Peter Wright (Picture: Taylor Lanning/PDC)

World Matchplay 2023: Day five darts predictions, odds, betting tips, accas, order of play & TV times

By Carl Fletcher

Darts

Wed July 19, 2023 · 2y ago

The second round of the Betfred World Matchplay concludes on Wednesday night so here's our match-by-match preview and best bets.

Darts betting tips: World Matchplay day five

2pts Humphries & Van Duijvenbode to hit 6+ 180’s each at evens (Sky Bet)

1pt Heta to win the match, score over 4.5 180’s and checkout over 101.5 at 11/8 (Sky Bet)

1pt Either Clayton or Van Den Bergh to check out 121 at 3/1 (Sky Bet)

SL Acca: Heta, Van den Bergh & Wright all to hit most 180s & Humphries to win at 9/2 with Sky Bet

Sky Bet odds | Paddy Power | Betfair Sportsbook

World Matchplay: Wednesday 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

Brendan Dolan (9/4) v Damon Heta (1/3)

Overall H2H: 3-1 (TV: 0-0)
2023: 0-1 (TV: 0-0)
Seasonal Average:
Dolan: 92.50
Heta: 95.06
180s per leg in 2023:
Dolan: 0.14
Heta: 0.30
Checkout % in 2023 (Stage events only):
Dolan: 49.50%
Heta: 37.62%
Match Treble % (Win, Most 180’s & High Checkout):
Dolan: 14.10%
Heta: 25.00%

MVG’s conqueror Brendan Dolan caused an almighty upset on Sunday night as he defeated ‘Mighty Mike’ for the second time in 2023.

He seized his opportunities and checked out 10 of the 15 attempts he had at checkouts of 100 or less. He did the right things at the right time, his 5-2 lead early on got him a foothold in the game and MVG was profligate towards the end, with the score 7-6 in Dolan’s favour, Van Gerwen was first to the double in each of the next four legs, had darts to win all of them but only won one.

Dolan averaged 95.50 in his defeat of the defending champion, which was higher than that of tonight’s opponent, Damon Heta, who registered a 94.16 average in his comfortable victory over the talented young Northern Irishman, Josh Rock.

WHO'S HIT MOST NINE-DART FINISHES?

It was Heta’s finishing that was superb in this match. He was in that aspect better than Dolan, checking out 9 of his 12 attempts at checkouts of 100 or below, he just never seemed like presenting opportunities to the dangerous Rock.

Heta despite being the seeded player was the underdog in his opening match but he starts as warm favourite here. He’s on an eight match winning streak at present and has won 26 of his last 30 matches in all competitions.

The pair met on the Euro Tour in April and it was the Aussie who won on that occasion by a 6-3 score line, his sole victory over his opponent to date, who had won the previous three meetings. He averaged 97.81 in that game, some 6.38 points higher than Dolan on the day and he has the higher seasonal average at 95.04, compared to the 92.56 of the Norther Irishman.

Heta is also the power scorer of the two. He’s hit 250 maximums in 2023 compared to Dolan who’s registered 107 but it would be folly to completely right off Dolan again, given the Head to Head records of these two and the shenanigans witnessed on Sunday night, which serves as a reminder that any outcome is possible.

Dolan himself is in decent form having reached his third SF on the floor this year just last week, he also boasts the best doubles percentage on stage in this field in 2023 at 46.88% so there is things in his favour. Having said that I suspect Heta will have too much for him if he can avoid the mistakes MVG made against Dolan in the first round.

Scoreline Prediction: 6-11

CLICK HERE to back Heta to win the match, score over 4.5 180’s and checkout over 101.5 with Sky Bet

Jonny Clayton (8/11) v Dimitri Van Den Bergh (Evs)

Overall H2H: 7-9 (TV: 4-7)
2023: 2-2 (TV: 2-2)
Seasonal Average
Clayton: 96.81
VDB: 94.18
180s per leg in 2023
Clayton: 0.22
VDB: 0.28
Checkout % in 2023 (Stage events only)
Clayton: 41.48%
VDB: 37.23%
Match Treble % (Win, most 180s & high checkout)
Clayton: 18.80%
VDB: 22.02%

Jonny Clayton was certainly under par in his opening match against Gabriel Clemens and but for some iffy doubling early on from the ‘German Giant’ that score line could’ve been completely different. It was ‘The Ferret’ who advanced however despite his average winning leg being a mere 17.20 darts.

These two met three times in the Premier league this year and it was 2-1 in victories in favour of the Welshman who averaged higher of the two on all occasions and 100+ in two of them. They also met at the World Championships on New Year's Day this year and it was Dimi who prevailed. He won 5-3 and his timing was perfect breaking in the seventh set, then holding his throw in the following set to advance.

Van Den Bergh reached this stage by defeating European Champion Ross Smith 10-8 in a high quality encounter first up on Monday evening. He fired in seven maximums against the big scoring Smith and hit 50% of his double to produce a match average of 101.24 in an impressive display.

Dimitri also reached the final of the previous TV event, the Poland Darts Masters, where he was pummelled 8-3 due a monstrous Michael Van Gerwen average of 113.22. Prior to that however he saw off Gerwyn Price in the SF and home favourite Krzysztof Ratajski in the Quarters.

This game has a really tight look about it and whilst I’d be confident of the Belgian winning the maximum count, I’m not so confident about the result. I’m edging towards him winning the game though, given his outstanding record in this event but I think it will be close, possibly even require some additional legs.

Scoreline Prediction: 9-11

CLICK HERE to back wither Clayton or Van Den Bergh to check out 121 at 3/1

Peter Wright (8/11) v Ryan Searle (Evs)

Overall H2H: 9-3 (TV: 2-0)
2023: 0-0 (TV: 0-0)
Seasonal Average
Wright: 93.87
Searle: 94.93
180s per leg in 2023
Wright: 0.24
Searle: 0.24
Checkout % in 2023 (Stage events only)
Wright: 39.12%
Searle: 32.64%
Match Treble % (Win, most 180s & high checkout)
Wright: 6.90%
Searle: 18.64%

There was plenty of question marks over what kind of darts ‘Snakebite’ would produce in his opening game. He’d recently taken a short break and he came into this match on the back of 4 defeats in his last 5 matches, including a 6-0 defeat at the hands of Stephen Burton and he averaged less than 90 in all of them, in fact he averaged just 75.83 in his previous match he’d played back in the middle of June.

After losing the first two legs in his opening game in 18 darts to Andrew Gilding he then went on to win 8 straight legs to effectively put the game to bed and lead 8-2 in a race to ten, before closing out the match comfortably 10-4 against this years UK Open champion.

There’s no doubt ‘Goldfinger’ was sub-par on the night but Wright’s standard was decent. He averaged 96.41 overall and had an excellent 109.98 scoring average with his first nine darts, registering seven maximums in fourteen legs of darts.

If he was impressive, earlier in the night Ryan Searle was outstanding, arguably the performance of the first round as he defeated Raymond Van Barneveld 10-4 also. His average on the night was 105.19, his scoring average was 115.31, he was hitting slightly better than one in every two attempts at Treble 20, he was on a finish after 9 darts in nine of the fourteen legs played and he won eight of ten legs in 13 darts or fewer.

It was extraordinary to watch from ‘Heavy Metal’ who was no doubt in the perfect rhythm throughout. Darts is all on the night as they say, so I suppose the question is, can he replicate that form again this evening?

Wright holds a very healthy lead in the Head-to-Head records and has won both big encounters in front of the TV cameras, the final of the Players Championship Final in November 2022 in a last leg shootout 11-10 and a month later in the World Championships by 4 sets to 1 as ‘Snakey’ went on to lift that crown also.

I think that opening round victory was just the perfect pick me up for Wright who is defending his winners prize money from this event two years, so this already important tournament carries even more significance for him. He certainly has had the better of previous meetings and a potentially rejuvenated Wright can continue his progress here and come out on top.

Scoreline Prediction: 11-8

Luke Humphries (8/13) v Dirk Van Duijvenbode (6/5)

Overall H2H: 6-3 (TV: 1-0)
2023: 3-1 (TV: 0-0)
Seasonal Average:
Humphries: 97.84
DVD: 96.35
180s per leg in 2023:
Humphries: 0.33
DVD: 0.39
Checkout % in 2023 (Stage events only):
Humphries: 40.69%
DVD: 40.77%
Match Treble % (Win, Most 180’s & High Checkout):
Humphries: 23.96%
DVD: 36.46%

The night concludes with a blockbuster match up between two power scorers which should be played at a great tempo. In the 51 legs they’ve played against each other in 2023 there’s been 34 180’s, it really should be a maximum fest.

These two have already clashed on four occasions in 2023, a Quarter-Final, two Semi-Finals and a Final and it is ‘Cool Hand’ Luke who has won three times compared to Dirks one.

In his opening match versus Jose De Sousa, Humphries was emphatic in dismantling the ‘Special One’, winning 10-2 by virtue of a 101.78 average and six 180’s in a straightforward victory.

This shouldn’t be unexpected as he’s now averaged higher than his opponent in 27 of his last 30 matches, the only players averaging higher against him in these games were Gerwyn Price (104.37), James Wade (109.12) and Micheal Van Gerwen (110.79).

TOP FIVE MAJOR DARTS CHAMPIONS

He’s already won two events in July, claiming titles in the European Darts Matchplay and Players Championship Fifteen, the former of which included a victory over tonight’s opponent in the final 8-7, who heartbreakingly missed match darts across the final two legs to claim a Euro Tour title.

Dirk on the other hand played ten more legs in anything but a straightforward win as he defeated Kim Huybrechts 12-10 surviving match darts. He never quite got his scoring game going as the biggest 180 hitter on the circuit amassed just four across the twenty-two legs and despite throwing one on his second visit to the oche, he never hit another one until the eleventh leg.

He still managed to average 95.52 in that game however which is a statement of just how good he is. It was enough on that occasion but it’s hard to envisage him getting away with anything below his best here given what I’ve mentioned about Luke’s current standard earlier in this piece.

He’ll be seeking revenge here for that Euro Tour travesty, but Luke looks ready to take the next big step in his career and seeks victory in a major. Based on what we witnessed in the first round if they both replicate that, I see Humphries advancing to the Quarter-Finals.

Scoreline Prediction: 11-8