The second day of action at the World Series of Darts Finals sees two sessions of play with the first round of the tournament being played out as well as the entire last 16 as the competition moves at quite a pace.
We saw some decent darts on the first night of the tournament and with the players that made it through and are entering the event over the course of Saturday we should be treated to plenty more exciting action.
Afternoon Session
The first round of the tournament concludes in the afternoon session on Saturday where the bottom half of the draw are all in action. We begin the day with a clash between two young players as Keane Barry meets Kevin Doets before Rhys Griffin gets a chance to impress on a big stage. He meets Jeff Smith. When they are done the Dutch favourite Dirk van Duijvenbode takes on Daryl Gurney and then we reach the halfway point in the session with a clash between Gerwyn Price and Cameron Menzies.
Peter Wright and Dave Chisnall have met in the last two European Tour events this month and they battle it out in the first round here before Rob Cross gets his campaign underway as he faces the former world finalist Simon Whitlock. Wessel Nijman will then take to the stage in the penultimate match of the afternoon to play Andrew Gilding who has replaced Nathan Aspinall in the tournament. The first round concludes with Michael Smith meeting Jose de Sousa in what should be a high scoring clash.
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Evening Session
The entire second round of the tournament will be played out across the evening but we only know four of the matches that we will see because the other four will be determined in the afternoon. We kick off with Chris Doney going up against Boris Krcmar before what is likely to be the tie of the round whatever happens in the afternoon as Luke Littler faces Raymond van Barneveld. When they are done the world champion Luke Humphries plays Damon Heta before two Dutch stars battle it out when Michael van Gerwen plays Danny Noppert.
The second part of the evening will get going with either Gerwyn Price or Cameron Menzies meeting the winner of the Daryl Gurney and Dirk van Duijvenbode match before one of Dave Chisnall or Peter Wright will face either Jeff Smith or Rhys Griffin. Rob Cross or Simon Whitlock will return in the penultimate match of the day to take on whoever comes out on top between Keane Barry and Kevin Doets before one of Michael Smith or Jose de Sousa will close out the show against either Wessel Nijman or Andrew Gilding.
Betting
Regular readers will know that I’m not much of a fan of getting involved in these best of 11 sprints because one break of throw can often be deadly so I’m largely going to take a watching brief over the course of the day and look to attack the quarter finals on Sunday but there is one bet that I am happy to get on and as luck would have it, it comes in the opening game where Kevin Doets looks to thrill the home crowd when he takes on Keane Barry.
There is no doubt that Barry is a huge talent but when we have seen it recently it has largely been on the floor in the Players Championship events. This will be completely different to that because it is on a stage in front of a huge Dutch crowd, who as we saw on Friday night have no problem getting involved in the action. Doets took care of Peter Wright in the Dutch Darts Masters earlier in the season to largely book his spot here. He averaged 98 and change and hit six 180s in that match so we know he doesn’t succumb to the pressure of the home crowd. He is a consistent sort who pushed Michael Smith all the way in their second round match at the World Championship. He feels a safer play than the more erratic Barry whose stage form hasn’t been great for a while.
Tips
Back K.Doets to beat K.Barry for a 3/10 stake at 1.91 with Coral
