The first pool of players play in the Icons of Darts competition for the final time this week on Friday when the seven dartists toe their home oches to battle it out for a third group title to keep us entertained throughout another day of lockdown.
Ritchie Edhouse and Mike Warburton have picked up the wins so far this week and they will be out to replicate those successes, but while the quality of this group hasn’t always been high the competitiveness has been, and that is set to continue here.
The Format
Each day from Monday to Saturday seven players will battle it out for a daily title. There are two pools of players, one which plays on Monday, Wednesday and Friday and the other which toe the oche on Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday. Each day the seven players will play each other once over the best of seven legs with two points for a win. The daily winner is the player with the most points. If players are level on points it is determined on leg difference and then the record between the two. The entire event can be watched on various bookmaker websites, dartshop.tv or the Modus YouTube channel.
Confirmation of today’s final league table ✅? @reddragondarts @low6bet #IconsofDarts
Congratulations to @scottydogdart ?? pic.twitter.com/8eJMTfuS7v
— MODUS Sports (@ModusDarts180) May 21, 2020
Thursday Recap
It has not been a good week for the favourites in terms of the group wins and we got another upset on Thursday when Scott Mitchell won the group as an 11/2 shot. He edged out Martin Adams on leg difference after both had finished with four wins from their six matches. There was a queue of players in behind them with Jason Askew, Darryl Fitton and Keelan Kay all winning three matches and being separated into that order on leg difference. Andy Jenkins couldn’t buy a deciding leg win and was condemned to two wins, the same amount as Mark Webster.
That obviously meant that Jenkins was unable to land the group win for us for the second time this week but we were able to walk off with some profit on the day courtesy of Martin Adams proving too good for Mark Webster. We required Wolfie to win no worse than 4-2 and he got the job done a leg easier than that to give us something to build on for the last two days of the week.
Friday Line Up
He hasn’t been at his best so far this week but he hasn’t been far away from delivering the goods either, but Boris Koltsov has one last chance to justify favouritism from this pool of players. Ritchie Edhouse is the bookmakers’ idea of the man who is most likely to run him closest of all although Jarred Cole is still rated as a danger. He would need a stark improvement on what he has shown so far this week for that to be the case.
This has been a week for outsiders so far so there could well be plenty of interest in the other four players on show over the course of the day. Scott Marsh will conclude his first week of action on Friday while Fallon Sherrock will be looking to build on a competitive week or so. Mike Warburton is technically the defending champion having won on Wednesday and he’ll hope to keep the crown. Jose Justicia is the other thrower on show.
Special Offer
OPEN AN ACCOUNT WITH 888SPORT AND BET £10 TO GET £30 IN FREE BETS PLUS A £10 CASINO BONUS! PERFECT OFFER TO USE ON THIS TOURNAMENT! CLICK THE IMAGE BELOW TO JOIN. USE CODE 30F. NEW ACCOUNTS ONLY. 18+ T&Cs apply (See image for significant terms). Gamble Aware.
Outright Betting
I’ve backed Scott Marsh in the first two groups this week and although he has not delivered the goods yet I feel obliged to get involved again because if he does come in at 11/1 and I’m not on him I’ll go mad. There were enough signs on Wednesday that Marsh is lingering with intent. He won his first three matches and then things went pear-shaped but we’ve seen players get better day by day in the past and it wouldn’t be a complete surprise again.
If any of the favourites were going well and looking convincing I would probably have left the group alone but while Boris Koltsov has been winning matches his finishing is not convincing me. The other man I am wary of is Jarred Cole but he looks to have left his form behind this week. There isn’t really anyone else I rate that highly, although of course we should acknowledge the superb or poor swings of Mike Warburton. If he wins again so be it but I’ll stick to my guns and take Marsh to finally come good.
Match Betting
I’ll take Scott Marsh in a match bet as well on Friday. The one against Jarred Cole is the match that interests me. I don’t know what has happened to Cole this week but he is not playing as well as we’ve seen him play in the early days he has been involved in the Modus leagues. He didn’t register a single 90 average on Wednesday, has the lowest overall average for the week and only Jose Justicia has hit fewer 180s than him.
This is the first match of the day for Cole so he might not be at his very best whereas Marsh will be nicely into his work for the day and should be in a nice groove by this time. These two have met twice this week. Cole won 4-3 on Monday, taking advantage of missed doubles by Marsh in a deciding leg in which the youngster had the throw, but Marsh got his revenge on Wednesday when he picked up a 4-2 victory. Marsh has been the better player this week and he looks overpriced to me here.
Tips
Back S.Marsh to win Group 5 for a 1/10 stake at 12.00 with Boylesports
Back him here:
WON – Back S.Marsh to beat J.Cole for a 3/10 stake at 2.30 with Coral
Back him here:
Copyright secured by Digiprove © 2020
