The thankfully brief World Series of Darts Finals concludes on Sunday when the quarter finals, semi-finals and final take place on a heavy day of darts in Glasgow.
For the eight men who made it through the lottery format of the opening day they have been rewarded with a longer format for Sunday’s action but with that comes with a bit of a stamina test for those who make it all the way.
The quarter finals are played over the best of 19 legs in the afternoon session with the four winners coming back in the evening for best of 21 legs semi-finals and hopefully from their point of view the final over the same distance.
The day begins with arguably the pick of the quarter finals as James Wade takes on Peter Wright in what looks a real 50/50 battle. I wouldn’t be surprised if this one is decided off the stage with the crowd now that they only have one Scot left to cheer on and that is Wright.
Wade is never the most popular player at the best of times and if this does get close then the boos will only get louder and put Wade off. In truth it isn’t a game I’m going to bet on for that reason as well as the fact that I’m on Wright outright so I don’t need to get involved.
From what I saw of Stephen Bunting on the first day I thought he might be worth a go against Phil Taylor in the second game of the day but apart from his one win over Taylor the Scouser hasn’t got close to him in their other meetings so I’ll stick that one away for now even though I don’t think Taylor wins the tournament still. At least a Bunting win means Wright would avoid Taylor should he come through.
The third quarter final was meant to be between Adrian Lewis and Gary Anderson but Terry Jenkins had other ideas and it is he who will face the twice world champion.
Neither man was brilliant in the first round and if I had to pick a player to come through here it would probably be Jenkins. I feel he’ll get the crowd which will help him but the bet I like is for the match to go over 16.5 legs at even money.
Lewis thrashed Jenkins in the UK Open final last year 11-1 but Jenkins had come through an epic semi-final minutes earlier so that was an anomaly but apart from that the last eight meetings between the two players have been tight and that doesn’t surprise me. Both score big and finish well so I don’t see there being a lot in this one.
The last match in the quarter finals sees Michael van Gerwen taking on Raymond Barneveld. I find it hard to bet on Barneveld matches in these weekend events because you never know when he’s going to run out of steam.
If he is at his best he can beat van Gerwen but the world number one is a worthy favourite because of how well he is playing at the minute. I never intended to get too involved in this tournament and I’m staying that way with just the one for the quarter finals.
Back A.Lewis vs T.Jenkins – Over 16.5 legs for a 4/10 stake at 2.00 with Paddy Power
