After an excellent eight days at the new venue of the Indigo at the o2, we are down to the final of the BDO World Darts Championship, which takes place on Sunday night. We are guaranteed a Welsh winner of the title as Wayne Warren takes on Jim Williams.
There are fears among many that this could be the last BDO world final which would make the winner remembered in history even more if that is the case. There is a chance these two are playing for more than the historic trophy and who knows what in prize money.
Wayne Warren
When the week started, one of the bigger mysteries was how Wayne Warren hadn’t gone deep in a major tournament. He has always had the game to do so but for whatever reason it hadn’t really happened for him, but this has been the week it has. That is no surprise and actually although the odds suggest otherwise, based more on world rankings than what we’ve seen this week, there is a case to be made that he is the favourite for this title now.
Warren started the week with a narrow win over Justin Thompson but since overcoming that hurdle he has largely been on easy street. He outlasted Andy Hamilton in the second round before a barrel load of 180s saw him overcome the challenge of Chris Landman in the quarter finals. He then produced a six set spell of brilliance to get past Scott Mitchell in the last four to put himself into this final where he will surely be full of confidence.
Jim Williams
It is never easy to go into this tournament as the favourite to win it and actually come out on top in it, but Jim Williams is one win away from doing that. He has been regarded as one of the best players in the BDO code for a while and he showed that in the BDO World Trophy last year when he galloped to victory. We haven’t seen him at his best this week by any stretch but it is never a bad thing when your B game is winning you matches.
Much like his opponent here, Williams opened up his campaign with a decidjing set win. He saw off Gary Stone in the first round before easing through his next two matches, taking care of Ryan Hogarth 4-0 and Paul Hogan 5-1. Things were much more difficult against the dour and dogged Mario Vandenbogaerde in the semi-final but the Welshman came through 6-4 to take his place in this final, but how much he has left after that will be interesting.
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Head to Head
These two Wales teammates will be meeting for the seventh time in official competition. Wayne Warren won their opening encounter but he has lost the five since, although three of those five went to a decider so there isn’t a huge amount between the two. This will be the second time they have met in a final of any kind, having played the title match in the England Open last year which Williams won 6-1. This will be their second meeting on TV after Williams won 3-2 in the Zuidenduin Masters just over a year ago.
Betting
Those who have followed our bets on this tournament right from the outset will be sitting pretty with a betting slip for Wayne Warren to win this final at 28/1. Any late comers to the party can still get an acceptable price on Warren to win and I’m surprised he is the outsider as I do believe he is the man most likely to win the match based on what we’ve seen this week to date.
I’m not going to back him again obviously but I am going to take him to cover his 180 line. That is 11.5 and is odds against and I like the idea of him getting a dozen and beyond. In his last two matches, Warren has slammed in 15 180s in eight sets against Chris Landman and 13 in nine sets against Scott Mitchell. He only hit four against Andy Hamilton but he said the pace of the play didn’t suit him then and he won’t have that issue here. This is a final that could easily have 12 sets so we’re looking for one 180 a set on average. His ratio since the second round is more than 1.5 180 per set so we might only need eight sets to get this line covered and we’ll definitely get that in a race to seven.
Tips
Back W.Warren – Over 11.5 180s for a 4/10 stake at 2.10 with Betfair
Back him here:
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