Saturday Evening Grand Slam Of Darts Preview

The darting action continues tonight after we landed a couple of winners in the afternoon session. Our main ante-post selection Rob Cross made a perfect start, winning 5-0. Let’s hope he continues in excellent form. James Punt is back in action tonight, check out his Saturday evening Grand Slam of Darts preview and tips below.

Evening Session

Gabriel Clemens vs. Mike de Dekker

Clemens has won seven of his last ten matches, including a 6-2 win against De Dekker last week in PC28. That was his third victory against De Dekker from their three matches played, all comfortable wins (6-2, 6-3 and 5-3).

De Dekker has also won seven of his last ten matches included four wins in the qualifying tournament for this event. He played very well in the qualifier, including a 107 average. He really needed to qualify as he sits outside the top 64 in the OOM and will lose his tour card at the end of the year unless he gets to the last 16 stage, and even that may not be enough. He is playing with plenty of pressure. Maybe he needs that pressure as he did play well under pressure to qualify.

Clemens is the 1.50 favourite, De Dekker 2.75 and I can’t disagree with those odds.

Jose De Sousa vs. Matt Campbell

The Special One starts the defence of his title against a talented Canadian making his tournament debut. Matt Campbell, The Ginga Ninja, looks a great prospect from what we have seen. He has played at Ally Pally twice and while he lost both first round matches, he gave a good account of himself. He has played in two World Cups. In the 2020 World Cup he thrashed Dimitri van den Bergh 4-1 and averaged 97.5. He also had the highest checkout of the tournament. He then went to Ally Pally and took Scott Waites to a deciding set and averaging 94.9.

His TV stage experience is scant, but what there has been, has been impressive. He has a good A game, won the European Challenge Tour OOM and three titles. He gets a two year tour card and a return to Ally Pally. This week is a good chance for him to get more experience and pick up some useful prizemoney. He will likely have to relocate to Europe or the UK for the next two years so a bit of cash would help. He is under no pressure and if he brings his A game, Jose will need his.

De Sousa Regaining Form

De Sousa looks to be returning to good form after a few health issues knocked him out of his stride for a few months. He won nine of his twelve matches last week, had four ton plus averages and plenty of good scoring. He will be hard to beat if he keeps that standard up.

This could be a cracker. Campbell is not a kid and not shy. He will love it up on the stage again and he’ll give Jose a match, but the Special One is likely to be just that bit better.

Saturday Evening Grand Slam Of Darts Tip: 1 point Matt Campbell to win +2.5 legs @ 1.85 with Sportingindex

Saturday Evening Grand Slam Of Darts Tip: 0.5 point De Sousa to win 5-4 @ 7.00 with Betfred

Luke Humphries vs. Mensur Suljovic

These two have only met once before, with Suljovic winning 6-3 last year. The Gentle’s comeback is going well enough, and his scoring is improving while his consistency needs to improve. He is, as Gary Anderson would say, getting there. He has won six of his last ten and had a few ton plus averages last week.

Humphries has won five of his last ten and his form has dropped from where it was earlier in the year. He won four of his seven matches last week, but his scoring was not great, and he will need to up his game this evening if he wants to beat Mensur.

Saturday Evening Grand Slam Of Darts Tip: 1 point Mensur Suljovic to win @ 2.20 with Betfair, Paddy Power

Gary Anderson vs. Joe Davis

Anderson should now be starting to put a bit of work in, preparing for his annual cash raid at Ally Pally in just over a month’s time. He cuts a fairly disinterested figure these days, but he always gets up for the big one and this week can be good practice.

A gentle opener against the 2020 World Youth championship runner up, Joe Davis is just what he needs. Davis has no experience at this level, and has played just one match on TV, and lost. There is little is his form to suggest he can beat even a past his best Anderson.

Anderson is the 1.22 favourite and he should get this done easily enough.

Saturday Evening Grand Slam Of Darts Tip: 1 point Gary Anderson to win -2.5 legs @ 2.00 with Betvictor

Michael van Gerwen vs. Lisa Ashton

Lisa Ashton played in this event last year and lost 1-5 twice but took Ratajski to a deciding leg. That sounds good but the reality was that she was staring another 1-5 in the face before Ratajski had one of his moments on the doubles and he gifted Ashton the chances to win four legs. In 2019 she lost all three matches 1-5, 1-5 and 2-5.

MVG is still the heaviest scorer in the game (100.56 in the last three months), and he has started concentrating on hitting the treble twenty rather than switching to treble nineteen. I think he is a better player for it. He has won eleven of his last twelve matches and picked up his first ranking title of the season last week.

Lisa has won four of her last ten players championship matches, two of them against Ted Evetts, who must really hate playing women. She rarely gets beaten to nil but there is a decent chance here.

Saturday Evening Grand Slam Of Darts Tip: 2 points MVG to win -3.5 legs @ 2.20 with Betvictor, Ladbrokes

Saturday Evening Grand Slam Of Darts Tip: 0.5 point MVG to win 5-1 @ 3.75 with Betfred

Joe Cullen vs. John Henderson

Surprisingly, John Henderson has a 3-1 H2H record with Cullen. Two of those wins were way back in 2011 but Hendo did beat Cullen just last month and Cullen averaged 97 in that match.

Recent form shows Cullen winning nine of his eleven matches last week, losing out in the final of PC30 to Ratajski. He hit 112 and 111 averages in two of those nine wins. He is running hot.

Henderson played three and lost three last week and has lost his last six matches. He has lost with good averages but lost none the less.

At a glance, this looks a stick-on win for Cullen, but if Henderson brings his A game, he could cause Cullen problems. Hopefully Cullen wins but odds of 1.37 make no appeal. I will take a chance on him to hit the most 180’s. Cullen is ranked 5^th for 180’s per leg in the last 12 months and when he has his eye in, he can really bang them in. In a short format match, these bets are riskier, but the odds look generous enough to me.

Saturday Evening Grand Slam Of Darts Tip: 1 point Joe Cullen to hit the most 180’s @ 1.91 with Betfair, Paddy Power

Peter Wright vs. Fallon Sherrock

Probably the most anticipated match of the night. Sherrock should be out gunned by Wright, but she has shown a knack for performing at or near her best on the TV stage. A seasonal average of 84.6 should not be able to put a hand on Wright but expect her to be nearer 90 tonight. She averaged 96.2 when giving MVG all sorts of problems in the final of the recent World Series in Denmark.

Peter Wright is not in good form. He has won just four of his last ten matches and he is vulnerable here. The crowd are usually eating out of his hand, but tonight, he must play the part of the villain. Sherrock is the fans darling wherever she goes and that is worth a few points on her average and few off her opponents.

Wright is the 1.20 favourite, but it is just about worth taking him on with the 4.50 for a Sherrock surprise.

Saturday Evening Grand Slam Of Darts Tip: 1 point Fallon Sherrock to win @ 4.50 generally available

Michael Smith vs. Raymond van Barneveld

Smith won PC27 last month, his second title in 2021 but his from didn’t kick on after it. He lost in the first round of the World Series finals, to go with his first round exits at the European Championships and World Grand Prix. His TV hoodoo remains strong. He has won six of his last ten, so he’s not in great form, despite that recent title win.

Barney won players championship 3 back in February but since then he has been treading water. One reason he gives is that he hates playing during the day. It may be something to do with his diabetes, but he finds the players championship events very tough. Tonight, he is last up and he can’t complain about that. He has won seven of his last ten matches and had three ton plus averages last week. He was a little lucky to get through the qualifiers after Brendan Dolan missed match darts to beat him.

Their H2H form is 10-8 to Smith but five of Barney’s wins came in 2011 – 2013. They have only met once since Barney came out of retirement and Smith won 6-5.

Smith is the 1.62 favourite with Van Barneveld 2.62. It isn’t a match that gets me interested. The odds look about right to me, and this is a no bet.

-JamesPunt