Wednesday Afternoon PDC World Championship Tips – JP
Wednesday Afternoon PDC World Championship Preview
It was a tough evening for us on Tuesday. We were out of luck with out first three bets but thankfully, Ray Smith got us on the board in the lucky last at odds of 2.00. There are some cracking matches at the Ally Pally today. Check out James Punt’s Wednesday Afternoon PDC World Championship tips and preview below.
Ryan Searle vs. William Borland
The Nine Dart Kid vs. Heavy Metal. Big Willie has the chance to unlock a £100k bonus if he hits a second nine darter during the tournament. That may be a bit of a distraction from the main job in hand, which is not to get beaten by Ryan Searle, one of the heaviest scorers in the game.
Ryan Searle, runner up in the recent Players Championship, has won all three of his previous World Championship second round matches. He is averaging 95.9 in 2021 and has a win rate of 69%. That compares favourably with 90.5 and 47% for Borland.
Borland Needs More
Clearly the young Scot will have to play at least as well as he did in the first round, or likely a bit better, if he is to live with Searle. Their H2H record is 1-1 so it is not out of the question, but Searle is a formidable player, in good form and at home on the Ally Pally stage.
Borland’s feet will have hardly touched the floor since his dramatic, match winning dart last Friday night. He has done the full round of media interviews and he was headline news the next day. It is now time to get back to work, to try and forget all the hullabaloo and play his best. Mental let down is a big concern.
Searle is the 1.33 favourite and Borland the 3.80 underdog.
I’ll take Searle to win and to hit the most 180s. Heavy Metal’s 180s per leg rate is 24.7% compared to 16.6% for Borland and it will be hard for Borland to live up to the hype created by his headline making performance last Friday.
Wednesday Afternoon PDC World Championship Tips: 1 point Ryan Searle to win and hit the most 180s @ 1.67 with Betfair
Glen Durrant vs. William O’Connor
Duzza removed himself from competitive darts in late October. So poor was his game that he decided there was no point in just being humiliated every time he took to the oche. He couldn’t even play local leagues or have a chuck in the pub. When he quit he had one win from eleven matches and his annual win rate was just 26% and falling.
Duzza has never played O’Connor but he will find the Irishman in good form. He is not one of the top players but decent, has won six of his last ten and this will be his fifth World Championship second round match. He has won two of his previous four, losing 2-3 to Daryl Gurney last year and 2-3 to Gerwyn price the previous year.
Magpie Taking Nothing For Granted
He averaged 96 when beating Danny Lauby in the first round, his second best performance at Ally Pally. O’Connor says that he is taking nothing for granted and he has to assume that Durrant will play like a three time World Champion, which is the correct thing to say. How he will play if Duzza turns up and plays poorly again is another thing.
These matches with Durrant involved have been profitable in the past as it took the bookies a surprisingly long time to twig that this wasn’t just a temporary dip in form but a complete collapse. They have now got the message and a 3-0 score line for O’Connor is now just 2.10. If he is still playing as he was in October, that is a steal, but we don’t know if he has been able to find any form.
He has played a few exhibitions, but no proper competitive darts for two months is hardly ideal preparation for a World Championship. He did win two matches here last year when his game was in poor shape but it has declined since then.
There is only one bet to be made.
Wednesday Afternoon PDC World Championship Tips: 1 point William O’Connor to win 3-0 @ 2.10 with Skybet
Luke Humphries vs. Rowby-John Rodriguez
Rowby-John swatted a poor Nick Kenney aside with a 3-0 win and a very impressive 97.5 average. I like a player who has no regard for how poor his opponent is playing and just gets on with inflicting maximum damage. All too often the better player gets dragged down a level and we get turgid, messy games. Rodriguez has won five of his last ten and while he is a very talented player, he lacks consistency. You have to go back 14 matches to find the last time he won back to back matches.
Humphries is in good form with seven wins from his last ten matches, but his scoring at times is not his best. His season average is 95.5 but he has been shy of that in six of his last ten, but he is not miles short of where he should be. The H2H record shows a 2-1 advantage to Rodriguez but there have been no recent meetings.
All About Rowby
This would seem to be all about Rodriguez. He can turn up and score really heavily, or he can be quite ordinary. His seasonal average is just 90.1 and the difference between his A and B games is night and day.
Humphries is the 1.44 favourite and Rowby-John 3.00. Humphries is a bit of an Ally Pally specialist, winning eight of twelve matches and reaching two quarter finals. That, coupled with Rodriguez’s inconsistency, suggests that Humphries wins and hopefully he can cover the handicap.
Wednesday Afternoon PDC World Championship Tips: 1 point Luke Humphries to win -1.5 sets @ 2.05 with Ladbrokes
Joe Cullen vs. Jim Williams
Williams beat Ted Evetts 3-1 in the first round. It wasn’t a classic and Williams averaged just 89.7. That is pretty much bang on his seasonal average. He is likely to need something much better to deal with Cullen.
The concern with Cullen is that his record at Ally Pally is poor. He did reach the fourth-round last year and hopefully that has broken his hoodoo, but if he finds himself under pressure, that scar tissue may come to the fore. Hopefully Cullen can just play his usual game, and if so, he should be too good for Williams.
Cullen has lost three of his last four but two of those matches saw him average over 98, so he is scoring well and something similar will be fine.
Cullen is ranked 5th for 180s per leg and I’ll take him to win and have the most 180s.
