The Icons of Darts event continues on Friday and it sees the first pool of players in action for the final time this week on what should be another excellent day of bank holiday darts to keep us entertained in these different times.
It means we will see the likes of Martin Adams, David Evans, Jarred Cole et al on the oche battling it out for what is likely to be a very competitive daily crown if the two other days these players have been involved is anything to go by.
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 #IconsofDarts
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— MODUS Sports (@ModusDarts180) May 7, 2020
Thursday Recap
We saw the biggest shock of any of the previous Icons of Darts groups on Thursday when from absolutely nowhere Mike Warburton landed top spot. He rode his luck with a couple of deciding leg wins in which his opponent missed a host of doubles to beat him but three 4-1 victories earlier in the day were enough to see him finish top. Wessel Nijman rallied late on to come second with five wins but his leg difference was one inferior to that of Warburton. Andy Jenkins also had five wins for the second time this week but couldn’t compete on leg difference. Arron Monk and Scott Mitchell came away with two wins for their efforts while Mark Webster and Jason Askew had just the solo victory to their name.
It was probably the most frustrating day of the lot for us from a betting standpoint. Missed doubles cost us badly throughout the day. It began with Andy Jenkins beating Mike Warburton 4-3 but he missed doubles in every leg the Welshman won which would have brought our handicap in had he hit any of them and then Arron Monk lost 4-3 to Warburton but had already hit the most 180s and he botched half a dozen darts for the match in the final leg. If that wasn’t enough Wessel Nijman was denied the group win by being beaten 4-3 by Warburton despite the Dutchman averaging 112.95. We’ll have to take them on the chin and move on as on another day they would all have won.
Friday Line Up
David Evans is back on Friday to defend the title that he won on Wednesday when his five wins were good enough to get the job done. The two men who finished closest to the BDO World Championship quarter finalist, Jarred Cole, the man who won on Monday, and Jose Justicia, will both be back looking to go a little better than they did on Wednesday, while Martin Adams has had two acceptable days this week and would love a special one.
Paul Nicholson was on commentary duty on Thursday but he’ll swap the microphone for his tungsten on Friday and look to get back into the winning habit, while Ritchie Edhouse will be out to deliver a much better effort than the one which provided him with just one win on Wednesday. Fallon Sherrock missed out through illness on Wednesday but she is expected to replace Keelan Kay and take her place in the line up again.
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Outright Betting
I’ve been on the side of Jarred Cole on both days this week but I think the value in him is a little restrictive at 9/2, especially when you consider that he faces David Evans in his first match on Friday and a loss in that, and a heavy one at that, could put him right on the back foot from the get go which is less than ideal. If I was a favourite backer I’d probably have no problems backing David Evans at 2/1 but those prices don’t sit great with me in a competitive field.
Of the outsiders I’ve a feeling we might get a strong day out of Martin Adams but again his price is about right. I can’t be having Ritchie Edhouse in this format while it just looks like hard work for Paul Nicholson at present. Fallon Sherrock could be anything after illness and while Jose Justicia is clearly improving and suited more by this format, there’s nothing there that makes me want to back him either so I’ll sit out the group betting on Friday.
Match Betting
I’ll take a couple of bets over the course of the day with the first of them coming in the form of Martin Adams to beat Ritchie Edhouse. They have a win apiece against each other so far this week with Edhouse winning 4-3 on Monday and Adams coming through 4-1 on Wednesday. The match that Edhouse won, Adams will know he should have prevailed in. He was just 3/17 on the checkouts so he could well feel he lost that rather than Edhouse won it. I think Wednesday gave us a clearer picture of the battles between these two and the even money on Adams to win again appeals. This is Wolfie’s second match so it is a good time for him whereas it is the penultimate match for Edhouse and he might not be playing for anything by then. Even if he is, Adams is the better player and if he hits the doubles he wins for me.
Jarred Cole has been pretty decent for me all week and I can’t allow him to finish his week without backing him again. He beat Paul Nicholson for me on Wednesday and I see no reason why he can’t follow that up on Friday. Cole has played really well this week and could easily have come away with two group successes whereas as I’ve mentioned before it has all been a grind and a struggle for Nicholson. Cole is just the heavier scorer of the two here and if he finishes like he has been for the majority of the week he should come past his more experience opponent at an acceptable 4/5 price.
Tips
WON – Back M.Adams to beat R.Edhouse for a 3/10 stake at 2.00 with Betfair
WON – Back J.Cole to beat P.Nicholson for a 3/10 stake at 1.80 with Betfair
Back them here:
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