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

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The first round finally comes to a close today with two matches before focus turns solely to the second, with the likes of Dave Chisnall and Gerwyn Price in action.

I'll continue to preview every match, with the predicted scorelines entered into the free-to-play Fantasy Darts game, so get involved yourself and challenge me!

World Darts Championship: Thursday December 19

AFTERNOON SESSION

• TV Coverage: Sky Sports (1230 GMT)
• First/second round games: Best of 5 sets
• Full World Championship draw & schedule

Justin Pipe (1/7) v Benjamin Pratnemer (9/2)

Head-to-head: 0-0
2019 Meetings: 0-0
PDC Titles this season: 0-0
PDC World Champ appearances: 8-0

Justin Pipe is back on the Alexandra Palace having made an encouraging return to form after a difficult period in his life on and off the oche.

The Force hit the headlines two years ago due to 'cough-gate' against Bernie Smith, which saw him panned by some pundits, fined £3,000 and booed by the crowd during his defeat to Phil Taylor.

That hit Pipe hard and recently admitted on the Weekly Dartscast that the saga "ruined my dart career for a good 12 months" as he tried to rebuild his reputation.

The Somerset thrower, who failed to qualify for the World Championship last year, denies making any noise with his coughs and believes he was essentially bullied over the incident.

Pipe also had to overcome the death of his father earlier this year so his return to the Ally Pally will be highly emotional.

The 47-year-old should mark the occasion with a victory considering how his career is seemingly on an upward curve again, reaching a Players Championship final back in September having beaten both Gerwyn Price and Mensur Suljovic along the way.

He's had numerous other decent runs on the Pro Tour while debutant Benjamin Pratnemer from Slovenia is here after winning the PDC Eastern Europe qualifier,

This tournament has proved not to underestimate anyone but his only major experience is the BDO's World Masters, where he bowed out in the first stage round.

Prediction: 3-0

Ryan Joyce (8/15) v Jan Dekker (6/4)

Head-to-head: 0-0
2019 Meetings: 0-0
PDC Titles this season: 0-0
PDC World Champ appearances: 1-3

Ryan Joyce was one of the Cinderella stories of last year's World Championship by reaching the quarter-finals on his tournament debut.

The 34-year-old used to unpack women's clothes for Matalan before earning his first Tour Card at the start of 2018 and ended it by beating Anastasia Dobromyslova, Simon Whitlock, Alan Norris and James Wade before losing out to MVG.

The £50,000 he pocketed from four victories was more than he'd managed all season by quite some distance - and it's also more than he's earned in 2019 so far.

However, if you've read Paul Nicholson's pre-tournament column for Sporting Life you'll have picked up some insider knowledge about Joyce.

He wrote: "I’ve been watching Ryan Joyce for the last three months, and in Gibraltar back in September he told me he’d made a slight change to his grip and it had improved his scoring dramatically.

"Since then he’s been playing a lot more consistently and has started to turn round what had been a mediocre season thanks to a technical change.

I think with his comfort factor from last year’s performances on this stage, he could be a dark horse again."

Who am I to argue with that?!

Jan Dekker also defeated a woman 12 months ago in Lisa Ashton but he couldn't match Joyce's run and this year he had to resort to the West Europe Qualifier in Leeuwarden to book his Ally Pally return.

Prediction: 3-1

John Henderson (4/7) v James Richardson (11/8) (Second round)

Head-to-head: 4-2
2019 Meetings: 0-0
PDC Titles this season: 0-0
PDC World Champ appearances: 7-3

Until Fallon Sherrock's history-making exploits against Ted Evetts on Tuesday night, John Henderson had arguably produced the darting moment of the year.

The popular Scotsman sent the Aberdeen crowd crazy with his draw against Michael van Gerwen in the Premier League and that's now more remembered than his famous victory over the Dutchman at the 2017 World Grand Prix.

Henderson is still without a title of any kind but his continued consistency reaching the latter stages on Tour - albeit no finals - means he arrives at the Ally Pally as a seeded player having stayed in the top 32 in the Order of Merit.

The 46-year-old told the Evening Express this week: "I was speaking to somebody in the street and you tell them who won a Pro Tour and the person goes ‘who?’ So the average fan may not know some of these players, but they are all good players.

"Anybody in the top 64 is capable of winning a Pro Tour event and the standard has reached such a stage where I think anyone in the top 32 can win the World Championships."

Pretty bold statement but he's probably right, and we shouldn't underestimate James Richardson.

The world number 62 was given an almighty scare by Mikuru Suzuki but it was a high pressure night for him and he should feel more relaxed ahead of his contest, even if the fans will largely be in his opponent's favour again.

Prediction: 3-1

Steve Beaton (10/11) v Kyle Anderson (10/11) (Second round)

Head-to-head: 1-4
2019 Meetings: 0-0
PDC Titles this season: 0-0
PDC World Champ appearances: 18-6

"My form has been absolutely abysmal coming into this tournament. I was on the stage thinking about booking a flight to Australia to spend Christmas with my family but somehow I got back into it and into the next round."

The words of Kyle Anderson when reflecting on comeback from 2-0 down to defeat China's Xiaochen Zong in the first round.

Anderson still managed an average of almost 90 but his finishing was poor and he'll certainly need to up his game against the ageless Steve Beaton.

The smooth throwing Bronzed Adonis has been in the world’s top 32 for what seems like eternity and this will be his 29th 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 55 and earlier this year he knocked Gary Anderson out of the UK Open en route to the quarter-finals and also hit a nine-darter on the European Tour.

Albeit in front of a handful of people.

I'm backing Beaton to get past the second round for the first time since 2005 but it might well go the distance.

Prediction: 3-2

EVENING SESSION

• TV Coverage: Sky Sports (1900 GMT)
• Second round games: Best of 5 sets

Chris Dobey (1/2) v Ron Meulenkamp (13/8)

Head-to-head: 3-2
2019 Meetings: 0-2
PDC Titles this season: 0-0
PDC World Champ appearances: 3-3

Chris Dobey really caught the eye on the Alexandra Palace stage last year during his superb run to the last 16, where he so nearly knocked out Gary Anderson in an absolute thriller.

Since then Hollywood gone from strength to strength, particularly this winter having reached the semi-finals of both the World Grand Prix and Players Championship Finals.

It's the manner of his performances which also made his runs so impressive and only Michael van Gerwen and Gerwyn Price could end them.

I wrote about Meulenkamp's 2019 at the start of Wednesday's predictions but essentially he's shown dangerous form of late and comfortably brushed aside Ben Robb 3-0 for the loss of just four legs in the first round, averaging 92.

He also won his last two meetings with Dobey, which were both in the second half of the season, so he won't be feeling fazed about this task.

However, Dobey has been one of the outstanding players in recent months and clearly has a growing confidence about performing on the big stage.

Prediction: 3-1

Danny Noppert (4/9) v Callan Rydz (7/4)

Head-to-head: 0-0
2019 Meetings: 0-0
PDC Titles this season: 0-0
PDC World Champ appearances: 1-0

Callan Rydz enjoyed a dream - and nailbiting - debut on Monday night as he survived two match darts in a deciding leg to beat Steve Lennon.

It really was an impressive mature display from the 21-year-old, who earned his spot by virtue of topping the Challenge Tour Order of Merit.

Rydz averaged 89 and punished Lennon for his sloppy finishing but he'll need to raise his game another level to give Danny Noppert a run for his money.

The Dutchman finds himself a seeded player after just his second season on the PDC Tour but he's certainly not going to settle for 31st place in the world.

Noppie may not have added a second PDC title to his CV this season but he did come kind of close by reaching his first televised final at the World Series of Darts Finals in Amsterdam.

He used up so much mental energy in beating Ian White 10-9 and Dave Chisnall 11-10 that he simply had nothing left during an 11-2 thrashing at the hands of Michael van Gerwen.

Apart from that he's reached three Players Championship semi-finals this season so you'd think he'll have too much for the Newcastle youngster.

Prediction: 3-0

Dave Chisnall (2/5) v Vincent van der Voort (2/1)

Head-to-head: 6-3
2019 Meetings: 1-0
PDC Titles this season: 3-0
PDC World Champ appearances: 8-12

Dave Chisnall features prominently in my pre-tournament preview, in which I've backed him to reach the semi-finals at worst and also feel he's a good each-way shout for the title.

I wrote: "The 'new' Chizzy has been a resurgent force this year after a tough couple of campaigns, winning three titles including his first in front of a crowd on the European Tour stage since 2013, which really is a significant accomplishment.

"He raised the roof en route to the Gibraltar Darts Trophy final when nailing his third nine-darter of the season and 11th of his career while he also reached his fifth major final – and seventh on TV overall – at the World Grand Prix and although he’s lost the lot, they have all been against Phil Taylor or MVG."

If you need more convincing about his great season then Paul Nicholson and stats analyst Carl Fletcher have also gone for Chizzy in this section of the draw in their respective columns for Sporting Life. Great minds and all that!

Vincent van der Voort has enjoyed a steady season and was impressive in thrashing Keane Barry 3-0 with an average of nearly 96, so he can certainly pinch a set in defeat tonight.

Prediction: 3-1

Gerwyn Price (1/6) v William O'Connor (4/1)

Head-to-head: 2-1
2019 Meetings: 0-0
PDC Titles this season: 5-1
PDC World Champ appearances: 3-2

Gerwyn Price finally gets his World Championship under way and is a hot favourite to see off Ireland's William O'Connor.

Many will probably expect the Iceman to pull off a whitewash win, but I wouldn't be surprised if he's caught cold in the early stages by a player who's ready to come firing out of the blocks.

We've seen a lot of rusty performances from seeded players so far as they begin their campaigns after few weeks rest against opponents who already have the confidence and preparation of a match win under their belt

That said, O'Connor admitted his performance in a 3-0 victory over Marko Kantele wasn't good enough to win a pub match so he'll really need to perform to he kind of standard that helped him win a Players Championship title earlier this season.

In the aforementioned pre-tournament preview, wrote in greater detail while Price should march all the way through to the semi-finals at the very least despite his awful record at the Ally Pally.

The Welshman has only managed two wins here in five appearances – and they both came two years ago – but this is his first proper attempt as a feared player without the controversial build-up.

All that booing in the wake of last year’s Grand Slam of Darts triumph hindered him here against Nathan Aspinall last year, so expect a different animal this time.

Prediction: 3-1

SUGGESTED ACCA

• Joyce, Beaton, Dobey, Noppert & Chisnall at 7.88/1
• Click here to build your acca at Sky Bet

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