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Jony Clayton (Picture: PDC/Taylor Lanning)
Jony Clayton (Picture: PDC/Taylor Lanning)

World Matchplay darts 2023: Semi-final predictions, odds, betting tips, accas, order of play & TV times

By Chris Hammer
Darts
Sat July 22, 2023 · 2y ago

The semi-finals of the Betfred World Matchplay take place on Saturday night so here's our match-by-match preview and best bets.

Darts betting tips: World Matchplay day eight

1pt Aspinall v Cullen to have 21+ 180s & 4+ 100+ Checkouts at 2/1 (Sky Bet)

2pts Clayton to win and Humphries to hit most 180s at 2/1 (Sky Bet)

SL Acca: Clayton to win and Humphries hit most 180s & Cullen to beat Aspinall at 6/1 with Sky Bet

Sky Bet odds | Paddy Power | Betfair Sportsbook

World Matchplay: Saturday July 22

  • Venue: Winter Gardens, Blackpool
  • TV Coverage: Sky Sports (2000 BST)
  • Format: Semi-finals, best of 33 legs. Each game must be won by two clear legs, with up to a maximum of five additional legs being played before the sixth additional leg is sudden-death

Nathan Aspinall (8/13) v Joe Cullen (6/5)

  • Overall H2H: 9-6 (TV: 1-0)
    2023: 2-0 (TV: 0-0)
  • Seasonal Average:
    Aspinall: 96.45
    Cullen: 95.21
  • 180s per leg in 2023
    Aspinall: 0.30
    Cullen: 0.35
  • Checkout % in 2023 (Stage events only)
    Aspinall: 36.67%
    Cullen: 38.63%
  • Match Treble % (Win, most 180s & high checkout)
    Aspinall: 19.75%
    Cullen: 34.78%

Fresh from despatching his closest friend in darts Chris Dobey last time out, Nathan Aspinall must now inflict heartache on another pal in Joe Cullen if he's to reach his fifth major final.

The Asp finds himself as the very marginal favourite in this Roses battle and there's been so little to separate them this year. Cullen has even closed the gap in the hair stakes!

Neither have actually picked up a title this season, with Aspinall the only one to reach a final when finishing runner-up to Michael Smith in a European Tour event back in April, while the Stockport thrower also has the slight edge when it comes to seasonal averages.

Both players are obviously extremely with their 180 hitting and while Cullen has a superior maximum per leg ratio of 0.35 in 2023, Aspinall has managed 0.41 in this tournament (26 in 63 legs) compared to the Yorkshireman's 0.34 (23 in 68).

This will hopefully be a 180 fest with plenty of legs while the duo have combined for nine 100+ checkouts in the tournament so far, with Cullen managing six of them.

I wouldn't be surprised to see this one go into the tie-breaker situation but as long as we get around 30 legs, my tip of 21+ maximums and 4+ 100+ checkouts has a very strong chance.

Scoreline prediction: 15-17

WHO'S HIT MOST NINE-DART FINISHES?

Jonny Clayton (5/6) v Luke Humphries (5/6)

  • Overall H2H: 6-1 (TV: 1-0)
    2023: 0-1 (TV: 0-0)
  • Seasonal Average:
    Clayton: 96.81
    Humphries: 97.84
  • 180s per leg in 2023
    Clayton: 0.22
    Humphries: 0.33
  • Checkout % in 2023 (Stage events only)
    Clayton: 41.48%
    Humphries: 40.69%
  • Match Treble % (Win, most 180s & high checkout)
    Clayton: 18.80%
    Humphries: 23.96%

Firstly, don't read too much into that overall head-to-head record. Jonny Clayton may have won six of their seven encounters but his last victory against Luke Humphries was way back in 2021 and their only meeting this year went the way of Cool Hand.

Both players have been amongst the most successful on the PDC circuit this season with two titles apiece although results-wise, you have to give Humphries the edge based on the fact he's reached four more finals than Clayton and they've all been on the stage environment of the European Tour.

Also, his two titles have come in the last few weeks - one on the Euro Tour and one in the last Players Championship event before Blackpool - as he finally put all those runners-up cheques behind him.

That said, although the Ferret's last success came in May, he did recently average over 90 for 53 matches in a row which is a record in the Dart Connect era of collecting stats since 2018. He kicked off this World Matchplay campaign with a scrappy 87 average when he was clearly struggling with the emotions from a tough time in his personal life but since then he's reached 102 and 97 in pretty clinical triumphs over Dimitri Van den Bergh (11-6) and Ryan Searle (16-12).

He does have more experience of the longer formats in big majors than Humphries and that could be crucial if we start to go deep in what promises to be a thrilling semi-final.

Cool Hand was cruising at 15-9 against Damon Heta last time out but as the Aussie's tail wagged, Humphries began to run out of steam.

Eventually he got over the line 16-13 with an average of 95.5 but he can't avoid many drop offs if he's to keep alive his hopes of winning a first major title.

I'm going to give the edge to my pre-tournament tip Clayton but will double it up with Humphries hitting most 180s. He actually hit one less than the Welshman last night but generally this season he's a far more prolific maximum hitter with 0.33 per leg compared to his opponent's 0.22.

Scoreline prediction: 17-13

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