The opening night of any PDC World Darts Championship is always keenly anticipated as for many it signals the beginning of Christmas. The first night has grown over the last decade or so with the defending champion always beginning his title defence in the final match on the card.
That is the case on Thursday evening when Peter Wright will grace the Alexandra Palace stage for the first time since he beat Michael Smith to win the title back in January. He headlines what looks like a competitive card.
Mickey Mansell vs Ben Robb
The opening match of the tournament sees the Northern Irish player Mickey Mansell taking on the qualifier from New Zealand in the form of Ben Robb, a player who has twice qualified for this event but who is yet to get past the first round.
Robb was over last week where he took part in the Online Live League where he had five days of match practice against some useful operators so he will go into this match sharper than perhaps he has ever been when walking onto this stage. That could be trouble for Mansell who is fast fading down the rankings and aside from the odd run on the floor hasn’t done a lot in recent times. I always think of Mansell as a player who is likely to be solid enough to beat who he would be expected to beat but lacks the kick needed to trouble anyone decent. I’ve no interest in backing him but Mansell might be a step up on what Robb faced last week so I’m reluctant to take the Kiwi too. I’ll leave this one alone.
Keane Barry vs Grant Sampson
The second match of the evening has the feeling of a bit of a mismatch about it, on paper at least, as the talented Irish youngster Keane Barry faces the South African qualifier Grant Sampson, who will be making his tournament debut here.
Sampson came through a South African qualifier which included Devon Petersen so you would imagine he is relatively competent but even with the internet as big as it is in 2022 there is little to no information about him out there. The one thing we can assume is that this match is all about Barry. If he plays like he can do then he would most probably be more than a match for anyone from South Africa including Petersen so I would expect the tour regular to win here and if he is anything like his best he should win 3-0 but given we know nothing about the South African I’m happy to take a watching brief here too.
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Jermaine Wattimena vs Nathan Rafferty
The last of the three first round matches on the evening sees Jermaine Wattimena taking on a Northern Ireland youngster in Nathan Rafferty who has largely been forgotten about since the rapid rise of Josh Rock.
Wattimena could be forgiven for feeling a little nervous when he steps onto this stage because this will be the ninth year he has been at this tournament and he has won a grand total of three matches over the course of the first eight. Only he’ll truly know what the reason is but he doesn’t tend to play his best on this stage. Rafferty makes his debut in this tournament but he has played on the Grand Slam and Players Championship Finals stages in the past so it isn’t like this is his TV debut. For all people hype up Rock, it is Rafferty who topped the Development Tour standings this season to get into this tournament. There are some good players on that circuit so that was no mean achievement and if he settles early in this match he could easily come through this one. Rafferty made it out of his group at the Grand Slam last year and picked up another win there this year and against an opponent who doesn’t do it on this stage he looks value for an opening night upset.
Peter Wright vs Mickey Mansell/Ben Robb
The final match of the night sees the defending champion Peter Wright beginning his title defence when he takes on the winner of the opening match of the event which will be either Mickey Mansell or Ben Robb.
This is the only second round match on the evening and the reward for the winner will be a good Christmas as whoever comes through it doesn’t come back until December 27. Wright has had some off the oche issues to deal with in recent times and while they are supposedly behind him, we never truly know which Wright will turn up these days. Whoever his opponent is will have had the advantage of tasting the surroundings and getting familiar in them as well as the confidence of winning a game. They’ll also have nothing to lose and we often see the seeds labour to wins in this round. I wouldn’t be surprised if that is the case here but we can’t bet without knowing the Wright will take on so this is another watching brief.
Tips
Back N.Rafferty to beat J.Wattimena for a 3/10 stake at 2.50 with BetVictor
Back him here:
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