BoyleSports Grand Slam of Darts predictions and winner odds: Cross appeals

Free darts tips, best bets and analysis for the BoyleSports Grand Slam of Darts, which starts in Wolverhampton on Saturday.

Where to watch

Sky Sports Main Event & Arena, from 1pm Saturday

Best bets

Rob Cross to win Grand Slam
1pt each-way 20-1 bet365, Betfred, BoyleSports

Rusty-Jake Rodriguez to win Group B
1pt 14-1 Coral, Ladbrokes

Gabriel Clemens to win third quarter
1pt 6-1 Paddy Power

Michael Smith to win Group H
1pt 11-8 Betfair, Hills, Paddy Power

Preview

The Grand Slam of Darts is back in Wolverhampton after a one-year migration down the road to Coventry with reigning champion Jose de Sousa ready to defend his sole PDC major title at Aldersley Leisure Village.

The last three different winners of the title – Phil Taylor, Michael van Gerwen and Gerwyn Price – all came back to successfully defend the crown 12 months later and the Portuguese ace is 16-1 to repeat last year's heroics.

The top two from the eight groups go through to the knockout stage and upsets can be expected - four of the eight group jollies flopped 12 months ago.

Group A

(1) Gerwyn Price, Krzyzstof Ratajski, Martin Schindler, Nathan Rafferty

Two-time Grand Slam king Gerwyn Price holds all the aces here with a 6-1 head-to-head record against Krzysztof Ratajski and having beaten Martin Schindler three times since the summer.

Nathan Rafferty has chalked up wins in 2021 on both the Development and Challenge Tours but this is a massive step up for a youngster whose bread-and-butter averages are in the mid-80s.

Price should win this en route to either a last-16 or last-eight showdown with Jonny Clayton.

Group B

(8) Jonny Clayton, Mervyn King, Bradley Brooks, Rusty-Jake Rodriguez

With four TV titles to his name it's hard to ignore the claims of Jonny Clayton both in this group and to lift the title, although his odds have inevitably crumbled in recent weeks.

The Welshman will get a game from revived veteran Mervyn King and also Rusty-Jake Rodriguez or RJR3 as he's known to distinguish him from older brothers Roxy-James and Rowby-John.

The 20-year-old Austrian has won five times on the European Development Tour this year – the two most recent were last week – and has been chucking ton-plus averages for fun. If the pressure of making his debut doesn't get to him he looks a genuine danger.

Group C

(4) James Wade, Rob Cross, Boris Krcmar, Jim Williams

Serial qualifier Rob Cross knows how to get through the Grand Slam group stage, knows how to win big tournaments and knows he's back in form. And he also knows he's in a decent section of the draw which makes Voltage a genuine contender this week.

Winning the European Championship last month did his confidence the power of good - he went out and won on the floor a few days later and he'll fancy topping Group C. In four previous Grand Slams he has never failed to qualify for the last 16.

James Wade, a three-time runner-up, has to be a threat but Jim Williams's form doesn't look compelling. Boris Krcmar did well to qualify – he beat Dirk van Duijvenbode and Ross Smith – but a 39 per cent win rate on tour this year is poor.

Group D

Stephen Bunting, Ryan Joyce, Rowby-John Rodriguez, Chris Dobey

Group D was hard to call with Dimitri van den Bergh in it and is no easier now that Chris Dobey has replaced the Belgian, who is self-isolating.

Bunting has had a good year and boasts an incredible 100 per cent record in the group stage – it's played nine, won nine – which makes him hard to ignore.

Ryan Joyce beat Jermaine Wattimena, Ian White and Daryl Gurney to qualify which sounds like good form while Dobey is more than capable of doing a Denmark a la Euro 92.

Group E

(2) Peter Wright, Gabriel Clemens, Mike de Decker, Fallon Sherrock

Peter Wright is going through a bit of a rut having suffered first-round losses in his last four decent events, the Gibraltar Darts Trophy, Grand Prix, Euros and World Series.

Snakebite can be opposed with Gabriel Clemens the obvious threat. The big German beat Snakey in the worlds last Christmas and has had a solid year with one floor final and three semis. He's also beaten Mike de Decker the two times they've met this year.

The unknown quantity is Fallon Sherrock, who can produce on her days and will prefer the shorter format if only because the pressure piled on her opponents is immediate. And she'll have the crowd massively behind her. She was, however, thrashed by Krzyzstof Ratajski last time out.

Group F

(7) Jose de Sousa, Luke Humphries, Mensur Suljovic, Matt Campbell

Defending champ Jose de Sousa won't find this a breeze against Luke Humphries and World Cup finalist Mensur Suljovic, who is showing glimpses of a return to form.

However, the Portuguese Man o' Scores has beaten Cool Hand Luke three times this year and still looks the likeliest winner.

Group G

(3) Michael van Gerwen, Joe Cullen, John Henderson, Lisa Ashton

Michael van Gerwen has been a group winner in nine of 13 previous Grand Slams – but hasn't reached the final in any of the least three years.

On current form, which is hit-and-miss at best, he's probably worth overlooking for the title, although he'll be a hard man to oppose topping Group G.

Having said that, Joe Cullen has beaten Mighty Mike twice this year while John Henderson did for the Dutchman in the Grand Prix. At 1-2 he's short enough.

Group H

(6) Gary Anderson, Michael Smith, Raymond van Barneveld, Joe Davies

After three years away from the Grand Slam, Barney is back and couldn't have asked for a sterner test against Gary Anderson and Michael Smith.

Bully Boy isn't seeded – Ando takes that honour – but the Englishman is the most consistent of these players and looks the bet.

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