too distance future, beating the likes of Mensur Suljovic and Rob Cross in his last two televised majors.

He also boasts a superior head-to-head record against the Austrian youngster, winning their last four meetings that have all occurred this year.

I think this could be a sound beating and will back Reyes (-1.5 sets) on the handicap.

Prediction: 3-1

Mervyn King (8/11) v Jan Dekker (11/10)

H2H: 1-1
2018 Meetings: 0-0
PDC Titles: 7-0
2018 Titles: 1-0

Mervyn King has never missed a World Championship since his maiden outing in the BDO version way back in 1997 such is his consistency on the tour.

The King, who moved to the PDC in 2007 and went on to reach the finals of the Premier League (2009), Players Championship Finals (2010), World Grand Prix (2012) and Masters (2014) without winning any of them, is still going strong aged 52 and is currently ranked 18th in the world.

He won his seventh PDC title this season after beating James Wade in a Players Championship final, so nobody should doubt he still has what it takes to cause a ripple.

Jan Dekker deserves credit for overcoming the pressure of opening night and a partisan crowd to defeat an inspired Lisa Ashton and he’s had plenty of time to rest and refocus for this clash.

That said, I’m going with experience here and King to sneak through in a closely-fought battle.

Prediction: 3-2

Adrian Lewis (1/4) v Ted Evetts (3/1)

H2H: 1-0
2018 Meetings: 1-0
PDC Titles: 24-0
2018 Titles: 0-0

If you listen to a lot of pundits then there’s a growing feeling that Adrian Lewis is heading back in the right direction after a tough couple of seasons.

Last year in particular saw him reach a real low when defeated by rank outsider Kevin Munch at the World Championship while he fell out of the top 16 and was left out of the Premier League.

Then of course there was ‘that’ oche bust-up with Spain’s Jose Justicia at a UK Open qualifier back in February which resulted in a suspended three-month ban.

Jackpot, to his credit, has climbed back up those rankings and while he hasn’t ended his drought for a tournament win, he’s reached four finals and a whole host of quarters and semis on the circuit.

While Lewis is targeting a third world title, Ted Evetts is competing at the Alexandra Palace for just the second year.

But he looked far from an inexperienced 21-year-old in a 3-0 victory over Simon Stevenson in which he averaged 93, hit five 180s and managed a high checkout of 120.

He really is an emerging prospect of this game and I’m tempted to back him on the handicap with a 1.5 set start.

Prediction: 3-2

Mensur Suljovic (1/5) v Ryan Searle (7/2)

H2H: 0-0
2018 Meetings: 0-0
PDC Titles: 5-0
2018 Titles: 2-0

It’s been another impressive year for Mensur Suljovic but it could have been so much better.

The Austrian added two more titles to his CV this season on the stage environment in 2018 – firstly at the German Darts Masters in front of 20,000 fans and then the Danish Open on the European Tour – but he came agonisingly close to one of the biggest of them all at the World Matchplay, losing a thrilling final to Gary Anderson.

He’s also reached the semi-finals of the televised Masters, Champions League of Darts, World Grand Prix and Grand Slam of Darts – with the latter two both being lost from commanding positions against Peter Wright and Gerwyn Price respectively.

He missed the Players Championship Finals due to family reasons so it is of course very hard to know what frame of mind he’s in.

Ryan Searle got his campaign off to a winning start as he beat Stephen Burton 3-0 but his scoring and finishing weren’t of a particularly high enough standard to trouble a player of Suljovic’s quality.

I think a whitewash could be on the cards.

Prediction: 3-0

Thursday's suggested darts bets

Norris v Lennon to have over 14.5 legs, a checkout of over 116.5 and more than 5.5 180s
Bunting to win and hit the most 180s
Bunting v Humphries over 14.5 legs, a high checkout of over 116.5 and a total of 7.5 180s
Reyes (-1.5 sets) to beat Rodriguez
King to win 3-2
Evetts (+1.5 sets) to beat Lewis
Suljovic to beat Searle 3-0
Click here to place your bets