Last 16 World Cup of Darts Preview and Tips – JP
Last 16 World Cup of Darts Preview and Tips
One match bet, one winner yesterday. It doesn’t get much better than that and James Punt also landed a couple of his ante-post Group winner bets. He is hoping to cause the bookies more heartache today. check out his Last 16 World Cup of Darts previews and tips below.
Last 16 Preview
The tricky group phase is done and we have lost six of the minor seeds. The big boys join the show today and the matches are a much longer best of 15 leg format. That should favour the better teams.
France vs. South Africa
Two of the unseeded teams to make it through the groups are drawn together and one makes the quarter finals. South Africa have been the heavier scoring team so far, averaging 87.34, compared to France’s 82.16. South Africa have dropped four legs across their two group matches, France just the one.
France have the better balanced team, both players average 88 in 2023. South Africa have the very experienced Devon Petersen, Mr. Motivation, and Vernon Bowers has been an able assistant. They played together in 2019, reaching the second round. They required a deciding pairs match to decide the winner but they lost that 2-4 to New Zealand.
Evenly Matched
This is hard to call. The two teams look quite evenly matched, both have done well to get this far. France had arguably the harder task but they were massively helped by Northern Ireland just not turning up in their opening match. Both teams have a tour card holder but Petersen and Labre have been in pretty dire form coming into this.
France are the 1.73 favourites with South Africa 2.30. It looks like a bit of a coin toss to me so any value may be with South Africa. I’ll take a chance with this being a close match. It is hard to see one team being good enough to dominate and hopefully both can stick in and do their best.
Last 16 World Cup of Darts Tip: 1 point over 13.5 legs @ 2.30 with Ladbrokes
Sweden vs. Canada
Sweden did us proud by winning Group L. Beating Italy and Switzerland wasn’t the hardest task in world darts and they averaged just under 84 across their two matches. Canada beat Hungary and India, an equally straightforward task, averaging 85.88.
Canada have the stronger line up with two tour card holders. Jeff Smith is feeling great after winning the North American Championship a few weeks ago, beating Campbell in the final. Campbell is a player I like, very talented and his A game is world class.
Sweden’s number two Oskar Lukasiak has been impressive, playing his part in Sweden’s success. Dennis Nilsson hasn’t looked confident on his doubles and I think they have got as far as they can.
Canada are the 1.29 favourites, Sweden 4.00.
Last 16 World Cup of Darts Tip: 1 point Canada to win -2.5 legs @ 1.75 with Ladbrokes
Australia vs. Croatia
The Aussies have done what they have had to do, beating Gibraltar and Guyana 4-0. They have only averaged 84.82 but those games were never going to be about heavy scoring. Croatia beat Ireland and Thailand and have averaged 81.35. They struggled against the Thais but played better against a disappointing Ireland.
Australia are the 1.20 favourites and they should be far too good for Croatia.
Last 16 World Cup of Darts Tip: 1 point under 12.5 legs @ 1.80 with SpreadEx
Scotland vs. Philippines
This could be interesting. Scotland are the first of the big four to take to the stage and they are coming in cold. The Philippines have already played two matches beating the Czech Republic and Singapore, both 4-1. They were seriously underrated to win that group and I think they are underrated again today.
Yes, Scotland have the better players, two former world Champions and former World Cup winners, but one is in very poor form, and the other may not take well to the pace of play.
Peter Wright was averaging nearly 100 at the end of 2020, he is now averaging 93.8. That is still a good average, but it is still heading south. Wright won the Czech Open a month ago and he was back! My game will seriously improve he promised.
Since that win he has only played five matches and won one. He averaged 83.6 across those five and in his last match he averaged 75.83, his lowest ever Players Championship average. He played with two different sets of darts in that match, changing them four times.
Anderson In Form
Gary Anderson on the other hand is in top form. He has won eight of his last ten matches, was runner up in Players Championship 13 on Monday, losing 7-8 to Michael Smith. His 2023 average is 98.21.
However, he is still a grumpy git. He was chuntering on about something in the final against Smith, and it wasn’t about the pace of play. The pace of play today will be slow. That is the nature of pairs. Throw into the mix Christian Perez. He is a SLOW player and that will rub Anderson up the wrong way.
Effective Players
The Philippines are not going to blow anyone way, but they have two effective players in Perez and Ilagan. Perez has a 2023 average of 88.5 and he is in good form. He has a tour card but no UK visa so he hasn’t been able to take part on the pro tour.
He did play in the two Players Championship events earlier this week and he beat the in-form Rob Cross 6-5, beat Jamie Hughes 6-1, beat Luke Woodhouse 6-2 and Karel Sedláček 6-3 before losing the quarter final. His scoring was low, but he does the right things at the right time. He has also won on the Asian Tour, picking up AT10 at the end of April. He is not lacking for confidence.
Ilagan is averaging 87 in 2023, has won two Asian Tour titles this season and he is another consistent, confident performer who knows how to play good darts. They are a perfectly good pairs team.
Two Time Winners
Scotland are two time World Cup winners but they have had their slip ups as well. They, Wright and Anderson, famously lost to Singapore in 2017. That apart, as a team they have played in four World Cups and reached three finals, winning one. As such, they start as the massive 1.13 favourites, with the Philippines at 7.50.
If Wright continues to play poorly it will be down to Anderson to carry him, which he is capable of doing. But what if Wright plays poorly and Gary reacts to the slow pace? That would be interesting. I give the Philippines more of a chance than the odds suggest.
