DARTS expert Boring Winners (@BoringWinners) has been in outstanding form at the World Matchplay. Here's his verdict on Friday's action.
World Matchplay Darts | 28th July 2017 | Sky Sports
Hopefully everyone enjoyed our 12/5 winner on the Daryl Gurney v Mensur Suljovic match on Thursday night.
And if you read our Matchplay tournament preview you would've seen our tip on Daryl Gurney to win his quarter won yesterday at odds of 9/1 – he's now just one match away from the final and we have him backed at 100/1 each-way outright.
It was a pity about the Peter Wright bet, mind. We were just one maximum off landing the Thursday night full house.
Alan Norris v Adrian Lewis | Friday 19:20 | Sky Sports
First up I’m backing Adrian Lewis to Win, Adrian Lewis Over 6 180s, Alan Norris Over 5 180s and Over 109 Checkout at 2/1 with William Hill.
I'm really looking forward to the match; both players play a great quick brand of darts and are both very high scorers, so this should be exciting.
I think Lewis will win this. He's back to playing his best after a few struggling years. He overcame a good Steve Beaton in the 1st Round and then an excellent Rob Cross in the second. Cross averaged 104 and hit 57% of his doubles and Lewis still beat him 11-8.
Let's face it, Norris played decent in the last round but he shouldn't have won; Dave Chisnall basically handed him the match with all the doubles he missed. Norris still played well but the better finishing of Lewis I think will prove too much.
I think this game will be full of maximums. Lewis hit nine in the last round over 20 legs while Norris nine in 26 legs. We’ve seen in the Gurney and Suljovic match that if one player can keep hitting maximums, the other player follows suit.
Suljovic never hits many maximums yet he hit seven last night. I can't describe it but when one player hits a maximum the other is nearly inspired to hit one.
I think Lewis will easily manage seven 180s and Norris should hit six. Norris’ high checkouts have been one of the main talking points of his game so far in the tournament.
He took out a 155 and a 127 against Huybrechts in the 1st Round and then against Chisnall he took out a 120, a 126, a 110 and a 109.
Lewis has also been good on high checkouts as well taking out a 110 against Beating and a 144 and a 121 against Cross. A longer format here so they should have even more chances.
Michael van Gerwen v Phil Taylor | Friday 21:45 | Sky Sports
Next, I’m taking Phil Taylor Over 5 180′, Michael van Gerwen Over 7 180s & Over 23 Legs (6/4 William Hill).
I may be living in dreamland but I'd love to see Taylor win this. If he plays his best and hits MVG at the right times its definitely possible.
People seem to forget Taylor comprehensively beat MVG twice in one weekend over a first to 11 leg format in the Champions League Of Darts towards the end of last year. So this is possible but unlikely.
Taylor hit four maximums against RVB over 14 legs in Round 2 so with the game going to at least 24 legs (as I predict) there's plenty of time for two more Taylor maximums. He was also never pushed against RVB so he didn't really need to hit that many.
Similarly, MVG was never pushed against Whitlock, the game went to 14 legs and MVG still hit five maximums. He hasn't brought his best even yet so eight 180s in at least 24 legs should be a breeze for him. MVG also hit six 180s in the 1st Round over 14 legs.
Best Bets
Alan Norris v Adrian Lewis – Adrian Lewis to Win, Adrian Lewis Over 6 180s, Alan Norris Over 5 180s and Over 109 Checkout (2/1 William Hill)
Michael van Gerwen v Phil Taylor – Phil Taylor Over 5 180′, Michael van Gerwen Over 7 180s & Over 23 Legs (6/4 William Hill)
