Bet Victor World Matchplay Day 2

Posted: 23.07.17 in Tournament Analysis Blog category

Oh what a night we had in Blackpool!

It was a most intriguing night at The Winter Gardens with some “shock” results and the players flexing their muscles against the relentless PDC schedule! Steve West got the night rolling with a 10-5 win over Michael Smith!

West revealed he nearly withdrew from the tournament due to a car accident earlier in the week. Having found replacement glasses though and also benefiting from a speedy recovery from his eye injury caused by the accident he then sent Bully Boy crashing out.

Darren Webster then sent a coughing and spluttering and vomiting (apparently) James Wade home with a superb 13-11 tie break win. At 10 all Wade dashed from the stage in an apparently scheduled break (although there was no music or adverts) to try and recover from his sudden attack of whatever it was that was making him unwell. The Demolition Man stayed focused and went through after a lengthy break.

Anderson had to row hard to get past Kist. Complaining afterwards at the schedule set for the top boys of the PDC where they have to travel around the world to promote the sport ensured he was jet lagged and far from prepared for the huge major the Matchplay is.

Ando also hinted at the perceived favouritism for MVG as he is not playing until Monday, thus giving him more recovery time! I am not sure the Champion is bound to play on the first night but MVG has certainly been "lucky" with the schedule!

The PDC will argue that without global promotion the players would not be given the opportunity to become millionaires or even very well paid sportsmen. However, allowing the top players to turn up to play for the global audience created by all the globetrotting in a state where they play at 70% capacity is cheating the fans! It was vital for Anderson to raise this issue and things will change off the back of it I am sure!

Last game was Peter Wright v James Wilson. Snakebite was in a similar condition to Anderson but managed to edge out Wilson 10-8 in a pretty lacklustre contest!

Our Webster – Wilson +4.5 legs landed too!

On the subject of jet lag and not getting enough sleep we have written a couple of blogs on the subject. They are here and here!

Sunday

Sunday July 23
Afternoon Session (1pm)
4x First Round
Jelle Klaasen 4/9 v Justin Pipe 9/4
Robert Thornton 6/5 v Cristo Reyes 4/5
Benito van de Pas 6/4 v Daryl Gurney 7/11
Mensur Suljovic 1/4 v John Henderson 3/1

Evening Session (7.30pm)
4x First Round
Dave Chisnall 1/3 v Mervyn King 3/1
Phil Taylor 2/7 v Gerwyn Price 11/4
Raymond van Barneveld 1/3 v Joe Cullen 5/2
Kim Huybrechts 8/13 v Alan Norris 7/5

The afternoon games are hard to call! Klaasen should beat Pipe but can he cope with the pace of the game? The Thorn and Reyes have both been doing fine in the floor events and Benito and Gurney are also equally matched!

Tips- Maybe an over 16.5 legs double for the Thornton and Van de Pas match is the way forward!

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