The PDC World Darts Championship continues on Wednesday so check out Chris Hammer's match-by-match predictions, best bets and a suggested acca.
We're back to two sessions of darts at the Ally Pally on Wednesday, with Fallon Sherrock and Raymond van Barneveld both in action.
Here, we look ahead to all eight matches with seasonal statistics to help...
Darts betting tips: World Championship day seven
1pt Martijn Kleermaker to win, hit most 180s and have the highest checkout at 6/4 (Sky Bet)
1pt Josh Rock to throw five+ 180s and one or more 100+ checkout at 11/8 (Sky Bet)
1pt Chisnall to win, hit most 180s and Gilding have highest checkout at 4/1 (Sky Bet)
1pt Baggish to win and King to hit most 180s at 3/1 (Sky Bet)
SL Acca: Kleermaker to win 3-0, Rock, O'Connor and Baggish (+1.5 sets) all to win at 5/1 with Sky Bet
World Championship: Wednesday, December 21
AFTERNOON SESSION
- TV Coverage: Sky Sports, 1230 GMT
- Round and Format: Rounds 1 & 2 (Best of five sets)
- In the below stats (courtesy of @CarlyFletch) and his @DartsTracker), the averages and 180 per leg data is for all PDC events in 2022, while checkout percentage is for stage events only. For Leonard Gates, the data available is from his World Series and Grand Slam of Darts outings, and for Xicheng Han it's the China Premier League.
John O'Shea (10/11) v Darius Labanauskas (4/5) (R1)
- Head to Head (TV): 1-1 (0-0)
- 2022 Head to Head (TV): 1-1 (0-0)
- Three-Dart Average (2022): 89.74 - 89.27
- 180s per leg (2022): 0.19 - 0.10
- Checkout % (Stage Events 2022): 9.52% - 24.64%
- 100+ checkout per leg won (2022): 9.74% - 12.14%
- Match Treble % (Win, most 180s & high checkout): 8.14% - 2.50%
It's fair to say Darius Labanauskas isn't the most explosive player on the circuit - especially this season - but last year he did bring the crowd to their feet with the second of three nine-darters in the tournament.
The Lithuanian went on to lose that game and since then he's just plodded along without any decent runs of note on the Pro Tour and European Tour, while his seasonal average is around the high 80s.
Labanauskas, who reached the quarter-finals here against the odds at the 2020 edition, booked his fifth successive Ally Pally spot by topping the PDC Nordic & Baltic Order of Merit and will fancy his chances against John O'Shea.
WATCH: Paul Nicholson and Chris Hammer predict the Ally Pally draw!
The 2019 World Masters champion snuck into the 96-player field as the 31st of 32 Pro Tour Order of Merit qualifiers and crucially beat Labanauskas 6-4 in the opening round of the final Players Championship event of the season that helped him finish £1000 ahead of 33rd placed Ryan Joyce.
O'Shea's best run on his debut season in the PDC ranks was reaching the Players Championship 14 final back in May, when he lost to Michael Smith, but apart from that, it's been steady at best with an overall average of 89.74.
Neither player boast exhilarating 180 stats but I'd be hesitant to go too low on maximums in case this one goes the distance with plenty of legs.
Scoreline Prediction: 2-3
Martijn Kleermaker (1/12) v Xicheng Han (6/1) (R1)
- Head to Head (TV): 0-0 (0-0)
- 2022 Head to Head (TV): 0-0 (0-0)
- Three-Dart Average (2022): 89.95 - 80.95
- 180s per leg (2022): 0.22 - 0.09
- Checkout % (Stage Events 2022): 37.39% - Unavailable
- 100+ checkout per leg won (2022): 11.47% - 8.64 %
- Match Treble % (Win, most 180s & high checkout): 20.65% - Unavailable
Around this time last year, Martijn Kleermaker's 130 checkout against Joe Cullen in a deciding set of a thrilling encounter caused me to throw a swizzle lolly into my carpet in frustration. It took a freak bounce and broke my TV screen. I'm still not over it.
He has the potential to cause me more misery this year against my quarter four tip Chris Dobey in round two but first he has a relatively easy job of taking care of China's Xicheng Han.
Not much is known about Han other than he finished a distant runner-up to Xiaochen Zong in the China Premier League but earns his spot at the Ally Pally because the champion couldn't travel due to Covid-related reasons.
Han averaged a shade under 81 during the China Premier League campaign while his 180s per leg were a very low 0.09 so I think we can be fairly confident of backing Kleermaker in the match treble market.
The giant Dutchman, who reached round four on his debut 12 months ago with averages in the high 80s throughout, is a pretty solid maximum hitter as you can see from the stats above and if he wins the vast majority of legs, you'd like to think the high checkout will belong to him.
Scoreline Prediction: 3-0
Callan Rydz (2/1) v Josh Rock (4/11) (R2)
- Head to Head (TV): 0-0 (0-0)
- 2022 Head to Head (TV): 0-0 (0-0)
- Three-Dart Average (2022): 93.90 - 97.75
- 180s per leg (2022): 0.26 - 0.30
- Checkout % (Stage Events 2022): 37.78% - 40.51%
- 100+ checkout per leg won (2022): 10.83% - 12.52%
- Match Treble % (Win, most 180s & high checkout): 25.53% - 26.92%
The Wednesday afternoon crowd are in for a real treat if Callan Rydz and Josh Rock and live up to the hype in this mouthwatering second-round clash that everyone has been looking forward since the draw was made.
They've never met in the pro ranks and we sadly missed out on what would have been the most watched World Youth Championship final of all time when Rydz lost to eventual runner-up Nathan Girvan in the semi-finals.
Many tipped the Geordie to enjoy a superb 2022 after his quarter-final run 12 months ago which was only ended by eventual champion Peter Wright in an epic quarter-final.
He averaged in the high 90s throughout the tournament but since then he only managed to reach one final - losing to Michael Smith - and suffered first-round exits in the World Matchplay, World Grand Prix and failed to qualify for the Grand Slam.
He did reach the quarter-finals of the Players Championship Finals but he didn't have to play too well to get there and ended up being battered 10-3 by Jonny Clayton.
His seasonal average of 93.9 is someway short of Rock's 97.75 - which is second only to Michael van Gerwen - but he does have more experience of the biggest stages than the world youth champion.
Rock had a little wobble in setting up this tie when Jose Justica pinched a set but he promptly responded by winning six of the next seven legs to advance with a 93.36 average, and now he has that Ally Pally exposure in the bank, I'm sure we'll see him raising the bar on his next outing.
I wouldn't be surprised to see an 'upset' - or a five-set thriller at the very least - but in either case, Rock's 180 stats and his ability to hit high checkouts should see him comfortable achieve my tip of five or more maximums and one or more 100+ finishes.
Scoreline Prediction: 2-3
Dave Chisnall (4/11) v Andrew Gilding (2/1) (R2)
- Head to Head (TV): 6-3 (0-0)
- 2022 Head to Head (TV): 1-0 (0-0)
- Three-Dart Average (2022): 96.50 - 95.01
- 180s per leg (2022): 0.35 - 0.23
- Checkout % (Stage Events 2022): 39.25% - 36.16%
- 100+ checkout per leg won (2022): 10.83% - 13.73%
- Match Treble % (Win, most 180s & high checkout): 27.65% - 22.69%
Dave Chisnall is one of my each-way tips to win the World Championship but if I'd had the choice, I would much rather he'd been playing Robert Owen than Andrew Gilding.
Goldfinger could have folded when the pumped up Welshman cruised into a 1-0 lead but as his opponent became embroiled with the crowd, Gilding ended up running out a 3-2 winner.
His average of 88.43 won't strike any fear into Chisnall but we've seen earlier in the season that Gilding can reach dizzying heights, averaging over 100 on 21 occasions while he's also reached three finals.
As I wrote in my pre-tournament preview, Chizzy burst into life over the past few months by claiming two titles, including one on the European Tour, while he'd also won 25 of his last 33 matches prior to the Grand Slam of Darts and Players Championship Finals.
His level of performances made him a genuine candidate for both but a highly unfortunate defeat to Gerwyn Price ended his Grand Slam challenge while he somehow lost to Scott Williams in the latter event despite averaging 10 points higher with 103.
Chisnall thrives at the Alexandra Palace, reaching the semi-finals back in 2021 when he famously thrashed Michael van Gerwen 5-0 with one of the finest displays ever seen on that stage, while he also reached the quarters in 2017 and 2019.
Statistically he's almost in the top 10 for averages across all competitions this season (96.50) and remains one of the most prolific 180 hitters on the planet with a 0.35 per leg ratio this year – second only to van Duijvenbode's ridiculous 0.38.
I think this has at least four sets in it and although Gilding doesn't possess the same kind of 180 hitting prowess of Chizzy, his legs won with a 100+ checkout percentage of 13.73% is among the highest on tour so we could see plenty of crowd pleasing moments.
Scoreline Prediction: 3-1
EVENING SESSION
- TV Coverage: Sky Sports, 1900 GMT
- Round and Format: Rounds 1 & 2 (Best of five sets)
- In the below stats (courtesy of @CarlyFletch) and his @DartsTracker), the averages and 180 per leg data is for all PDC events in 2022, while checkout percentage is for stage events only. For Leonard Gates, the data available is from his World Series and Grand Slam of Darts outings, and for Xicheng Han it's the China Premier League.
Mervyn King (4/7) v Danny Baggish (5/4) (R2)
- Head to Head (TV): 0-0 (0-0)
- 2022 Head to Head (TV): 0-0 (0-0)
- Three-Dart Average (2022): 91.58 - 88.60
- 180s per leg (2022): 0.21 - 0.13
- Checkout % (Stage Events 2022): 38.06% - 31.25%
- 100+ checkout per leg won (2022): 11.54% - 10.84%
- Match Treble % (Win, most 180s & high checkout): 18.75% - 9.09%
Much has been made of Raymond van Barneveld's 30th appearance in a World Championship and Steve Beaton's record-extending 32nd - but don't forget about the longevity of Mervyn King!
This is the King's 27th in a row dating back to when he reached the BDO semi-finals on his debut in 1997 and it remains one of the biggest injustices in darts that he's still yet to win a major title.
At the age of 56, that's probably unlikely to happen now - although he did enjoy a run to last year's quarter-finals and it wasn't too long ago that he reached the climax of the 2020 Players Championship Finals and the 2021 Masters only to lose both in trademark agonisingly circumstances.
His levels have dropped off significantly over the past 12 months and fell at the first hurdle in both major tournaments he qualified for in 2022 - the UK Open and Players Championship Finals.
King has averaged 91.58 in a season that has seen very few lengthy runs and he's vulnerable against Danny Baggish, who is on a high after beating Matt Campbell 3-0 in a high-quality game thanks to holding his nerve in two deciding legs. He averaged a shade under 93 but only managed a single 180 - which isn't a surprise given his lowly maximum per leg ratio of 0.13 this season.
An interesting double here might be Baggish to win but King to hit most 180s.
Scoreline Prediction: 2-3
Gabriel Clemens (10/11) v William O'Connor (4/5) (R2)
- Head to Head (TV): 3-2 (0-1)
- 2022 Head to Head (TV): 1-0 (0-0)
- Three-Dart Average (2022): 92.30 - 92.41
- 180s per leg (2022): 0.27 - 0.24
- Checkout % (Stage Events 2022): 34.13% - 38.38 %
- 100+ checkout per leg won (2022): 9.94% - 9.41%
- Match Treble % (Win, most 180s & high checkout): 21.24% - 16.33%
Willie O'Connor comfortably won the award for 'most professional performance' of round one with a 3-0 victory over teenage sensation Beau Greaves and now there's certainly no 'circus' for him to deal with ahead of his clash with Gabriel Clemens.
This is a tough one to call.
In terms of averages they're pretty much level pegging for the season while they've both reached a ranking final; O'Connor losing to Joe Cullen 8-2 in the Hungarian Darts Trophy and Clemens being battered 8-0 by Dirk van Duijvenbode in a Players Championship event.
The Irishman, who averaged a very healthy 94.26 against Beau Greaves, didn't enjoy enough ranking success in 2022 to qualify for more majors than the UK Open and Players Championship Finals - but he did reach the semi-finals of the former thanks to an impressive win over Peter Wright.
O'Connor doesn't tend to get rolled over on this stage - losing very close games to the likes of Gerwyn Price, Michael Smith and Daryl Gurney in recent years - so Clemens won't have it easy by any stretch of the imagination.
The Gentle Giant, who has suffered early exits in all seven of the majors he's featured in this year, has some great memories of this stage - most notably in 2021 when beating defending Wright 4-3 in the third-round - so I can see this one going the distance with O'Connor pinching a decider.
Scoreline Prediction: 2-3
Michael van Gerwen (1/20) v Lewy Williams (8/1) (R2)
- Head to Head (TV): 1-1 (0-0)
- 2022 Head to Head (TV): 1-0 (0-0)
- Three-Dart Average (2022): 98.43 - 89.37
- 180s per leg (2022): 0.27 - 0.21
- Checkout % (Stage Events 2022): 39.01% - 33.33%
- 100+ checkout per leg won (2022): 13.78% - 10.84%
- Match Treble % (Win, most 180s & high checkout): 26.71% - 13.43%
Based on Michael van Gerwen's recent form, Lewy Williams probably needs to start most legs like he did the last against Niels Zonneveld to stand a chance of causing a huge upset tonight.
That said, despite missing double 12 for a nine-darter he ended up completing the 3-0 victory with a 15-darter that did a little damage to his impressive doubling throughout the contest.
The young Welshman averaged 93 and pinned almost 41% of his doubles to remind darts fans of his potential having headed into the tournament on the back of a pretty disappointing season.
MVG's campaign has been quite the opposite, winning four more titles than anyone else with 10, including the Premier League, World Matchplay, World Grand Prix and the recent Players Championship Finals , while his seasonal average of 98.43 across all competitions is top by quite some distance from Josh Rock (97.75).
There's very little logic to suggest the tournament favourite will struggle but he has dropped a single set in each of his last five first-round games on this stage so you might be tempted by 11/4 about another 3-1 scoreline. However, I'm leaning more towards a whitewash given the clear gulf in class between the two this year and MVG being in the best place he's been for several years.
But that scoreline is as short as 8/13.
Scoreline Prediction: 3-0
MVG’s opening match at the Worlds since 2018:
— Carl Fletcher (@CarlyFletch) December 20, 2022
2018: Won 3-1 vs Christian Kist
2019: Won 3-1 vs Alan Tabern
2020: Won 3-1 vs Jelle Klaasen
2021: Won 3-1 vs Ryan Murray
2022: Won 3-1 vs Chas Barstow
Same again tomorrow night?
11/4 available currently#WorldDartsChampionship 🎯
Stephen Bunting (1/5) v Leonard Gates (10/3) (R2)
- Head to Head (TV): 0-0 (0-0)
- 2022 Head to Head (TV): 0-0 (0-0)
- Three-Dart Average (2022): 94.85 - 86.10
- 180s per leg (2022): 0.29 - 0.08
- Checkout % (Stage Events 2022): 34.04% - 25.53%
- 100+ checkout per leg won (2022): 11.94 % - 7.00%
- Match Treble % (Win, most 180s & high checkout): 26.36 % - 0.00%
Stephen Bunting is still best known for 'that' World Championship clash with Raymond van Barneveld, which has been featured on Sky Sports' Darts Gold more times than I care to remember.
At least we get a yearly reminder (or 12) of what used to be expected of the Bullet in his younger days and at the age of 37, time is still on his side to one day reach a major PDC final - and possibly win one.
Bunting threatened to do that twice last season when following up his run to the World Championship semi-finals by reaching the last four of the World Grand Prix and winning a first Pro Tour title in five years, but sadly he's retreated back into the pack in 2022.
There have been a handful of quarter-final runs in Players Championship events and two semi-final efforts on the European Tour but all of his six major appearances have ended in early exits.
His seasonal average of 94.85 is still pretty strong and his A and B games would be too much for Leonard Gates, who will be happy to have got this far after battling past Geert Nentjes 3-1 with an 81 average.
That's a quite a bit below what we saw from him in the World Series and Grand Slam so I wouldn't be surprised to see him nick a set, but a whitewash at odds-against prices may be the way to go here.
Scoreline Prediction: 3-0
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