Five tasty 2016 World Matchplay tips: An English victor, an nine-dart finish and more
Published:
Holly Thackeray | July 14, 2016
Five fantastic World Matchplay wagers
Summer brings Darts fans to Blackpool en masse, for one of the biggest and eagerly anticipated dates in the darting calendar – the World Matchplay at the Winter Gardens from July 16th to 24th.
The Empress Ballroom brings together the PDC’s finest for the 23rd edition of this esteemed sporting competition beginning Saturday, so Coral writers have compiled five tempting flutters for the tournament.
Blackpool is here lol come on the matchplay pic.twitter.com/58TQRXOhxy
— Ian White (@IanDiamondWhite) July 13, 2016
So, see which specially selected 2016 World Matchplay wagers tickle your fancy below…
An English winner
Of the 32 PDC players to feature in Blackpool, the top 16 from the Order of Merit and the same number of ProTour qualifiers, half are English arrowsmiths.
Unsurprisingly England is by far the best represented nation in the Lancashire seaside town, making Coral’s tempting odds of 2/1 for English to be the winning nationality worth grabbing.
Far from just a patriotic punt, backing this means customers can hedge their bets with all of top talents and seeds Phil Taylor, James Wade, Adrian Lewis, Dave Chisnall and Michael Smith under the English umbrella and in with a shout of taking the title.
While, history also lends itself to this being a profitable darting dabble, as in 22 former finals since the tournament’s inception in 1994, there has only ever been a non-English winner twice. Of seven previous winners, The Power leads with an incredible 15 titles in one of his favoured competitions and has only ever lost seven matches in the event, while Wade is also a past victor.
Three or more 170 checkouts
There is also value to be had in the marvellous market for 170 checkouts, with three or more to be chalked up over the course of the competition at 6/5.
World number one Michael van Gerwen is just one player to have hit notable 170 finishes this calendar year, including one as his highest checkout in the recent Premier League of Darts, and a quality quartet of those fine finishes on the bull in the Coral-sponsored UK Open.
See MvG’s prowess:
While The Power and world champ Gary Anderson have also been at it, both scoring sensational 170s in the 2016 World Darts Championship, with the latter’s arriving in the final against Adrian Lewis.
The high scoring trio all rank in the top six for checkout percentages across the past two years, all over 41 per cent, alongside the likes of Wade, Kevin Painter and Peter Wright, so look good value to set the standard high again.
One nine darter
Everyone loves a nine-darter, and the World Matchplay Winter Gardens has seen six before, with the last arriving at the powerful hands of MvG in 2014, with seeded stars Taylor and Raymond van Barneveld also past scorers of a perfect leg in Lancashire.
In fact, one of The Power’s previous on the board at this competition was the first-ever nine-darter to be televised live on the UK silverscreen. True class.
Relive Taylor’s magical Matchplay moment:
As the quality keeps increasing there are more and more perfect legs occurring, with Jackpot notching an incredible effort in the last Premier League, thought it is predictably Mighty Mike and Taylor who lead the chart for most scored in the past year.
So, why not take excellent 11/8 odds for a single nine dart finish this year as, in tournament history, there has only been more than one notched per competition on one occasion, back in 2012 when both MvG and Wes Newton dispatched in the second round.
Wade to be winner of quarter four
This may be Taylor’s tournament, but The Power has been shocked by countryman and rival Wade in their last two meetings during the World Series tour stops in Tokyo and Shanghai.
So it may be bad news for legendary The Power that he could well face The Machine in their quarter of the Matchplay draw, coincidentally in the quarter-final stage if they both make it that far, as expected.
Wade seems to have an extra gear when it comes to his fellow Englishman and ousted him from the World Matchplay last year also. So, take a tempting 4/1 price for The Machine to emerge victorious from quarter four, which also features Barney, Mensur Suljovic, Stephen Bunting, Mervyn King, Robbie Green and Brendan Dolan.
Top treble featuring K.Anderson, Thornton and Chisnall
Coral also have an awesome enhanced treble available to celebrate Saturday’s first round scuffles, with Kyle Anderson, Robert Thornton and Chizzy a fantastic 3/1 all to win their respective wrangles on the opening day.
Aussie Anderson impressed with his panache at the World Championship just gone and can take out Dutch Destroyer Vincent van der Voort, as he has done previously. While, The Thorn should be able to ease past rather green young-gun Josh Payne and in-form Chisnall should also fancy his chances against another up and comer in Benito van de Pas.
Related
Pop by our dedicated darts page for more World Matchplay previews and tips during the competition.
