English darters look rock solid in Blackpool

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Rob Cross and Michael Smith will be leading the home charge at the Winter Gardens over the next week as England expects in the World Matchplay.

The World Cup didn’t quite make it home earlier this month but the World Matchplay has rarely left England's shores courtesy of Phil Taylor’s two decades of dominance, and 12 months after The Power signed off with triumph number 16 there’s a gaggle of Englishmen waiting to fill his shoes.

One of them, Cross, heads for Blackpool as world champion. Another, Smith, couldn’t be more confident after finally winning a big TV prize in Shanghai last week.

With former Matchplay winner and six-time finalist James Wade also returning to scintillating form and in a competition where a fiercely patriotic crowd do get behind their boys, have a punt on the English darters doing what the footy stars couldn’t. Get on an England winner at 9-2.

Incredibly, there have been 24 runnings of the second-biggest major on the PDC calendar and 21 have been won by English arrowsmiths.

That means some of the biggest names in darts, including Gary Anderson, Peter Wright and Raymond van Barneveld, all of whom go to post this year, have never lifted the trophy. Indeed, Anderson has been toppled in rounds one or two on seven of his nine visits.

Blackpool the venue, rather like Blackpool the town, is somewhere you either love or hate, and there are a lot of top players who struggle at the Winter Gardens where the crowd are right on your backs, the noise can be deafening and the heat intense.

Michael van Gerwen is the man to beat, inevitably, and you can be sure that he’ll be smarting after failing to win either of this month’s two prestigious Masters crowns. In Las Vegas he was beaten 8-3 by Wade, in Shanghai 8-4 by Smith.

The Dutch world number one, who has already won 15 titles in what is probably going to be a record-breaking year, won the Matchplay in 2015 and 2016 but let the crowd get to him in defeat by Taylor in last year’s quarter-finals.

He’s hard to dislike even at odds-on but he doesn’t mop up everything and his draw’s a tough one with Adrian Lewis, ‘Bully Boy’ Smith and, if he gets to the semis, quite plausibly Anderson, waiting in his path.

Anderson is certainly the obvious shout to win the second quarter, though there could be value betting against him in that section. And it’s another Englishman, Joe Cullen, who looks well worth a nibble.

The classy Yorkshireman with the languid throw is finally realising his potential and with six quarter-finals or better in this year’s European Tour, the form is there.

Indeed, there’s also a case for thinking Smith can cop in the first quarter where he’s a 9-1 shot.

The Premier League finalist had gone through a lean few weeks but threw beautifully in Shanghai beating Van Gerwen in the semis and then Cross in the final.

Recommendations
English winner
1pt 9-2 Betway
M Smith to win first quarter
1pt 10-1 188Bet
J Cullen to win second quarter
1pt 14-1 Betway

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