Wednesday World Matchplay Darts Preview and Tips – JP
Wednesday World Matchplay Darts Preview
The miserable run of form continues, and this may be viewed as a guide as to what won’t happen. At least a couple of tips were closer to winning last night. Peter Wright failed to convert a 7-3 lead into a 3 leg margin of victory. While Aspinall couldn’t convert 10-8 into 11-8 and he won the match but didn’t cover the -2.5 leg handicap. Let’s hope for better tonight, check out James’ Wednesday World Matchplay Darts Tips below.
Danny Noppert vs. Daryl Gurney
The H2H stats tell a story here. Overall it is very close, 6-5 to Danny Noppert, but it is the Dutchman who has won their last six matches, with Superchin’s last win coming in 2019. This reflects their world ranking trajectories. As Gurney was on the way to number three, he was beating Noppert, when Noppert was improving and Gurney struggling, it has all been Noppert.
In their last six, all wins for Noppert, the closest match was 6-4. Daryl Gurney won their only first to eleven match 11-3 back in 2019 on his way to winning the Players Championship finals. Things have changed since then.
Noppert is better in most aspects of their games, but they both have a 180s per leg rate of 0.28. That apart, Noppert averages a bit more, checks out at a better rate, has better legs won rate, better first nine and so on. He starts as the 1.50 favourite with Gurney 2.80. They haven’t had many close matches and if this goes the same way, there should be a fairly large margin of victory.
Wednesday World Matchplay Darts Tips: 1 point under 18.5 legs @ 1.89 with Unibet
Jose de Sousa vs. Rob Cross
Jose de Sousa beat Gabriel Clemens 10-6 in the first round. A comfortable win but a very ordinary match. He must now do what he has failed to do since May, and that is win back to back matches. He will also be trying to get beyond the second round for the first time. His recent form continues to be poor with just four wins from his last ten.
Rob Cross has only ever won one second round match in his five previous Matchplays, but when he did, he won the title. His recent form isn’t great with five wins from his last ten, and his 11-9 win over Chris Dobey in the first round was far from inspiring. He lost his action and was heading for the exit, but Dobey did what Dobey does and in his own words, he bottled it.
Dobey was 3-0 up, 4-1, 8-2 and cruising before Cross levelled it 8-8 and went on to win in extra time. Of course, that is not his only great escape on this very stage, so he knew it was possible and in Dobey, he found an opponent with very fragile confidence.
Bullets Dodged
Cross dodged not just a bullet, but an entire magazine clip. De Sousa just had a gentle warm up against Clemens. The Special One played well enough overall and very well at times, hitting four 13 dart legs, but it wasn’t anything Special.
Neither player is in good form and their H2H record shows De Sousa leading 5-2. Their last two matches were long format ones, with De Sousa winning the most recent 10-7 and Cross the other 10-5.
The market has Cross as the 1.67 favourite and De Sousa 2.50. My gut feeling is that Cross wins but while I am having such a poor run, I am not keen to get involved in a match with a couple of dodge pots. No Bet.
Wednesday World Matchplay Darts Tips: No Bet
Gerwyn Price vs. Dave Chisnall
Price beat Martin Schindler 10-8 in the first round in one of the better matches so far. He had to play well to win, had to find his A-game, and in the end, he enjoyed it. I don’t think he has been enjoying it much recently and perhaps winning a tough match on the big stage is what he needed to get his juices flowing. It was only his fifth win from his last ten matches and one Swallow doesn’t make a summer and all that.
He now faces a very much in-form Dave Chisnall. This month has seen him play 24 matches and winning 20. There are still too many poor matches to think he can win a title. He is unlikely to get away with throwing a sub 90 average at this level but if he can bring his A-game, he will be hard to beat.
Iceman Edges H2H
Their H2H record is 5-4 to Price and he has won four of their last five matches. Chizzy had most of his wins back before Price had properly arrived.
This is another tricky match. Recent form says that Chisnall has a great chance, the H2H form says Price has now got Chizzy’s number. Price is mentally stronger than Chisnall and that counts for a lot, especially if the match is close. A few days ago. I would have jumped at the 2.75 on offer for Chisnall to win, but Price’s performance against Schindler has put doubts in my mind.
We have backed Chisnall to win the quarter and this is THE key match. That is enough interest in the game for me here.
Wednesday World Matchplay Darts Tips: No Bet
Michael Smith vs. Dirk van Duijvenbode
Smith struggled to beat Andrew Gilding in the first round, requiring extra time to win 11-9. Gilding started well, lead 5-2 before Smith came back at him. Gilding pulled away again to lead 8-4 but when Smith found his A game, and he had to, he was the better player and he won eight of his winning legs in 14 darts or less. He didn’t let his head drop too much and was able to gather himself together, which is not always the case.
Dirk van Duijvenbode is in great form, winning his last eight in a row, six with ton plus averages. He averaged 103.61 when beating Ryan Searle 10-8 in a very good match to kick off his campaign. He has been enjoying a lot of good runs recently, reaching the quarter final of ET8 the final of PC16 the quarter final of PC17, the final of the Dutch Darts Masters and winning PC18. The Aubergenius is one of the form players remaining in the tournament. Arguably he is not converting enough of these good runs into titles, but he is hard to beat.
Good Form
Both players are in good form, and this has the makings of a great match. Their H2H record is 10-2 to Smith. In 2022 it is 2-1 to Smith and he won their last match 8-6, the final of PC 16 last month.
The market makes Smith the 1.80 favourite, which is fair enough, given their H2H record. On recent form, Dirk has strong claims but 2.10 is only fair given that H2H record.
What is striking when looking at their H2H record that there has not been a single match which went to a deciding leg. Their two closest matches a 10-8 win for Dirk in the 2020 European Championships and the recent 8-6 win for Smith in the final of PC16, have come in longer format matches. This match could go one way, and then the other, and the longer format allows for a closer finish.
