We move into the second half of the week in the Icons of Darts on Thursday where six players continue to toe their home oches for some competitive practice and to keep us entertained on what promises to be a roasting hot day on and off the streams.
We’ve seen three competitive days of action so far this week and with the players fully tuned in to their work there is no reason to think we won’t be getting more of the same on what should be a good group to watch on Thursday.
The Format
Each day from Monday to Saturday six 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 six players will play each other once over the best of nine 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.
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Wednesday Recap
It was a group that turned into a bit of a farce when Martin Adams’ internet connection packed it in soon after play started and the six players became five for the remainder of the day. In the end it was Ritchie Edhouse who came out on top winning three of his four matches. There were two wins for David Evans in his final outing of the week, as well as Andy Jenkins and Fallon Sherrock while Jarred Cole ended the day with the one win on a day where he played better than that.
Thankfully for us the win Jarred Cole picked up was against Fallon Sherrock, which was our only bet on the day. It wasn’t looking brilliant when he trailed 3-1 early on but he suddenly found a burst of 180s and his finishing improved beyond recognition and he ran out a pretty comfortable 5-3 winner in the end to maintain our unbeaten record this week with four winners from four bets.
Thursday Line Up
Scott Mitchell heads the line up on Thursday as he goes in search of a first group win of the week after landing two of them last week. Usually he would be the main attraction but I suspect all eyes will be on Keane Barry, the talented youngster who makes his debut in the Icons of Darts competition on Thursday. He has been playing online darts throughout lockdown so he could be primed for a strong showing right from the off.
Mark Webster has struggled since he won a group a couple of weeks ago and he will be looking to show his best form, as will Paul Nicholson, who might just be hampered by a little RSI niggle at the minute. That could open the door to Stephen Burton, who is clearly improving the more he plays in this competition. The one remaining player in the field is the Welsh player Mike Warburton, who himself is capable of big things.
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Outright Betting
There is a real difference in the odds of Keane Barry for this group and while I probably wouldn’t go in at 5/1 or 11/2, I can’t not go in at 10/1. That is just too big for a player who might well go on to have a better career than the other five men on show here. I saw on his Twitter feed that he played an online tournament recently and averaged 95 in the final of it and that is the kind of standard that could be very competitive here.
I’m wary and respectful of Mitchell and wouldn’t be surprised if he goes in here but at 6/5 I’m not interested in backing him. Without meaning to be nasty, he’s not the slimmest of blokes and with a heatwave going through the south he might not be as comfortable as he might be. Stephen Burton shouldn’t be dismissed without a mention but you can get a bigger price on Barry and if the youngster settles into the Icons format I can see him going very close here.
Match Betting
I’ll go with a couple of bets on Thursday and they both involve taking the same man on because I think Mike Warburton’s finishing is going to count against him. He actually hit 12 out of his 32 attempts at a double on Tuesday but even that sort of ratio isn’t going to cut the mustard too often and that was him finishing well. Stephen Burton has improved with every outing he has had in this competition and I see no reason why that isn’t going to continue on Thursday. Furthermore, he beat Warburton 5-1 on Tuesday when Warburton played well averaging over 91 in the match. That shows the size of the task for Warby here and I think it will be too much for him. I’ll side with Burton here.
The other man I’ll take Warburton on with is Paul Nicholson, a player who beat him 5-0 on Tuesday and who will fancy his chances of beating his Welsh foe again here. These two have now met four times in the Icons of Darts and Nicholson has won all four, none as easily as that display on Tuesday where ‘The Asset’ averaged seven points more than his opponent. Nicholon was only 5/10 on his doubles and only hit four scores of 140 or more in the match so there is more to come from him and if he brings it out here he should have too much for Warburton once again.
Tips
Back K.Barry to win Group 4 for a 1/10 stake at 11.00 with Coral
Back P.Nicholson to beat M.Warburton for a 3/10 stake at 1.85 with Coral
Back them here:
Back S.Burton to beat M.Warburton for a 3/10 stake at 1.88 with 888sport
Back him here:
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