At the beginning of the week 40 men headed to the Lakeside Country Club in Frimley Green looking to win the BDO World Championship and now that dream remains for just two men.
We will either have a champion crowned for the second time on Sunday night or will we have the second Canadian winner of the competition when Scott Waites faces off against Jeff Smith over the best of 13 sets to win the world title.
Scott Waites has come through some real battles this week so he will be glad that the semi-final was a bit of a non-event with Jamie Hughes clearly heavily hampered by nerves. In fairness to Waites he did what he needed to do but even his numbers suffered as a result of Hughes’ poor showing.
Jeff Smith had cruised into the semi-final but he was made to work harder than ever in the last four by Richard Veenstra. Veenstra had led 4-3 at one stage but it was Smith who composed himself to produce some real quality in the deciding set to make it into this final.
This has the makings of an interesting final. It might not hit the heights in terms of averages of some that have gone before but it certainly has the potential to be very tight.
We’ve seen at various times how both can produce their best darts when their back has been against the wall. You would say Waites has an edge on scoring relentlessness but Smith might just have the edge on the finishing so it is an interesting blend in styles.
I’m expecting a close match here given both having the ability to fight and scrap. Obviously the down side would be if Smith was to get nervous from the outset but if he was going to have done that it might have happened before now.
Smith actually averaged more than Waites in the semi-final over a much longer distance which gives me further confidence he can stay with him and so at heavy odds against I’ll take over 11.5 sets here with 7-5 or 7-6 either way having every chance of being the end result.
Back Over 11.5 sets for a 3/10 stake at 2.38 with Titanbet
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