World Matchplay Darts: Day two predictions, betting tips, acca, order of play and TV time

The afternoon session, previewed by Carl Fletcher kicks off at 1pm and features two previous champions of the event in Rob Cross and James Wade and promises to be an exciting afternoon of darts.

Chris Hammer takes the tipping chair for the evening session which features Peter Wright.

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

World Matchplay: Sunday July 18

• TV Coverage: Sky Sports (1300 & 1930 BST)
• Format: Best of 19 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
• Suggested Acca: Dolan & Wade to win, Smith to hit most 180s & Rydz to win -2.5 legs at 10/1 at 2.68 (Sky Bet)

AFTERNOON SESSION - 1pm

By Carl Fletcher (@CarlyFletch and @Darts_Tracker)

Krzysztof Ratajski (8/11) v Brendan Dolan (11/10)

• Head to Head: 2-0 (TV: 0-0)
• Meetings since start of 2020: 1-0 (TV: 0-0)
• Last Meeting: 7-4 Ratajski (Players Championship 18, September 2020)
• Career PDC Titles: 7-8 (TV: 0-0)
• Titles This Season: 0-1 (TV: 0-0)

Sundays action commences with a match between the ‘Polish Eagle’ and ‘The History Maker’ in what seems a difficult game to call.

Ratajski is the seed and the slight favourite in the contest but his floor form hasn’t been as fruitful as previous seasons so far with two quarter finals the best he’s mustered in the twenty events in 2021. That aside however he did manage to reach the Quarter-Final of the UK Open where he lost 10-7 to Michael Van Gerwen despite a blistering start where he was nigh on unplayable early on.

He reached the Quarter-Final of this event also last year before losing to ‘Bully Boy’ Michael Smith in a terrific encounter. That was after two victories and excellent performances versus Jermaine Wattimena and Gabriel Clemens in the earlier rounds.

His yearly statistics remain seriously impressive too. A 97.43 yearly average is superb, his 180 per leg ratio of 0.25 is good and his match win percentage of 58.49% is very respectable. Perhaps the only thing he’s been lacking is his ton plus outshots, where he’s won just 8.93% of his legs through this method.

Dolan didn’t fair quite as well as his opponent in the UK Open, losing in the Last 16, 10-9 to Simon Whitlock but he’s been tremendous in the Players Championship events so far this year. He’s won one, finished runner up in another and had runs to the Semi-Final on three occasions along with two further Quarter-Final appearances.

The Northern Irishman made an adjustment to his game late last year and he now throws a bit quicker. This has made him look much better and he narrowly lost in the World Championships to the eventual winner, Gerwyn Price. Pushing the ‘Iceman’ all the way.

He’s never been the biggest of 180 hitters at just 0.18 per leg, a statistics that is only better than Glen Durrant amongst this years Matchplay field but his seasonal average of 96.33 is almost a two point increase on last years figure of 94.51. This has helped him achieve a match win percentage of 73.33% during 2021. Only bettered by three of this field.

Dolan wins a higher percentage of his legs courtesy of 100+ outshot than his opponent at 10.53%. He’s also had the higher checkout in 53% of his matches compared to Ratajski at 39% and that could be the difference in determining the winner in a tight match.

• Score Prediction: Krzysztof Ratajski 12-13 Brendan Dolan
• Suggested Bet: Dolan to win and have the highest checkout at 9/4 (SkyBet)
• Suggested Bet: Match to go to a Sudden Death Leg at 20/1 (SkyBet)

Glen Durrant (23/10) v Callan Rydz (1/3)

• Head to Head: 1-1 (TV: 0-0)
• Meetings since start of 2020: 0-0 (TV: 0-0)
• Last Meeting: 6-4 Rydz (Players Championship 29, October 2019)
• Career PDC Titles: 3-1 (TV: 1-0)
• Titles This Season: 0-1 (TV: 0-0)

Second up in the afternoon is a battle of two Englishmen, Glen Durrant and Callan Rydz and it’s the seed, ‘Duzza’ who starts the underdog here after losing his form.

Twice a Semi-Finalist in this event, the 2020 Premier League Champion is having a year to forget. He lost all matches he played in the Premier League and suffered first match defeats in both The Masters and the UK Open.

His floor form hasn’t been much better either with a Quarter Final run at Players Championship Three his best effort to date. That event was also the last time he won two consecutive matches. He’s won just five of his last thirty matches and this included a spell of 17 straight defeats in all competitions and you have to go back to 20th September 2020 for when he last registered a ton plus average – he’s played 63 matches since then. Strangely since then he’s only had two ton plus averages hit against him.

His seasonal stats this year are the worst of the field across the board too. With his seasonal average (86.80), 180 per leg ratio (0.09), leg win percentage (37.84%) and match win percentage (29.27%) all ranking lowest of the 32 players. Interestingly however the percentage of legs he wins courtesy of a ton plus outshout is the best in the field at 18.57%. It’s worth noting here his average in 2020 was 95.91 to show just how much of a decline he’s experiencing at present.

Callan Rydz on the other hand is on the up and enjoying a good year. He had a decent UK Open, reaching the Last 32 after registering impressive victories over Ross Smith and Jermaine Wattimena.

He’s also done very well on the floor. He won Players Championship Two at the start of the year and he’s followed that up with a Semi-Final at Players Championship 16. He’s inside the Top 20 on the Players Championship Order of Merit and that looks even better considering he had to miss Super Series 3 due to issues at the Airport, something at the time Callan was very much aggrieved about.

His stats are also very good. His seasonal average is 94.27, his 180 per leg ratio is 0.24 and leg and match win percentages are 55.19% and 64.58% respectively.

Unfortunately as much as I would like to see ‘Duzza’ bounce back to form this week, on all known form of late I can only predict one winner here and that’s his younger opponent who’s here on his Matchplay debut.

• Scoreline Prediction: Glen Durrant 5-10 Callan Rydz
• Suggested Bet: Rydz to win -3.5 legs at 5/4 (SkyBet)

Rob Cross (8/13) v Ross Smith (5/4)

• Head to Head: 3-2 (TV: 0-0)
• Meetings since start of 2020: 0-1 (TV: 0-0)
• Last Meeting: 6-5 Smith (Players Championship 15, September 2020)
• Career PDC Titles: 9-1 (TV: 4-0)
• Titles This Season: 0-1 (TV: 0-0)

The penultimate match of the afternoon session sees Rob Cross face off against Ross Smith.

‘Voltage’ was the 2019 champion but was dumped out in the opening round by Gabriel Clemens in defence of his crown. He’s had an indifferent season. He suffered early exits in The Masters, UK Open and Premier League and his best efforts on the floor are a Semi-Final and three Quarter-Finals.

His seasonal stats are fairly respectable though. He has a yearly average of 96.05 (up two points on 2020 which was 94.02) and his match win percentage is exactly 60% and he’s a steady if unspectacular 180 hitter at 0.23 per leg.

There was however very promising signs at the fifth and most recent Super Series event where he registered seven 100+ averages from the thirteen matches he played. He then back this up by qualifying for all three of the Euro Tour events through the qualifiers. He’s a lot of ranking money to defend this year so a good run here is extremely important.

His opponent Ross Smith, also enjoyed a fruitful fifth Super Series where he claimed his maiden PDC title, winning Players Championship 19. He’d also gone close at Players Championship 10 where he lost in the final to Michael Smith.

He didn’t quite fair as well in the Euro Tour qualifiers, qualifying for just European Tour 1 but he still did play well, averaging 99.09 and 97.65 in defeat to two players who averaged 100+ themselves. He’s actually notched a 100+ average himself in five of his last ten matches to underline the level he’s currently playing at.

He’s been consistent on the whole all year. His seasonal average of 94.89 is very good and he remains a terrific 180 hitter at 0.30 per leg. When he finds his range he seems to be able to pepper the red bit.

I make this a tough one to call and it could go all the way but I’m narrowly going to favour Cross to win here as he has the slight better match win percentage of the two this year. The safer bet however for me is siding with Smith on the 180 front.

• Scoreline Prediction: Rob Cross 13-12 Ross Smith
• Suggested Bet: Smith to hit the most 180’s at 10/11 (Betway)
• Suggested Bet: Match to go to a sudden death leg at 20/1 (SkyBet)

James Wade (8/13) v Luke Humphries (5/4)

• Head to Head: 3-2 (TV: 1-0)
• Meetings since start of 2020: 2-1 (TV: 1-0)
• Last Meeting: 6-1 Humphries (Players Championship 19, July 2021)
• Career PDC Titles: 38-0 (TV: 11-0)
• Titles This Season: 1-0 (TV: 1-0)

The afternoon session concludes with a rematch of the UK Open final from March where James Wade won 11-5.

That match was one of four finals Humphries has lost in 2021. Whilst some may find that alarming he’s played well in these finals averaging 96.13. His opponents however have been superb, all averaging 100+: James Wade (102.52), Gerwyn Price (102.25), Jose De Sousa (114.08) and Peter Wright (108.94).

Twice a Quarter Finalist in the Worlds, the former World Youth Champion surprisingly exited at the first hurdle last year to the legend that is Paul Lim. He remains a huge prospect however and it will be no surprise if eventually he picks a World Matchplay or World Championship title in future years.

His current season statistics demonstrate how good ‘Cool Hand’ is. An average of 96.66 for 2021, a match win percentage of 68.57% and 13.12% of his legs have been won by virtue of a ton plus outshot. Surprisingly his 180 per leg ratio has dropped this year to 0.27 (from 0.31 in 2020) but when he finds his range on that section of the board he can be phenomenal at times. He’ll be hoping to make amends for the UK Open final defeat he suffered at the hands of ‘The Machine’ and a recent 6-1 victory over him will have done his confidence no harm whatsoever.

James Wade needs no introduction having seemingly been around for ages now. A previous winner of this event in 2007, a period in which he was arguably the biggest threat to Phil ‘The Power’ Taylor’s dominance.

He’s had a resurgence in recent years and is now sitting a lofty fourth in PDC Order of Merit, the highest placed Englishman. We’ve already mentioned he’s won the UK Open title this year but he’s been very respectable elsewhere. He reached the Quarter-Final of The Masters and finished sixth in the Premier League.

On the floor despite not winning an event, he’s been there or thereabouts. He was runner up at Players Championship 7 and has also reached a Semi-Final and three Quarter-Finals despite missing five of the twenty events.

His seasonal stats show him averaging 96.27 for 2021, winning 65.38% of his matches and winning 12.36% of his legs courtesy of a ton plus checkout. His 180 hitting has never been his trump card but even so at 0.21 per leg it’s decent enough when backed up by his consistent 100+ score hitting. Since the Premier League has ended however he’s arguably dropped his standard a little registering just two 100+ averages in twenty three matches.

This isn’t as easy to call but the pace Wade plays at over this longer format probably doesn’t suit Humphries and the fact ‘The Machine’ has hit the highest checkout in 60% of his matches suggests a big finish at the right time could turn this match in his favour.

• Predicted Scoreline: James Wade 10-7 Luke Humphries
• Suggested Bet: Wade to win, Humphries to hit the most 180’s and Wade to hit the highest checkout at 7/2 (SkyBet)

EVENING SESSION - 7.30pm, Sky Sports

By Chris Hammer (Follow @ChrisHammer180 on Twitter)

Suggested Acca: Smith most 180s, Wright most 180s, De Sousa most 180s & Cullen v Dobey to have over 8.5 match 180s at 4.63/1 (Sky Bet)

Joe Cullen (8/11) v Chris Dobey (11/10)

• Head to Head: 7-2 (TV: 1-0)
• Meetings since start of 2020: 3-0 (TV: 0-0)
• Last Meeting: 6-5 (Players Championship 1, February 2021)
• Career PDC Titles: 7-1 (TV: 0-0)
• Titles This Season: 2-1 (TV: 0-0)

Chris Dobey is one of my pre-tournament tips ahead of one of my usual favourites in Joe Cullen, who may well have found himself in my staking plan had it not been for a worrying Super Series last week where personal issues forced him to withdraw from the final event having suffered three successive first-round exits.

If the Rockstar, who has won two titles this season, does put that all behind him and defeat Dobey then he will suddenly become a real danger in this tournament but for the time being I'm obviously sticking with his opponent.

Here's what I wrote in my pre-tournament preview: "Since reaching a couple of televised semi-finals in 2019, Hollywood struggled to get close to those same levels in 2020 but finally ended his wait for a PDC title at last week’s Super Series thanks to the most dramatic of climaxes against de Sousa, who missed eight match darts for glory.

"It was his fifth final, five years after his first, and he probably deserved that kind of luck having played so well during many of his defeat this season.

"His 2021 ProTour average of 97.10 is seventh overall and he managed five of 105+ last week, so he’s definitely in a great place right now and ready to reach new levels."

As far as this match is concerned, Cullen is the superior 180 hitter on the ProTour having hit 0.31 per leg compared to Dobey's 0.29 this season but they are both in the top 10 on that metric this season so if it's a fairly close game we should see plenty.

With the Rockstar also particularly strong on his 100+ checkouts this season, Sky Bet's Match Action market therefore catches my eye where you can get 3/1 on there being over 16.5 legs, a highest finish of over 126.5 and more than 8.5 total 180s.

Prediction: 7-10

Suggested bet: Match to have over 16.5 legs, highest checkout to be over 126.5 and over 8.5 total 180s at 3/1 (Sky Bet)

Michael Smith (8/13) v Ryan Searle (5/4)

• Head to Head: 4-1 (TV: 1-0)
• Meetings since start of 2020: 1-1 (TV: 0-0)
• Last Meeting: 6-2 (Players Championship 5, March 2021)
• Career PDC Titles: 13-1 (TV: 1-0)
• Titles This Season: 1-0 (TV: 0-0)

I've rolled the dice with Ryan Searle in my outright preview despite this very tough draw against a player who has firmly refocused since the disappointment of missing out on Premier League selection.

Bully Boy won his 13th career title back in April in a Players Championship event and has subsequently reached three quarter-finals to maintain a decent run of form, while his average of 96 puts him among the top 12 this season.

For anyone who fancies him to win, then you might be interested to know that he's achieved the 'Match Treble' (win, most 180s & highest checkout) in 38.46% of his matches this season and only Dirk van Duijvenbode has performed better in that area with 40.58%.

However, this is what I wrote about Searle in terms of his chances on his World Matchplay debut: "Searle has shown flashes of his big stage potential during two runs to the fourth round of the World Championship and the way he’s been performing away from the TV cameras of late strongly suggests he could go far in Blackpool.

"The quietly-spoken Heavy Metal, who also looked sharp at the UK Open before losing a terrific clash with Luke Humphries in the sixth round, has been spending a lot of practice time with Gary Anderson in Somerset so it shouldn’t be much of a surprise to him producing personal best averages this season.

"In fact, he broke his personal best three times last week. During a run to a semi-final on the Tuesday he set a new best of 110.57 against Chas Barstow and swiftly raised that to 111.33 in the very next match against Boris Krcmar. Two days later he posted an average of 112.24 against Ted Evetts before eventually falling in the last 16."

This really could be a high-class showdown but whatever happens, Smith will probably end up with most 180s having managed 0.3 per leg compared to Searle's 0.22.

Prediction: 8-10

Suggested bet: Searle to win and Smith hit most 180s at 3/1 (Sky Bet)

Peter Wright (1/3) v Danny Noppert (23/10)

• Head to Head: 5-2 (TV: 1-0)
• Meetings since start of 2020: 2-0 (TV: 0-0)
• Last Meeting: 6-3 (Players Championship 20, July 2021)
• Career PDC Titles: 37-1 (TV: 8-1)
• Titles This Season: 3-0 (TV: 0-0)

Peter Wright was in confident mood about his World Matchplay after defeating Michael van Gerwen with a 108 average in the final Players Championship event of last week’s Super Series and it's no wonder he's hot favourite to see off Danny Noppert, who lost his only other match on the Winter Gardens stage two years ago.

It was Snakebite's third title of the season having done exactly the same at the previous Super Series in June when another 108 average against Luke Humphries capped another unplayable final day. His first success this season came against Gerwyn Price in March so the inconsistency that cost him dearly during a largely disappointing Premier League campaign is the only source of encouragement for those backing Noppert.

The Dutchman was beaten by Wright with an 86 average during Snakebite's title run last week but apart from that he has reached a couple of semi-finals this season - losing to Joe Cullen and Dimitri Van den Bergh - and will need to recapture that kind of form to stay in this match.

Wright, who does have a good record in Blackpool having reached the final in Phil Taylor’s farewell of 2017 and produced two semi-final runs, has a higher 180s per leg ratio than Noppert this season (.30 v 0.26) while he's also won 13.06% of his legs with 100+ checkouts compared to his opponent's 11.36%.

The signs point to the 'Match Treble', which Wright is 9/4 to achieve.

Prediction: 10-6

Suggested bet: Wright to win, hit most 180s and have highest checkout at 9/4

Jose de Sousa (2/7) v Gabriel Clemens (13/5)

• Head to Head: 4-1 (TV: 0-0)
• Meetings since start of 2020: 2-0 (TV: 0-0)
• Last Meeting: 7-5 Ratajski (Players Championship 14, June 2021)
• Career PDC Titles: 7-0 (TV: 1-0)
• Titles This Season: 3-0 (TV: 0-0)

Jose De Sousa may 'only' be 10th in the world rankings but he's rivalling Jonny Clayton as the player of the season so far having won three titles and mesmerised darts fans with his record-breaking 180 hauls and crazy finishing that has also sent social media wild.

It was great to see how the Grand Slam of Darts champion entertained the returning crowds at the Premier League – where he finished runner-up to fellow debutant Clayton - with the same maverick style of performance he produced without them during his major-winning 2020.

That's no guarantee for success ahead of his Winter Gardens bow considering the venue in the heat of summer has a history of catching debutants cold but he should have enough quality to see off fellow Blackpool debutant Gabriel Clemens.

The Special One's overall 2021 average of 99.53 is higher than anyone else while his 180 per leg ratio of 0.38 is only really rivalled by Van den Bergh and van Duijvenbode (both 0.37). And despite what people say about his counting, he’s still managing to win 13.51% of his legs with 100+ checkouts, including ‘that’ 120 in the Premier League. That figure is only bettered by MVG (15.57), Mervyn King (13.9) and Glen Durrant (18.57) so it shows how strong his all-round game is right now.

De Sousa did beat Clemens 6-3 and 7-5 during two of his three title runs this season back in April and June, but although the latter of those was in the semi-final, the German Giant has otherwise failed to sparkle in 2021.

His ProTour average of 92.70 puts him well outside the top 40 but he can boast an impressive 180 per leg ratio of 0.29.

Over 11.5 180s in the match at 6/4 seems pretty safe unless it's a heavy one-sided affair so instead I'm heading for the Player Performance market where you can get 11/4 on de Sousa to win the match, score over 5.5 180s and hit a checkout of over 115.5.

• Prediction: 10-4
• Suggested bet: Jose De Sousa to win the match, score over 5.5 180s and checkout over 115.5 at 11/4 (Sky Bet)

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