There's eight second-round matches at the PDC's William Hill World Darts Championship on Tuesday and our guide includes the order of play, match-by-match previews, predictions, seasonal statistics, head-to-head records, odds and a suggested acca.
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Darts statistician and analyst Carl Fletcher returns to the daily preview hotseat to look ahead to the latest the Ally Pally action across two more sessions, including Paul Lim's clash with Dimitri Van den Bergh tonight.
At the very bottom of this match-by-match guide are his graphics of every player's season stats as well as an additional one to chart how successful they've all been in achieving the 'Match Treble' in all their PDC matches this year (winning with the most 180s and highest checkouts).
World Championship: Tuesday December 22
- TV Coverage: Sky Sports Darts (1200 & 1800 GMT)
- Second Round: Best of 5 sets, no tie-breakers in any set
Tuesday darts accas
- Dolan to win, Whitlock over 4.5 180’s & Peterson over 5.5 180’s at 3.23/1
- Click here to build your acca
AFTERNOON SESSION (1200 GMT)
Brendan Dolan (4/9) v Edward Foulkes (7/4)
- Head to Head: 0-0
- 2020 Meetings: 0-0
- PDC Titles this Season: 0-0 (TV: 0-0)
- Career PDC Titles: 6-0 (TV: 0-0)
- PDC World Championship Appearances: 12-0
- PDC World Championship Best: Quarter Final (2019) – Debut
The afternoon session kicks off with the 30th seed Brendan Dolan taking on arguably the surprise package from the first round, Edward Foulkes, who defeated the young Belgian Mike De Decker 3-0, the latter having dramatically underperformed.
The question is, will Foulkes repeat his performance from the opening round? Looking at his main stats he recorded a very respectable 90.97 average and hit 50% of his doubles. In fact the key facet to his victory was his finishing. He had a high checkout of 140, a 62.50% record with his last dart in hand at the double, and was 100% (7/7) at checkouts of 60 or below.
On the other hand his scoring was good without being spectacular: a first-nine-dart average of 98.64, two 180s in 12 legs and a 37.60% accuracy on the treble 20. Taking nothing away from his victory, Tuesday's opponent will respect these stats without fearing them. He’ll definitely need to maintain his finishing standards if he’s to get anything out of this match.
‘The History Maker’ obviously won’t want to lose at any stage but as he’s defending quarter-final money from 2019, his best performance in this event from his 12 previous attempts, it's especially important that he doesn't suffer a surprise early exit.
The Northern Irishman has actually had a solid year. He finished an excellent 11th on the Players Championship Order of Merit, helped by a final defeat at Players Championship Seven, three further semi-finals and a quarter-final. His Winter Series exploits demonstrated his wellbeing too with two last-32 runs, a last 16, a quarter-final and a semi-final.
Dolan's performances on stage have not been as fruitful with opening-round exits in the Matchplay, International Darts Open and Players Championship Finals. Despite this you’d expect his consistency to get him over the line. He has a very good seasonal average of 94.49 and if he can produce that standard here I expect him to eventually run out the winner, perhaps after an early scare.
- Score Prediction: 3-1
- Suggested Bet: Match to have over 14.5 legs, highest checkout over 110.5 and over 3.5 total 180s at evens
Joe Cullen (1/4) v Wayne Jones (3/1)
- Head to Head: 6-3
- 2020 Meetings: 0-0
- PDC Titles this Season: 2-0 (TV: 0-0)
- Career PDC Titles: 5-0 (TV: 0-0)
- PDC World Championship Appearances: 10-12
- PDC World Championship Best: Second Round/Last 32 (2017) – Semi-Final (2006)
For a player as talented as ‘The Rockstar’ Joe Cullen, he doesn’t have a good record in the World Championship. Last year he lost his opening match to talented young German thrower, Nico Kurz, but this represents a real opportunity for him to reach the third round.
His opponent, Wayne Jones, laboured to a 3-2 victory over Ciaran Teehan in the opening round where three big finishes helped him prevail despite an average of just 86.18. A semi-finalist in this event back in 2006, those days seem long behind ‘The Wanderer’ who other than a solitary semi-final run at Players Championship 13 has not had a year to remember. He’s only managed to register two 100+ averages all year and failed to qualify for any of the Euro Tour events.
He’s never been a big 180 hitter and his 0.22 per leg ratio for 2020 leaves him some way behind the elite, as does his seasonal average of 91.03.
In contrast, Cullen seems to be hitting form at an ideal time. A seasonal average of 94.60 and 180 per leg ratio of 0.29 - 12th best for the year - make him a threat to anyone. His results this year underline his progress as he’s claimed two PDC titles: the International Darts Open on the Euro Tour, where he defeated MVG in the final, and more recently at the final Players Championship event of 2020, where he overcome Krzysztof Ratajski.
One other thing to note is that in general it seems to take a player in form to stop him in TV events of late. The World Series of Darts Finals aside, all his other defeats have come at the hands of players who have gone on to reach the semis or better.
All stats and recent form point to a facile victory for the now Winmau ace, and a set is probably the most Jones can hope for here.
- Score Prediction: 3-1
- Suggested Bet: Joe Cullen to win the match and hit the most 180s at 8/11
Simon Whitlock (2/5) v Darius Labanauskas (2/1)
- Head to Head: 1-2
- 2020 Meetings: 1-0
- PDC Titles this Season: 0-0 (TV: 0-0)
- Career PDC Titles: 14-0 (TV: 1-0)
- PDC World Championship Appearances: 12-2
- PDC World Championship Best: Runner Up (2010) – Quarter Final (2020)
Former runner-up Simon Whitlock has been in fantastic form of late and it definitely won’t have gone unnoticed that he’s beaten Michael van Gerwen three times on TV, at the Matchplay, World Grand Prix and Grand Slam of Darts – the latter saw him hit 20 180s in 31 legs to set a tournament record.
Whilst his floor form has been disappointing, with just two quarter-finals to show for his efforts, his escapades in televised events have been somewhat better with quarter-final runs in the Matchplay and World Cup of Darts, and semi-final appearances in the Grand Slam of Darts and the World Grand Prix.
His seasonal average of 94.01 demonstrates how consistent ‘The Wizard’ is. He’s in the top five 180 hitters for the year at 0.34 per leg and his doubles are good too at 38.52%. A losing finalist in 2010 when beaten by Phil Taylor, he was eliminated in the last 16 by Gerwyn Price last year but arguably comes into this event in much better form.
His Lithuanian opponent actually fared better than him in 2020, as Labanauskas eliminated Ian White at this stage before reaching the quarters, where he succumbed to van Gerwen. Similarly, he’s not been great on the floor as he only reached one quarter-final in the Players Championship events.
Labanauskas did manage to reach a quarter-final in the sole Euro Tour event in which he featured, losing to Jose De Sousa after fine victories over Dave Chisnall and Joe Cullen. He began this event as expected with a comfortable 3-0 victory over Chengan Liu where he averaged 96.07, some 3.44 above his seasonal average of 92.63.
He’s not the biggest of 180 hitters at just 0.16 per leg but his finishing keeps him in games with a doubles percentage of 42.86% and winning 14% of legs with a 100+ checkout.
They’ve met just once in 2020 and the Aussie came out on top 6-1 where both underperformed averaging around the mid-80’s. This should be a decent and fairly close contest but I give the 18th seed the edge.
- Score Prediction: 3-2
- Suggested Bet: Simon Whitlock to win and hit the most 180s at 8/11
Adrian Lewis (1/3) v Danny Baggish (23/20)
- Head to Head: 0-0
- 2020 Meetings: 0-0
- PDC Titles this Season: 0-0 (TV: 0-0)
- Career PDC Titles: 22-0 (TV: 9-0)
- PDC World Championship Appearances: 15-1
- PDC World Championship Best: Winner (2011, 2012) – Second Round (2020)
Back-to-back world champion between 2011 and 2012, Adrian Lewis is now ranked as low as 21 in the seedings for this event - but there’s been a steady improvement in his form of late.
His Winter Series exploits saw him reach a quarter-final and a semi-final from just five events and he’s registered four 100+ averages in his last 10 matches. There definitely seems to be some of that old fluency resurfacing at times.
Lewis reached the quarters of the Matchplay, losing to eventual champion Dimitri Van den Bergh, but will have been distraught at having to miss the World Grand Prix due to a positive COVID-19 test. He reached the last 16 of this event last year, featuring in three classics against Cristo Reyes, Darren Webster and once again Van den Bergh, arguably winning the two he should have lost, then losing the one he should have won.
Despite not hitting the heights of previous years, his seasonal statistics read fairly well with a 94.11 average and 180 per leg ratio of 0.29.
His American opponent Danny Baggish has already come through a tough test in the opening round against an in-form Damon Heta. Having led 2-0, he had to survive six match darts from his opponent to prevail. His average in this match was just 88.44 but less than impressive finishing lowered this significantly and he was much better on the eye than that suggests.
Baggish lost in this round on his debut in the event last year but played very well indeed against Nathan Aspinall. On the short American Tour this year he averaged an excellent 92.38 and you could argue he’s the best International Qualifier in the field.
He’s not a great 180 hitter compared to his opponent, though. In his opening match he hit just three in the 22 legs he played and on the American Tour he was hitting them at just 0.09 per leg. This could be the part of his game that finds him out as when Heta upped his game he didn’t seem to live with him over a couple of sets before riding his luck to prevail.
His luck could run out here with ‘Jackpot’ edging another tight encounter on the Ally Pally stage.
- Score Prediction: 3-2
- Suggested Bet: Match to have over 13.5 legs, highest checkout over 110.5 and over 5.5 total 180s at 11/10
EVENING SESSION (1800 GMT)
Danny Noppert (1/14) v Cameron Carolissen (7/1)
- Head to Head: 0-0
- 2020 Meetings: 0-0
- PDC Titles this Season: 0-0 (TV: 0-0)
- Career PDC Titles: 1-0 (TV: 0-0)
- PDC World Championship Appearances: 2-0
- PDC World Championship Best: Third Round (2020) – Debut
Devon Petersen has often used the African qualifier to secure his place at the Worlds but given his successful season on Tour there was no need to use that route in 2020. Compatriot Carolissen came through this route this year defeating another previous World Championship qualifier, Charles Losper in the final, where he registered a respectable 83.17 match average with a 40% strike-rate on his doubles. On face value alone those look decent statistics but other than his evidence from the qualifying event we have no long-term data to analyse. We didn’t even get chance to see Carolissen on Sunday after he received a bye into this second round following a positive COVID-19 test for Martijn Kleermaker.
We do know a lot about his opponent, Danny Noppert. A former BDO world finalist in 2017, he’s made a fairly successful transition to the PDC. He’s already got one PDC title to his name as he won a Players Championship event in 2018 and last year he lost in the final of the World Series of Darts Finals.
Noppert should be far too consistent for his opponent. He has a seasonal average of 94.59, a 180 per leg ratio of 0.24, he’s 40% on his doubles for the year and he’s won nigh on 13% of his legs with a 100+ checkout, all of which reads very well.
His results have backed this up as you'd expect. Three quarter-finals and two semis on the floor, he’s only failed to get past the first round in Players Championship events on one occasion. He qualified for three of the four Euro Tour events, losing to the eventual winner Petersen in the German Darts Championship. He also notably claimed the big scalp of Gerwyn Price in the opening round of the Matchplay.
He should match last year's feat of reaching the third round, where he eventually lost to Kim Huybrechts, but his South African opponent may be capable of nicking a set if he settles, based on the African Qualifier data.
- Score Prediction: 3-1
- Suggested Bet: Danny Noppert win match, most 180s and highest checkout at 4/5
Devon Petersen (1/3) v Steve Lennon (23/20)
- Head to Head: 1-2
- 2020 Meetings: 1-0
- PDC Titles this Season: 1-0 (TV: 0-0)
- Career PDC Titles: 1-0 (TV: 1-0)
- PDC World Championship Appearances: 7-3
- PDC World Championship Best: Fourth Round (2019) – Second Round (2019)
This has the makings of an excellent second-round tie.
To begin with the likeable South African is having a memorable season. He’d shown signs of coming to form on the floor already with three semi-final runs and runner-up finish on the Players Championship Tour this year but then went one better when winning the German Darts Championship on the Euro Tour to claim his maiden PDC title.
Petersen almost backed this up further when he reached his first major semi-final, losing 10-11 to James Wade where a mid-game drop in standards for just a few legs seemed to cost him a place in the final.
These results should not be a surprise when you read his seasonal stats. An average of 97.20 is the sixth best of all Tour cardholders, he has the best 180 per leg ratio at 0.38 and backs this up further with the third best 140-177 ratio at 0.77 per leg, only bettered by two players who rarely switch, James Wade and Peter Wright.
He really is a powerhouse of a scorer and has registered a 100+ match average on 23 occasions in 2020. My only concern would be that he seemed to go off the boil slightly during the Winter Series before a decent but not outstanding string of performances at the Grand Slam of Darts.
His opponent, Lennon, is dangerous however as his season data shows, with an average of 94.18 and a 180 per leg ratio of 0.22. He defeated Daniel Larsson 3-1 in the opening round with a 96.95 average, producing a 10-dart leg along the way.
He certainly is capable of these short bursts of sublime darts as his 110.62 average against Kai Fan Leung at Players Championship Five this year suggests, but the question with him is whether he can sustain it and match Petersen for prolonged periods.
Lennon hasn’t quite matched the results of his opponent this year but he did qualify for three of the four Euro Tour events, each of them resulting in him being eliminated at the last-32 stage.
These have met once this year where the South African ran out a comfortable 6-1 winner. I’d expect the seed to come out on top of this game, particularly if his doubles hold up. If they do I expect the player with the best Match Treble record overall for 2020 to perhaps notch up this feat again.
- Score Prediction: 3-1
- Suggested Bet: Petersen to win the match, hit the most 180s and highest checkout at 11/8
Rob Cross (10/11) v Dirk van Duijvenbode (10/11)
- Head to Head: 1-0
- 2020 Meetings: 0-0
- PDC Titles this Season: 0-0 (TV: 0-0)
- Career PDC Titles: 9-0 (TV: 4-0)
- PDC World Championship Appearances: 3-1
- PDC World Championship Best: Winner (2018) – First Round (2016)
Rob Cross won this event on debut in 2018 and was at his mesmerising best at the end of that season. It’s nothing short of amazing to believe that the number five seed this year probably won’t even go off favourite for this match.
Cross lost to nil in his opening match of this event last year to Kim Huybrechts. He also lost in his opening match of the Matchplay as defending champion and he was eliminated from the Premier League on Judgement Night this year, some big early defeats in what many class as the Triple Crown of darts.
Otherwise, his results this year at times have been decent. A runner-up on the floor at Players Championship 12, he was runner-up with Michael Smith in the World Cup of Darts, runner-up again in the World Series of Darts to Gerwyn Price, and a quarter-finalist at the UK Open, where he lost to Michael van Gerwen. His seasonal average of 94.05 is very respectable too. I wouldn’t write ‘Voltage’ off just yet and there have been signs of a much smoother throw of late.
Dirk, or the ‘Aubergenius’ as he’s been labelled, is having his most memorable season to date. He started the it in good form with good runs in the opening three Players Championship events setting the tone for his year. He backed this up with a good UK Open and a semi-final in the opening Euro Tour event of 2020, where he overcame Nathan Aspinall in an absolute classic quarter-final encounter.
The break seemed to have detrimental effect on his game at the time but of late he’s certainly rectified that, his breakthrough coming in the World Grand Prix where he lost in the final to Gerwyn Price. Van Duijvenbode has since played well without having the results to show for it, as he lost in the quarter-finals of both the Euro Championships and the Players Championship Finals.
His seasonal average of 93.92 is very similar to that of Cross and it really is a difficult game to predict with any confidence. I’m going to give the match result a miss and take a punt on Cross to have the highest checkout as he wins 13% of his legs with a 100+ outshot compared to van Duijvenbode's 6%.
- Score Prediction: 3-2
- Suggested Bet: Rob Cross to have the highest checkout at 19/20
Dimitri Van den Bergh (1/10) v Paul Lim (6/1)
- Head to Head: 0-0
- 2020 Meetings: 0-0
- PDC Titles this Season: 1-0 (TV: 1-0)
- Career PDC Titles: 1-0 (TV: 1-0)
- PDC World Championship Appearances: 5-12
- PDC World Championship Best: Quarter Final (2018, 2020) – Second Round/Last 16 (2001)
Dimitri Van den Bergh was probably expecting to be facing Luke Humphries tonight but the Singapore favourite caused one of the shocks of the opening round, even surviving a match dart.
The Belgian Matchplay champion comes into this a strong favourite and it’s hard to see to the dream run of Paul Lim going any further.
Van Den Bergh never advanced past the last 16 on the floor this year but he’s a different player on stage and in the televised events in particular. He won the Matchplay defeating Aspinall, Cullen, Adrian Lewis, Durrant and Gary Anderson on route. He also made the quarters at the UK Open, the semi-finals of the World Cup of Darts and was a semi-finalist in the Grand Slam of Darts, where he registered a tournament-record average of 114.85.
He exited in the first round of the most recent tournament, the Players Championship Finals, to Ryan Searle but having already demonstrated that he's playing well this week that isn’t an overly big concern.
Van den Bergh really does raise his game on stage with an average of 96.80 in 2020 compared to 92.21 on the floor. He’s also upped his 180 per leg ratio which is 0.29 on stage, compared to 0.26 on the floor. I also recently mentioned in my Match Treble article that he’s registered this in 42.86% of matches on stage in 2020.
Lim famously hit a nine-darter back in the 1990 BDO World Championships and there wouldn’t have been a dry eye in the house had he followed this up in 2018 against Gary Anderson, narrowly missing the double.
His 89.77 average against Humphries leaves him some way short of the standard he’ll probably need to produce here though, and I don't see him getting on the scoreboard.
- Score Prediction: 3-0
- Suggested Bet: Match to have over 11.5 legs, highest checkout over 106.5 and over 4.5 total 180s at evens
Season Statistics
To help you with your bets throughout the tournament, here are some excellent statistical graphs for every player in the field from Darts Tracker creator and Sporting Life contributor Carl Fletcher (@CarlyFletch & @Darts_Tracker on Twitter), while there is an additional graphic at the bottom charting each player’s frequency of bringing up the ‘Match Treble’ in PDC events this season. That is when they win, throw most 180s and hit the highest checkout. You can read more about Carl’s research on that by clicking here.
NB: Averages & 180 per leg data covers events except World Grand Prix (which is double-start and distorts figures), 100+ checkout % is all events, and doubles percentage is stage events only (majors and European Tour) because definitive double stats for Players Championship events aren't available.
CLICK HERE FOR FULL TOURNAMENT DRAW, RESULTS & SCHEDULE
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