The first round of The Masters comes to a close on Saturday evening when the bottom half of the draw plays down to the quarter final stage ahead of the conclusion of the first event of the year on Sunday.
We saw some great darts on Friday night and plenty more is expected on what looks like a much more competitive evening of arrers heading into the session in Milton Keynes. Rob Cross and Peter Wright headline the action.
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Gerwyn Price vs James Wade
The evening begins with two tournament winners from last year colliding when Gerwyn Price, winner of the Grand Slam, takes on the man who won the European Championship and the World Series Finals in James Wade.
Price will be looking for a big weekend to address the £21k he got stung for after the fallout from his antics in that Grand Slam final but these are the events that Wade tends to excel in so nothing is going to come easy for the Welshman in this one. Both men had disappointing World Championship campaigns so the fire will be burning for the pair of them here.
You usually get a close match when Wade is on the stage and Price often hangs around and gets involved in tight encounters as well so I think the way to begin the evening’s punting is to get on over 16.5 legs here. Neither are relentless enough scorers to pull away unless there is a host of missed doubles from one of them. I don’t see that though. I think this goes 10-7 or closer either way.
Rob Cross vs Joe Cullen
The second match of the night sees the former world champion Rob Cross taking on a man who had a good 2018 on the big stage in Joe Cullen, who is still dramatically underachieving in his career given the talent that he has.
Cross begun to look a little more like the player we know he can be towards the end of 2018 and I’m expecting big things from him in 2019 and I wouldn’t be surprised if he is bang up for this and does a right job here. Cullen is becoming hard to call. He can be brilliant as we saw in the World Matchplay and European Championship but at the same time he can be ordinary as we saw at Alexandra Palace. Given the Jekyll and Hyde nature of Cullen the obvious thing is to give this one a miss.
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Michael Smith vs Ian White
The World Championship finalist Michael Smith is on stage in the penultimate match in the evening when he goes up against a man who can be dominant on the floor but flatters to deceive in front of the cameras in Ian White.
It would be wrong to say that Smith came of age at Alexandra Palace given that it was his third TV final of the season, but I liked the determination he showed and that he talked the talk and backed it up. That is the sign of a man full of belief and confidence. White should be threatening every TV event he enters but for one reason or another he just can’t bring his best game onto the stage. If he ever does he’ll be a huge danger.
I’m tempted by over 9.5 180s in this match but at the same time it is a little early in the season to be pushing the boat out on that sort of a bet so I’ll sit this one out and see how Smith has reacted to that loss in the world final rather than bet on anything.
Peter Wright vs Adrian Lewis
We have to wait until the final match of the first round for the pick of the ties within it when the world number three Peter Wright takes on an Adrian Lewis who is very much on the up and who could be set for a big campaign in 2019.
Wright was nothing like his best in 2018 and his first round exit in the World Championship should have acted as a wake up call for him. He has some big tournaments on the horizon, including this one so he should come in here well prepared. Lewis is over all of his injury problems and looked in really good form at Alexandra Palace and I guess there is a case to be made to suggest he could even be a favourite for this one on the form of the last 2-3 months.
Until Wright sorts out one set of darts, sticks with them and finds some consistency again it is hard to take him in this kind of match. Lewis is a class act and looks to be getting back towards the form he showed when he won the world title. At odds against he’s my pick in this one.
Tips
WON – Back G.Price vs J.Wade – Over 16.5 legs for a 4/10 stake at 2.00 with Betfair
Back it here:
Back A.Lewis to beat P.Wright for a 4/10 stake at 2.10 with Betway
Back him here:
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