MICHAEL VAN GERWEN was the 10-11 outrigght favourite to win the William Hill Darts World Championship before his game with Raymond van Barneveld, who was as big as 40-1 with some firms.
An epic match which saw the five-time World Champion van Barneveld, who last lifted the trophy in 2007, defy an average of 105.78 and a 170 checkout from by odds-on title favourite van Gerwen to move into the last eight. The former Grand Slam and Premier League champion also averaged over 100 in a dramatic contest between the best two players ever to come out of the Netherlands, taking the deciding set 3-1 as he sealed victory with a sweet 96 checkout.
Defending Champion Gary Anderson has been installed as the new favourite at a general 11-4, with Phil Taylor in at 4-1, Adrian Lewis at 9-2 and last night’s Dutch hero at 8-1. Anderson is 6-4 with Sportingbet to reach the final, but will have to beat Wade, then the winner of Norris and Webster and Taylor and Klassen, who face off tonight. Another market I was willing to take on at this stage is not to see a nine dart finish although this was 11-10 overnight has been pushed in to 8-13 and worth leaving aside.
The final evening of 2015 takes place and there is three more places to be decided for Friday’s last eight.
Peter Wright 5-6 Vs Dave Chisnall 6-5 – Chisnall leads 9-4
Alan Norris 6-5 Vs Mark Webster 4-5 – no previous meetings
Phil Taylor 5-19 Vs Jelle Klassen 7-2 – Taylor leads 11-2
Wright and Chisnall face off again, where they have met in two of the last three majors. Both have gone Chisnall’s way. Wright has won just two of the last six meetings, but just one win in 2015. Chisnall is 6-5 with Sponsors William to make it a clean sweep on TV in 2015. Chisnall is as short as 8-15 to win the 180 count, but am looking at a bet, which is PRO Wright but the 180 line expects Snakebite to hit eight or more maximums at even money. Not a bet we fancy in the event either player wins 4-0. Bookies have the highest checkout line covered at 121.50 at 5-6. A bet we will have a small dabble on is for the game to go some distance. Bwin offer 42-41 on the game seeing more than 23 legs and this is the bet for us.
Mark Webster and Alan Norris face off for the first time and what better to be on stage. Layers have favoured the Welsh Spider to reign supreme. Norris has played excellent at times to see the quarter-final in sight. Webster will be looking to break the top 16 again if he can make the quarter-finals. Norris will almost certainly push some top 32 regulars down a spot with his performances and prize money gained in his opening year. Norris is a solid even money price to hit more than one more maximum than Webby at Skybet and has hit 15 180s in 33 legs compared to Webster’s 58 legs has hit 12 since the World Series, including the Players Championship finals.
Taylor and Klaasen tow the oche last and the reaction from MVG being knocked out may give Phil more belief he can win another crown. The issue we have with Klaasen is that he has a tendency to be inconsistent, and with Taylor playing hot and cold also, this is a game I am willing to leave aside.
Recommendations
Chisnall/Wright – over 22.5 legs – 42/41 Bwin (1.5 pts)
Norris -1 180s Vs Webster – 1/1 Skybet (3pts)
Got on barney before the van Gerwin match at 64/1 on betfair. Cmon barney!!
World Championship darts
Singles:
Norris vs Webster, Norris win 11/10 **NAP**
Taylor vs Klaasen, Taylor over 5.5 180’s 5/6 **NB**
Norris vs Webster, Norris over 7.5 180’s 6/5
Treble:
Norris vs Webster, Norris most 180’s
Taylor vs Klaasen, Taylor win
Chisnal vs Wright, Chisnall +2.5
5/4
Norris, the former lakeside finalist, is considered the underdog by the bookies but his scoring power is going to present Webster with problems tonight. Norris hit five 180’s against Thornton and eleven against Murnan in round two not to mention a large amount of 140’s that just missed being maximums. His darts sit in the treble bed with such excellent grouping and his throwing action is very consistant which means he can maintain his power scoring throughout a match. Webster should probably should have lost a couple of sets against Jenkins, who hit him with quite a few 140’s and four 180’s. Jenkins did’nt appear to respond well to Terrys power scoring and started putting in poor visits where a single treble was’nt hit. If he does that tonight he will get punished. Jenkins let him of the hook with missed double after missed double and Webster took advantage. Norris did well to absorb over twenty 140’s from from Murnan but carried on with his his power scoring and ran away with a 4-1 victory. There should be no difference in his game tonight. He will hit a high volume of 180’s and on that basis I think Webster will find it hard to live with him.
Taylor is actually still using his old darts its just that he is using shorter stems on them as he claims they lie in the segments better. Apparently he’s been hitting lots of 180’s and a few nine darters in practice so its obviously working for him. In the first two sets against Painter he was poor but from the third set onwards he picked it up and was finding his range more. He finished on seven 180’s and hit a 170 checkout to complete the comeback with a 4-1 win. Klaasen’s doubling was a bit iffy at times against King but like Taylor he also hit a 170 checkout. I think Taylor will win the match and cover his 180 line in this as he will know that with MVG out, he can lay down a marker and throw his hat into the ring as a serious contender for the championship
Chisnall and Wright last met in the double start format of the Grand Prix of darts. It was a very close match but ultmately Chisnall won it 2-1 in the first round where all sets were required. Similarly tonights match could go the distance with each player expected to defend their throw well. Using the +2.5 handicapp on Chisnal makes sense because his power scoring will mean he will always stay in range of Wright. Chisnall hit twenty seven hundreds, twelve 140’s, twelve 180’s and finished on an 102 average against Kist in round two. Only the two sets will be required of him here, which he should get.
@bullseye – are you watching the Wright v Chisnall match – holy crap this is awesome stuff
@simpledxb, what a match that was mate. I think they must’ve been trying to top what happened yesterday. Edge of your seat business throughout.
@bullseye, I feel so sorry for Chizzy – poor sod played the game of his life and got beat. Unbelievable. Put it this way – my Mrs and I are still up at 1:05am glued to the box watching this – she hates darts!!! (well she did until I made her watch the Barney game last night). Great end of year stuff mate – getting up for work tomorrow will be a bitch haha. Bring on the Power! ?? Your bets all looking good too mate.. keep the fingers crossed as the Spanish footy was shite tonight..
Yeah definitely felt for Chizzy. Its cruel sometimes the way a match can be decided on a single leg like that. Its like running a marathan but breaking your leg just in front of the finishing line. At least he will recieve his money for being a losing last 32 player which should soften the blow to a degree.
Thanks for both tips on Norris @bullseye. Had both your NAP and Norris 180s as singles.
Winnings placed on Powers 180 line!
You’re welcome @Greaves mate.
World Championship darts
Singles:
Norris vs Webster, Norris win 11/10 **NAP** **WON**
Taylor vs Klaasen, Taylor over 5.5 180’s 5/6 **NB** **LOST**
Norris vs Webster, Norris over 7.5 180’s 6/5 **WON**
Treble:
Norris vs Webster, Norris most 180’s
Taylor vs Klaasen, Taylor win
Chisnal vs Wright, Chisnall +2.5
5/4 **LOST**