Sunday is trophy day at the European Darts Matchplay in Innsbruck with the last 16, quarter finals, semi-finals and the final of the tournament all played over two sessions.
Some big names hit the exit door on Saturday but plenty more survived the carnage so we’ve a really strong field doing battle for the title on the final day in Austria.
The pick of the last 16 matches is the all-Dutch clash between Michael van Gerwen and Raymond Barneveld and that promises to be a real tussle. Given how dominant van Gerwen has been in these European Tour events this season the other 14 men in the draw might be hoping Barneveld can get rid of his rival.
Other eye catching matches in the last 16 session are the ones between Dave Chisnall and Terry Jenkins and Justin Pipe and Kim Huybrechts. Brendan Dolan takes on Robert Thornton and Peter Wright plays Benito van de Pas. None of those interest me from a betting point of view but the other three matches do.
Ian White is in really good form at the minute and he takes on a man he has beaten in four of their last five meetings in Vincent van der Voort. He’s 8/11 to win but I think that is a fair price. White is pretty consistent these days and while van der Voort came past Andy Hamilton on Saturday he was indebted to the Englishman throwing a couple of legs away with poor scores.
I don’t see White doing that. If anything I think he’ll have van der Voort under pressure throughout and I sense that pressure will be too much for the likeable Dutchman. Even at 8/11 I think White is a value price there.
I took Rowby-John Rodriguez on Saturday and he did me right and I’m going to chance him again on Sunday. He faces Mervyn King in the last 16 and that isn’t a bad match up for the youngster.
To be fair to King he’s a solid player in pretty decent form but he has been known to wilt under crowd pressure in the past and he’s likely to get some of that here given that Rodriguez is from Austria.
The crowd pressure didn’t get to Rodriguez on Saturday. If anything he revelled in it and that can spur him on for Sunday. How far he’ll end up going I’m not sure but he’s got the game, and the support, to make it past King.
Finally I’m going to take Dave Pallett to see off Alan Norris. Pallett isn’t the most consistent player in the world but when he plays well he tends to keep his form for a tournament and that is a boost for him here.
Pallett comes into this match off the back of a 6-2 win over Jamie Caven and a 6-3 win over Jelle Klaasen and he’s averaged over 100 in both so he is clearly in excellent nick.
We know Norris has a top level game in him but he needed Michael Smith to miss a few doubles from 4-0 up to keep in this tournament and you just sense he’s just a shade off the top of his game. That can be enough to let Pallett in here and given the form he’s shown this weekend already he’s a big price at 6/5.
Back I.White to beat V.van der Voort for a 4/10 stake at 1.73 with Ladbrokes
Back R-J.Rodriguez to beat M.King for a 4/10 stake at 2.50 with Sportingbet
Back D.Pallett to beat A.Norris for a 4/10 stake at 2.20 with Boylesports
