The group stage of the Grand Slam of Darts is behind us now and things get serious from Wednesday night onwards as the tournament becomes a straight knockout over the longer formats and the quality will ramp up to fever pitch levels.
Personally I’m glad the group stage is behind us and we can crack on with the proper stuff. From a betting point of view I had a shocker in the groups but this tournament is one of two halves and the second half gives us a strong chance of recouping the losses of the first half.
On Wednesday night the bottom half of the Last 16 draw is played out in full with eight players all looking for quarter final spots when they take each other on over the best of 19 legs.
The first match of the knockout stage sees Group G winner Robert Thornton taking on Group H runner up Robbie Green. These two have met four times in the past with each winning twice so that says there isn’t a lot between these two.
I would agree with that too. I think the only real difference is Thornton’s extra reliability under the pressure doubles and in the big legs. Green can go missing on the outer ring at times but as a consistent scorer he’s right up there with most of them and he’s getting better too. Green went through some injury issues but he’s over them now.
I know Green might not be appreciated by PDC darts fans as being a high quality player and scorer but he is and I’m surprised the 180s line for this match is as low as 9.5. Thornton has hit 10 180s in this tournament so far and Green hit three in his wins over Martin Phillips and Rowby-John Rodriguez. I’ll forgive him not hitting one against Taylor because playing him is a different kind of pressure.
Both guys know where the 60 is in that match and I fancy it will be fairly close so I like the idea of there being more than 9.5 180s before it reaches a conclusion.
One of the matches of the night follows as Phil Taylor takes on Terry Jenkins for the right to face the winner of the first match in the quarter final.
Taylor, angered by some comments by Andy Fordham about him, has been ruthless so far this week but he looked good in the European Championship last week until he ran into someone decent and he’ll be guarding against that here.
Terry Jenkins was close to useless in his first match against Johnny Clayton but bounced back to give Geert de Vos a good hiding in his second match and then had Robert Thornton beaten but missed doubles to let that one slip.
Jenkins will need to be perfect on his doubles if he is to come through this match but he’s one of few who isn’t beaten before he gets up to play Taylor so that is a positive. I’m on him to win this quarter and I’m confident he’ll go close if he wins this so I’ll leave this one alone and keep my fingers crossed he wins.
Gary Anderson has been in sensational form so far in this tournament. He takes on a man he has well and truly dominated in recent times in Mark Webster in the third match of the evening.
The Scot has won his last 11 matches against his Welsh challenger and apart from a couple of deciding legs in the Championship League where it is open to debate how much Anderson cared they have all been one sided beatings.
Anderson won their two most recent meetings 6-0 and 6-1 last year and we can’t even put that down to Webster’s poor trot back then because when they met in the Premier League when Webster was playing his best in 2011 Anderson handed out a couple of 8-1 beatings.
Something about playing Anderson doesn’t sit well with Webster and I’m expecting him to be soundly beaten here even allowing for his return to form. Anderson has been well over 100 in the averages this week so far. Another such performance should have this as a comfortable night’s work for the world champion.
The best is very much saved for last on Wednesday as the evening concludes with a battle between James Wade and Raymond Barneveld which should be an absolute belter.
Wade’s form this week so far has been up there with anything anyone has produced and if he keeps that up he’ll be hard to stop here. His scoring has been particularly strong. On the flip side a few missed doubles have crept in at times but I think as the pressure cranks up and the challenges get strong his finishing will return to normal.
To be fair to Barney he’s looked much better this week too. I still think he’s a bit frail when it is put down to him and we saw shades of that against Larry Butler on Monday night but thankfully for Barney the American let him off the hook in that match.
If Barneveld can front run in this match he’ll be dangerous but I fancy the pressure Wade will exert will have the desired effect in the end. I’m on The Machine outright though so I’ve no need to get involved here. I’ll take him to come through and go a step nearer an elusive Wolverhampton title.
Back R.Thornton vs R.Green – Over 9.5 180s for a 4/10 stake at 2.00 with Ladbrokes
Back G.Anderson (-4.5 legs) to beat M.Webster for a 4/10 stake at 2.10 with Betfair
