The action continues at the PDC World Darts Championship on Thursday with another double header of darts which once again begins in the afternoon with three more third round matches inside the Alexandra Palace.
The tournament is cranking up a notch in this round and we have six more players taking to the stage looking to move into the last 16 of the tournament on an afternoon when the action should be high quality.
Dirk van Duijvenbode vs Ross Smith
The opening match of the afternoon is a repeat of a match from this round a year ago as the Dutch star Dirk van Duijvenbode takes on the European champion Ross Smith for a place in the last 16 where Michael van Gerwen is waiting for the winner.
Smith took a 3-0 lead when these two met here a year ago but he couldn’t get over the line and van Duijvenbode raced back to win 4-3. Smith has gone on and won a TV tournament since then and looks a really good player, a point he showed when overcoming Darius Labanauskas in four sets where he scored very heavily in the previous round. Van Duijvenbode needed another set to dispose of Karel Sedlacek and he also scored heavily in that win, although for three sets the pressure on his shoulders was weighing him down like a tonne of bricks. The obvious starting point for this match is the 180s but the line is up at 19.5. That might not be high enough but if you take the over and this is a blowout the chances are you’ll have done your dough. That makes me tempted on the under but that probably isn’t the right bet and in a match which could swing either way this is probably one to enjoy rather than bet on.
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Rob Cross vs Mervyn King
The second match of the afternoon sees the former winner of this tournament in Rob Cross going up against a player who might hold claims for being the best player never to win a world title in Mervyn King. Chris Dobey awaits the winner.
Cross had to come through a real ding-dong battle with Scott Williams in the opening round but that should have hardened him up for what is to come. King was probably one of those seeds who many expected to be vulnerable in the second round but he clearly didn’t read that script as he came through in a deciding set against Danny Baggish after throwing a two set lead away. There was enough in that match to suggest that King could be competitive in this contest but I always worry about him over the longer formats of the game with him having struggled with his back for years. That makes me think that Cross will come through here but the handicaps have him covering 2.5 sets and there isn’t really enough wiggle room for me to get involved there either. I’ll sit this one out too.
Dave Chisnall vs Stephen Bunting
The final match of the afternoon is an all-St Helens affair as the former world finalist Dave Chisnall takes on the man who has a Lakeside world title on his trophy cabinet in the shape of Stephen Bunting in what should be a cracking contest.
Bunting might not relish this match because these two men have met on the TV twice in 2022 and Chisnall has won 6-0 on both occasions so just winning a leg will be the first objective for ‘The Bullet’. Chisnall was very good in beating Andrew Gilding in the first round. In truth he has been in good touch for the last three months or so. Bunting came in here under a bit more of a cloud in terms of his form but he cruised past the entertaining Leonard Gates. Both men scored seven 180s in their four set victories and that is the route I’m going down here because realistically I expect this to be close between two seasoned World Championship campaigners. The 180 line for this one is 15.5 which feels a little on the low side for a match involving two very reliable 180 hitters. They both hit seven in four sets in their opening match so at the same pace here we will need just a fifth set to get this over the line. I think we’ll go deeper than that so I like the over in this one.
Tips
Back D.Chisnall vs S.Bunting – Over 15.5 180s for a 3/10 stake at 1.83 with William Hill
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