The semi-finals of the 25th PDC World Darts Championship take place tonight - here's the order of play, our predictions, odds and a suggested acca.
Phil Taylor bids to book his place in a 21st world championship final as he faces 300/1 pre-tournament outsider Jamie Lewis before Michael van Gerwen takes on Rob Cross.
Here is the full running order, complete with the Sky Bet odds, head-to-head records, results so far, tournament stats, Chris Hammer's predicted scoreline for each game and his suggested bets. You can also click here for the full tournament draw, daily schedule and results.
World Darts Championship: Saturday December 30
Click on the odds for more Sky Bet match markets
TV coverage: Sky Sports Darts (1900 GMT)
Semi-Finals: (Best of 11 sets)
Phil Taylor (1/5) v Jamie Lewis (7/2)
Head-to-head record
Taylor 2 wins, Lewis 0 wins
- Taylor 6-0 Lewis (UK Open Qualifier, Feb 2016)
- Taylor 6-1 Lewis (Gibraltar Darts Trophy, June 2013)
Routes to the semi-finals
Phil Taylor
- First round: 3-1 v Chris Dobey
(Ave: 96.33, 180s: 3, Doubles: 11/25) - Second round: 4-0 v Justin Pipe
(Ave: 99.37, 180s: 2, Doubles: 12/22) - Third round: 4-0 v Keegan Brown
(Ave: 101.34, 180s: 4, Doubles: 12/19) - Quarter-finals: 5-3 v Gary Anderson
(Ave: 102.02, 180s: 12, Doubles: 20/40)
Jamie Lewis
- Preliminary round: 2-1 v Kenny Neyens
(Ave: 93.17, 180s: 2, Doubles: 8/17) - First round: 3-0 v Jonny Clayton
(Ave: 99.02, 180s: 5, Doubles: 9/18) - Second round: 4-1 v Peter Wright
(Ave: 107.27, 180s: 13, Doubles: 14/26) - Third round: 4-1 v James Richardson
(Ave: 96.25, 180s: 5, Doubles: 14/32) - Quarter-finals: 5-0 v Darren Webster
(Ave: 101.26, 180s: 14, Doubles: 15/36)
Tournament stats so far
Overall Average
Taylor: 100.08
Lewis: 99.88
Total 180s
Taylor: 21
Lewis: 39
Checkout percentage
Taylor: 51.89% (55/106)
Lewis: 46.51% (60/129)
100+ checkouts
Taylor (8): 126, 122, 119, 115, 112, 106, 105, 100
Lewis (8): 170, 147, 130, 126, 125, 123, 121 (x2)
Chris Hammer's match preview
In some strange world where you could have been in a situation to offer Phil Taylor a semi-final against Jamie Lewis, he'd have snapped your hand off. Like everyone else, the Power would have been puzzled as to how a 300/1 outsider, who had to come through the third-fourth play-off of a final qualifying event packed full of no hopers (in the nicest sense of the phrase) last month just to be here, could produce the quality from nowhere to reach the semi-finals.
Although he isn't a nobody on the darts circuit having been hyped up to an extent a few years back, there were no real signs he'd suddenly realise his potential now. Having battled through a final set decider in his preliminary match, the 26-year-old Welshman turned on the style to thrash a recent major finalist Jonny Clayton 3-0 before producing one of the finest performances of the whole tournament so far to put Peter Wright to the sword.
He's only dropped three sets in five games and there's no doubt he's relishing the attention up there. He's never experienced anything like what Saturday night will bring but on the flip side there's no battle scars of previous failures to give him any mental blocks.
Taylor may keep saying he's not feeling pressure but did you see the way he reacted when he missed his first match dart against Gary Anderson on Friday night? The dream finale is tantalisingly close for him and it's obvious how badly he wants it. If the fearless youngster continues to play with freedom, it could be a lot closer than many will expect.
Both players have been pounding the high checkouts while Lewis trails only Rob Cross in the 180s charts - despite being involved in what have turned out to be shorter matches. Therefore I'm going for over 34.5 legs, a high checkout of over 144.5 and over 23.5 180s at 7/2.
Prediction: Taylor 6-4 Lewis
Michael van Gerwen (1/5) v Rob Cross (7/2)
Head-to-head record
MVG 8 wins, Cross 1 win
- MVG 16-13 Cross (Grand Slam of Darts, Nov 2017)
- MVG 5-4 MVG (Grand Slam of Darts, Nov 2017)
- MVG 10-4 Cross (World Series of Darts Finals, Nov 2017)
- MVG 11-7 Cross (European Championship, Oct 2017)
- MVG 6-4 Cross (European Darts Trophy, Oct 2017)
- MVG 6-3 Cross (German Darts Grand Prix, Sept 2017)
- MVG 2-6 Cross (European Darts Open, July 2017)
- MVG 6-5 Cross (Players Championship, April 2017)
- MVG 9-5 Cross (UK Open, March 2016)
Routes to the semi-finals
Michael van Gerwen
- First round: 3-1 v Christian Kist
(Ave: 106.17, 180s: 4, Doubles: 11/16) - Second round: 4-0 v James Wilson
(Ave: 108.65, 180s: 4, Doubles: 12/21) - Third round: 4-2 v Gerwyn Price
(Ave: 100.06, 180s: 12, Doubles: 13/39) - Quarter-finals: 5-4 v Raymond van Barneveld
(Ave: 102.91, 180s: 12, Doubles: 21/42)
Rob Cross
- First round: 3-0 v Seigo Asada
(Ave: 104.12, 180s: 6, Doubles: 9/18) - Second round: 4-3 v Michael Smith
(Ave: 102.65, 180s: 16, Doubles: 12/31) - Third round: 4-1 v John Henderson
(Ave: 99.77, 180s: 7, Doubles: 13/22) - Quarter-finals: 5-4 v Dimitri van den Bergh
(Ave: 97.13, 180s: 11, Doubles: 19/50)
Tournament stats so far
Overall Average
MVG: 103.34
Cross: 100.20
Total 180s
MVG: 32
Cross: 40
Checkouts
MVG: 57/118
Cross: 53/121
100+ checkouts
MVG (7): 170, 164, 142, 141, 138, 114, 108
Cross (3): 164, 121, 102
Chris Hammer's match preview
Anyone who read my pre-tournament preview will know I need Rob Cross to win this having backed him at 16/1 each-way. This is where I said Voltage should get to and now it's all about that leap of faith that he can finally beat Michael van Gerwen on TV. To be honest, I didn't quite anticipate what a rollarcoaster Cross would endure.
He's the only player in the final four to have survived match darts after Michael Smith spurned two in an epic second-round match while Dimitri van den Bergh gave him one hell of a scare by taking him to a final set decider last night. The former electrician has been throwing 180s for fun - albeit helped by the fact he's played way more legs than anyone else - but the other areas of his game like high checkouts and finishing percentages haven't been as strong as we've seen in recent months.
Fortunately MVG wasn't at his unreachable best in a thriller with Raymond van Barneveld and that will give hope to Cross, who has lost seven of his eight matches against the Dutchman this year.
However, as you'll see from the H2H data above, he's rarely thrashed and gave MVG two very close games at the Grand Slam of Darts, missing match darts in the group stages before pushing him hard in the quarter-finals. The European Championship runner-up does have the attributes to beat him but needs to get his nose in front early in what will be the longest match of his life - if he wins.
He won't have the mental or physical stamina as MVG so realistically he'll need to get this done before a decider - but stranger things have happened. Over 26.5 180s at even-money is a steal but I'm going to be bolder and take 11/4 on there to be over 36.5 legs, a checkout of over 146.5 and more than 26.5 180s.
One last thought for those who believe in Sporting Scriptwriters/Gods. Although an MVG v Taylor final is an obvious 'dream' scenario - how fitting would it be for a future star playing his first season as a pro to come up against a legend playing his last?
Prediction: MVG 4-6 Cross
Saturday's suggested darts bets
- Taylor v Lewis to have over 34.5 legs, checkout over 144.5 and over 23.5 180s at 7/2
- MVG v Cross to have over 36.5 legs, checkout over 146.5 and over 26.5 180s at 11/4
