The weekend begins with an evening session at the PDC World Darts Championship on Friday where the former champion Peter Wright will be the man to headline the action on a good looking card inside Alexandra Palace.
The format for this session follows the same as all the others so far this week which means we have three first round matches to start off proceedings and then there is the one second round match which rounds off the action.
Joe Murnan vs Paul Lim
The evening begins with the legendary figure of Paul Lim back on the Alexandra Palace stage when he faces Joe Murnan who has played well enough throughout the year to secure his place at this tournament once again.
Murnan has actually played some decent stuff on the floor this season but he might have drawn the short straw in this match because he is going to be up against the crowd favourite and that is almost certain to have an impact on this match. If Murnan needed a reminder that Lim could still play he only needs to go back 12 months for when the veteran from Singapore dumped Luke Humphries out in this round. He offered no challenge to Dimitri Van den Bergh in the second round but that was probably to be expected. Humphries is a few classes above Murnan and if you wanted a more recent form guide Lim averaged just under 87 in the qualifying event to get here. That is probably going to be enough here. With the crowd on his side the man from Singapore looks good value to me.
William Borland vs Bradley Brooks
The second match of the night sees two of the better young players around battling it out when the Scottish youngster William Borland takes on the man who announced his arrival at the Grand Slam of Darts in Bradley Brooks.
Having won the World Youth Championship last year I think it is fair to say that Brooks has achieved more in his career to date and I really liked his composure at the Grand Slam. That was only over a shorter distance but it showed that he is comfortable on the stage. We’ve not really seen that from Borland. Borland has only won three of his last 12 matches in all tournaments and while he beat Simon Whitlock on the big stage in the European Championship we see him miss a lot of doubles on it usually. That often happens with inexperienced youngsters which is why the poise of Brooks in Wolverhampton was so interesting. Brooks played very well in defeat to Dirk van Duijvenbode here last year and I think he has enough about him to win this one.
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Ross Smith vs Jeff Smith
The final match of the first round on Friday evening will guarantee a Smith into the second round when Ross Smith takes on his namesake Jeff with the pair battling it out for a meeting with Stephen Bunting over the weekend.
Ross Smith has performed very well this season and his year average of 95 is one of the best of those competing in this first round of the tournament. He hasn’t really done it in the TV tournaments this year but we have seen him show his worth on the stage in the past when he has taken care of Michael van Gerwen and others. We’ve certainly seen Jeff Smith perform well on the big stage as he reached the final of Lakeside a few years ago and generally in the main he performs well on any stage. He arrives here off the back of some decent Players Championship performances so this should be a good game to watch. I expect Ross Smith to win this but I don’t think it is guaranteed so I’ll leave this one alone.
Peter Wright vs Ryan Meikle
The one match in the second round on Friday evening sees the recently crowned Players Championship Finals winner Peter Wright beginning his campaign against a Ryan Meikle who looked in decent enough touch on Thursday night.
Wright is under a bit of pressure here as he is defending the winners’ money from two years ago and a loss at this stage would be a disaster for his ranking. He will need to be focused and on it because Meikle scored well in his first round win and with little to lose here might well free up on the doubles and show what he can do. The problem with betting on this match is you don’t know quite which Wright is going to turn up so I’m pretty happy to leave this one alone.
Tips
Back P.Lim to beat J.Murnan for a 3/10 stake at 2.80 with Coral
Back him here:
Back B.Brooks to beat W.Borland for a 3/10 stake at 1.80 with BetVictor
Back him here:
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