There are two sessions of play at the PDC World Darts Championship on Tuesday with the first of them coming in the afternoon as the second round of the biggest tournament in the world continues inside the Alexandra Palace in London.
We have a former champion on show in this afternoon session as well as a previous finalist and a couple of entertaining other players in what should be a good few hours of darts with places in the third round up for grabs.
Brendan Dolan vs Edward Shouji Foulkes
The opening match of the afternoon sees the extremely experienced Brendan Dolan taking on the Japanese qualifier Edward Shouji Foulkes for a place in the third round where the number three seed Gerwyn Price awaits the winner.
Dolan will be expected to come through this tie but he might not be quite the certainty that he looked when the draw was made because the Japanese player was quite good in his first round win over Mike de Decker, averaging 91 and hitting 50% of his checkouts and if he maintains that level for this match he is likely to be a tough nut to crack. Dolan has the experience of this stage but he hasn’t won too many TV matches in recent times so the pressure will be all on him. I’m tempted by the Japanese qualifier but it might be that he struggles to back up a big effort so I’ll tentatively leave this match alone.
Joe Cullen vs Wayne Jones
Two more experienced players follow those two onto the big stage when Joe Cullen takes on the veteran Wayne Jones for the right to return after Christmas and take on Jonny Clayton in the third round of the competition.
Cullen has had a pretty decent year having won a European Tour event as well as an event at the Winter Series and he was going nicely in the Players Championship Finals until he failed to get over the line in the quarter finals against Gerwyn Price. That failure to hold his nerve in big matches is something that has dogged him throughout his career and I’m sure he won’t need me to remind him that his record on this stage is pathetic. He has been here 10 times and has won all of one match with his last three efforts resulting in first match losses to Jermaine Wattimena, Brendan Dolan and Nico Kurz.
That will give Jones a lot of belief going into this match and although he wasn’t superb or anything like that he doesn’t have the pressure of being favourite weighing him down here. I highlighted Jones’ poor record in this event ahead of that first round match so both are singing from a similar hymn sheet here but the pressure is all on Cullen in this one. He should win but he should have beaten Dolan and Kurz before and didn’t. I wouldn’t be surprised if we get a below par Cullen so the strong odds against on Jones winning two sets appeals here.
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Simon Whitlock vs Darius Labanauskas
The third match of the afternoon sees the former finalist Simon Whitlock taking on the Lithuanian number one and quarter finalist on this stage last year in Darius Labanauskas for the right to take on Krzysztof Ratajski in the third round after Christmas.
Whitlock has had a pretty decent year without winning anything. He has beaten Michael van Gerwen three times on TV which shows how well he has been going but he’ll have been disappointed not to push on and win another major title having had that success over the world number one. Nevertheless his form looks exceptionally good and if he can nail the pressure doubles he could have a decent run here. Labanauskas was one of the better performers in the opening round even though he had little in the way of opposition and that, along with his run to the quarter final here last year, should see him carry plenty of confidence into this contest with him.
This one could go either way. I certainly don’t think Labanauskas has no chance in the game and I would be surprised if it is 3-0 to either player so the bet I like here is over 8.5 180s. One of the upturns in Whitlock’s form has been down to is the insane number of 180s he has been hitting and there is no reason why that won’t continue here. Labanauskas is a sneaky scorer himself and is likely to contribute to the scoring. If we say this match has just four sets we need one 180 per set each with one on top. I don’t think that is beyond these two.
Adrian Lewis vs Danny Baggish
The final match of the afternoon sees the man who has twice come out on top in this tournament in Adrian Lewis meeting the American qualifier who was involved in one of the best matches of the first round in Danny Baggish with Glen Durrant waiting for the winner in the next round.
It goes without saying that there is a lot of pressure on Adrian Lewis going into this tournament. He has slid outside the top 20 in the world rankings and will slide further if he loses this match but with Durrant not looking at all impressive recently, if Lewis wins here a deep run could present itself to get him back in the top 16. There is none of that pressure on Baggish. Having shown what he can do against Damon Heta in the first round, albeit with the Australian letting him off the hook on a number of occasions, he has something of a free crack at this match and can give it everything he’s got. I’ve got to think Lewis will come through here but he’s too short to back to win and hasn’t been convincing enough to rely on to cover a handicap.
Tips
Back W.Jones (+1.5 sets) to beat J.Cullen for a 3/10 stake at 2.30 with Boylesports
Back him here:
WON – Back S.Whitlock vs D.Labanauskas – Over 8.5 180s for a 3/10 stake at 2.15 with Coral
Back him here:
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