World Matchplay 2008 Thread

NeoRox

The draw for the Matchplay was done this evening. Some interesting first round draws.

Ronnie Baxter v Andy Smith
Kevin Painter v Tony Eccles
Colin Lloyd v Mark Walsh
James Wade v Wayne Jones
Terry Jenkins v Alex Roy
Peter Manley v Denis Ovens
Wayne Mardle v Mark Dudbridge
Colin Osborne v Mervyn King
Raymond van Barneveld v Mark Frost
Dennis Priestley v Adrian Gray
Alan Tabern v Vincent van der Voort
Andy Hamilton v Michael van Gerwen
John Part v Chris Mason
Phil Taylor v Steve Beaton
Roland Scholten v Matt Clark
Adrian Lewis v Kevin McDine

Kingp35

Definitely my favourite tournament after the World Championships. The Winter Gardens is by far the best venue for playing darts and the atmosphere in there is amazing. There has been some top quality matches there in recent years so heres hoping for of the same this year.

Some very interesting first round matches, sone excellent players will be going out early doors. Would love to see MvG have a good run, I think all he needs is a few wins on TV to get his confidence going and move him up the rankings, will be tough against Hamilton though.

Really looking forward to this comp after the damp squib that was Vegas.

callaway92

Accumulator:

Ronnie Baxter v Andy Smith
Kevin Painter v Tony Eccles
Colin Lloyd v Mark Walsh
James Wade v Wayne Jones
Terry Jenkins v Alex Roy
Peter Manley v Denis Ovens
Wayne Mardle v Mark Dudbridge
Colin Osborne v Mervyn King
Raymond van Barneveld v Mark Frost
Dennis Priestley v Adrian Gray
Alan Tabern v Vincent van der Voort
Andy Hamilton v Michael van Gerwen
John Part v Chris Mason
Phil Taylor v Steve Beaton
Roland Scholten v Matt Clark
Adrian Lewis v Kevin McDine

NeoRox

Hard to call but if I was betting I would go this way

Ronnie Baxter v Andy Smith
Kevin Painter v Tony Eccles
Colin Lloyd v Mark Walsh
James Wade v Wayne Jones
Terry Jenkins v Alex Roy
Peter Manley v Denis Ovens
Wayne Mardle v Mark Dudbridge
Colin Osborne v Mervyn King
Raymond van Barneveld v Mark Frost
Dennis Priestley v Adrian Gray
Alan Tabern v Vincent van der Voort
Andy Hamilton v Michael van Gerwen
John Part v Chris Mason
Phil Taylor v Steve Beaton
Roland Scholten v Matt Clark
Adrian Lewis v Kevin McDine

Carrickman

Schedule of Play
Sunday 20 July
7pm Start
First Round - Best of 19 legs
Colin Lloyd v Mark Walsh
Wayne Mardle v Mark Dudbridge
Colin Osborne v Mervyn King

Monday 21 July
1pm Start
Dennis Priestley v Adrian Gray
Kevin Painter v Tony Eccles
Roland Scholten v Matt Clark
Terry Jenkins v Alex Roy

7pm Start
John Part v Chris Mason
Adrian Lewis v Kevin McDine
Phil Taylor v Steve Beaton
Raymond van Barneveld v Mark Frost

Tuesday 22 July
1pm Start
Ronnie Baxter v Andy Smith
Alan Tabern v Vincent van der Voort
Andy Hamilton v Michael van Gerwen
Peter Manley v Denis Ovens

7pm Start
James Wade v Wayne Jones
Second Round - Best of 25 legs
Taylor/Beaton v Osborne/King
Lewis/McDine v Lloyd/Walsh

Wednesday 23 July
1pm Start
Jenkins/Roy v Priestley/Gray
Part/Mason v Tabern/van der Voort
Hamilton/van Gerwen v Mardle/Dudbridge

7pm Start
Scholten/Clark v Manley/Ovens
Van Barneveld/Frost v Painter/Eccles
Wade/Jones v Baxter/Smith

Thursday 24 July
12.30pm Start
Quarter-Finals - Best of 31 legs
Jenkins/Roy/Priestley/Gray v Part/Mason/Tabern/van der Voort
Scholten/Clark/Manley/Ovens v Wade/Jones/Baxter/Smith

7pm Start
Van Barneveld/Frost/Painter/Eccles v Hamilton/van Gerwen/Mardle/Dudbridge
Taylor/Beaton/Osborne/King v Lewis/McDine/Lloyd/Walsh

Friday 25 July
7pm Start
Semi-Finals - Best of 33 legs

Saturday 26 July
7pm Start
Final - Best of 35 legs

nhughes100

Had Walsh to beat Lloyd as he's as predictable as the sun rising in the morning. Put the winnings on a Mardle - King double. Good wkend at the bookies so far at last.

Interestingly Wade is 11/2 for the tournamount which is a pretty good each way bet, although having said that I think Wayne Jones is a great price at 4/1 to beat Wade in the first round. My betting picks below.

Schedule of Play
Sunday 20 July
7pm Start
First Round - Best of 19 legs
Colin Lloyd v Mark Walsh
Wayne Mardle v Mark Dudbridge
Colin Osborne v Mervyn King

Monday 21 July
1pm Start
Dennis Priestley v Adrian Grayhard match to call but I think Grey will just about edge out the Menace.
Kevin Painter v Tony Eccles
Roland Scholten v Matt Clark, Roland looks back in the groove after Vegas
Terry Jenkins v Alex Roy, slight chance of an upset here although Terry has done well here in the past few years

7pm Start
John Part v Chris Mason -
Adrian Lewis v Kevin McDine - Tightest game to call of the first round I think, All depends on how McDine reacts to the Blackpool atmosphere.
Phil Taylor v Steve Beaton
Raymond van Barneveld v Mark Frost

Tuesday 22 July
1pm Start
Ronnie Baxter v Andy Smith - Baxter showing great form which is a lot more then the pieman.
Alan Tabern v Vincent van der Voort - Tabern throwing the best darts of his career although Van Der Voort is an amazing talent.
Andy Hamilton v Michael van Gerwen - Again very hard to call, wouldn't include this in any accums.
Peter Manley v Denis Ovens - Manley throwing very well, should have done better in Vegas.

7pm Start
James Wade v Wayne Jones(although i'll have a sneaky fiver on Jones!)

Kingp35

Great performance there from McDine. This lad has some serious potential and if he can keet that level of performance up he can go far in this tournament!

Mason and Part was a non-event really. Mason was injured and clearly struggling.

I expect Taylor and Barney to win through the next two games pretty easily.

NeoRox

Dennis Priestley 10-8 Adrian Gray
Tony Eccles 10-8 Kevin Painter
Matt Clark 10-4 Roland Scholten
Terry Jenkins 10-6 Alex Roy


John Part 10-3 Chris Mason
Kevin McDine 10-8 Adrian Lewis
Phil Taylor 10-6 Steve Beaton
Raymond Barneveld 11-9 Mark Frost

As has been said Mason never turned up for this one.

Good game between McDine and Lewis. Nice to see that the GSOD was not a fluke for McDine. Has a chance of a good run if he can keep it up.

Good performance from Steve Beaton against Taylor who had to play well in order to advance.

Barneveld really looked out of sorts against Frost who could have beaten him. Another change with the darts for Barney who is now using medium shafts and the slim flights again.

Degag

Anyone notice the 4th leg of lewis vs. mcdine was scored totally wrong??? Lewis scored 59, 60, 58, 85, 174, yet ross brawn annonced him as having 123 remaining and lewis went for it! The commentators didn't even notice it... lewis still won the leg but i thought it quite amazing that nobody saw it... Sky had it scored correctly at 65 remaining and although they took it off screen for a while when ross announced the incorrect score they put it back up straight away because they knew they were right... sorry if this isn't making much sence... was in the pub watching it...:rolleyes:

nhughes100

The markers made a mistake during Taylors game too where Phil had to go over and write the correct score down for him. Sky's on screen scorer is seriously dodgy at the moment, very slow and has had to be taken off a good few times.

Kingp35

This afternoons results:

Ronnie Baxter 10-4 Andy Smith
Alan Tabern 10-8 Vincent van der Voort
Andy Hamilton 12-14 Michael van Gerwen
Peter Manley 10-4 Denis Ovens

Baxter was too strong for Smith by all accounts and could have won easier. Tabern came back from 6-2 down to beat VvdV who really should have won the game.

Hamilton against MvG sounds like it was an epic. Why the hell was this game put in the afternoon session? This was always going to be a tight match. Delighted for Mighty Mike, he needed a win on TV so badly because his confidence was so low. He plays Mardle now in round 2 which should be a great game. Hope he can do well.

Easy enough game for Manley, Ovens never really threatened.

Im disappointed I didnt get to see the MvG game, sort yourselves out Sky!!

NeoRox

Results

James Wade 10-4 Wayne Jones

Solid performance from Wade. According to Rod Harrington Jones was ill before the match.

Second Round - Best of 25 legs
Phil Taylor 13-5 Colin Osborne

Taylor way to strong for Osborne, He was 12-1 ahead before Osborne really decided to play.

Kevin McDine 13-9 Mark Walsh

I really enjoyed this match. Good performance from both players. McDine in my opinion is actually a much better prospect than Adrian Lewis. Hope he plays well against Taylor in the quarters.

AnimalRights

Good game tonight between Wade and Baxter, Wade started off like an express b4 Baxter pulled it back a bit, then Wade got his act together.
Great atmosphere in the Winter gardens, I'll be there in a little over 2 weeks for a Punk Rock festival, was there the previous 2 years.

Kingp35

Yeah the Winter Gardens is something else. What a fantastic venue.

Yep good game in end but Wade seems to be having this 6 or 7 leg spells where he goes completely off the boil. If he does this against any of the top lads he will lose. Needs to sort himself out. Surprise win for Clarke against Manley, he won pretty easily in the end 13-6. Barney cruised past Eccles 13-3. Eccles was very disappointing, expected more.

Great win today for Priestley 13-11 against Jenkins. He is some professional to battle back from Cancer at the age of 58 and still be able to mix it with the best in the world. True legend of the game.

Tabern beating Part 13-7 would be a surprise in many peoples eyes but not for me. Part has been very poor all year and Tabern has been in great form. He could do very well in this tournament.

Mardle and MvG was another good game. Mardle did great to battle back but MvG should have won. His doubles were terrible and he is far too erratic. He has the potential to be amazing but he needs to find consistancy. In bad need of a good manager I think.

Kingp35

Todays Quarter Finals Games:

12.30pm Start
Quarter-Finals - Best of 31 legs
Dennis Priestley v Alan Tabern
Matt Clark v James Wade

7pm Start
Raymond van Barneveld v Wayne Mardle
Phil Taylor v Kevin McDine

Priestley Tabern should be a very close game. Tabern is in great form but Dennis never gives in. Could go the distance with Priestley edging it.

Wade will have far too much for Clarke who has done amazingly well to get this far.

Really looking forward to Barney against Mardle. Barney has been poor, even against Eccles he only averaged 90. Im gonna put my head on the line and go for Mardle to win an epic.

McDine looks a real prospect but he is gonna have to have the game of his life to live with Taylor in this form. Wont be a cakewalk for Taylor but he will win with a few legs to spare in the end.

nhughes100

I think all the quarter finals except Wade's are hard to call. The bet of the day is Mardle to beat Barney at 23/10. McDine will not be disgraced against Taylor and is a great future prospect. Watching Priestley and Tabern at the moment, would edge Tabern as I'd like to see him get to a semi at last but I've learned never to back against the menace.

Great stuff from Ronnie Baxter last night, Wade really is an unlikeable character.

Kingp35

Priestley wins the first Quarter FInal 16-14 in what sounds like a good game. Delighted for him, has always been one of my favourite players. Great to see him back in a semi final and he could end up facing Taylor in what will be a rematch of that amazing game they had in Blackpool a few years ago.

cooker3

Fantastic match between Mardle and Van Barneveld. Standard wise it wasn't the best but for swings and excitement it was up there with any match. Great comeback by mardle

Kingp35

cooker3 wrote: »

Fantastic match between Mardle and Van Barneveld. Standard wise it wasn't the best but for swings and excitement it was up there with any match. Great comeback by mardle

Yeah it really was a fantastic match for pure entertainment and excitement. You have to hand it to Mardle, he was playing awful stuff and just went on a surge that won him 8 legs on the bounce. Barney did well to come back from that and it could have went either way in the end. Really great match.

Taylor won easily against McDine.

Semi-Final Lineup:

Dennis Priestley V Phil Taylor
Wayne Mardle V James Wade

shiibata

Kingp35 wrote: »

Yeah it really was a fantastic match for pure entertainment and excitement. You have to hand it to Mardle, he was playing awful stuff and just went on a surge that won him 8 legs on the bounce. Barney did well to come back from that and it could have went either way in the end. Really great match.

Taylor won easily against McDine.

Semi-Final Lineup:

Dennis Priestley V Phil Taylor
Wayne Mardle V James Wade

Unfortunately got rid of sky sports so am not getting to watch the darts but Barney must be off the boil big time if Mardle won 8 legs on the trot. Now I know Mardle can hit purple patches but if Barney was on form of any kind, he would not win 8 running.. Dont see much of them now but I think Barney changing his style of throwing has backfired, won a great world final but is now suffering. Priestly in a semi, hope he has got no slower at throwing, as he is boring, so slow.. any players in tourney look as though could be useful in future?

force eleven

Van Barneveld certainly isn't the player he was 12 or 18 months ago.Mardle is a very streaky player, if he hits good form he could upset Wade, but at this stage of the tournament its quite a marathon, and I'd expect Wade to be more consistent.
Taylor is looking back to his best to be honest over the last few months nad should beat Priestley - I think Priestley has speeded up his game a lot, has anyone else seen that? Hasn't suffered because of it obviously if thats the case....

Kingp35

I think their are two problems with Barney at the moment, the first is an obvious lack of confidence. You can see the sweat dripping off him before he even gets on the stage. He is feeling the pressure of not having won anything in a while and its playing on his mind. He needs a good run to get himself back in the big time. The second problem has contributed to the first, he has tinkered with his darts WAY too much. He was in terrific form at the 2007 World Championships when he beat Taylor in the final, there was no need to go changing everything. I think he tries to copy Taylor far too much and tries to do the things he does. Barney should concentrate on his own game and not worry what about Taylor is doing. I think it's time for him to go back to his old darts, the new ones are obviously not working. I wonder if he is too stubborn to admit that though?

As for Priestley, he was sped up his throw a lot. He says that the Blackpool stage is far too hot for him and he doesn't have the stamina for the long games so he has had to speed up his throw. If his first dart goes in then he trows the next two much quicker. It obviously hasn't done him any harm so far.

As for new players, Matt Clarke did very well to make the quarters and give Wade a real game but the obvious one is McDine. People expected good things from him after the GSOD but it hasn't happened. He proved this week that he has what it takes and I think he will develop into a real tournament challenger.

dionsiseire

You dont need sky to watch the darts, just watch it on an online stream, easy peasy

ive enjoyed this tournament so far, ive a tenner on wade since the star, i cant see anyone bar taylor winning it though, he's been absolute phenomenal this week, everything he looks at, everything he's attempting, its all coming off, he's only a 9 darter short of a perfect tournament, if he doest get a 9 darter though, i'd be worried he'd get lax like he did when he got the 9 darter and fell to barney next round.

if he 9 darts in the semi, he might just get a bit lax in the final possibly and the opposition (probably wade) might have a change to take advantage of

shiibata

dionsiseire wrote: »

You dont need sky to watch the darts, just watch it on an online stream, easy peasy

Cant get broadband where I am here:(, so not so east peasy

ratinakeg

Matt Clark wrecks my head. Delighted he did'nt get into semi. Give me a break with all that superman rubbish and his stupid flat top haircut. Great win for Mardle even though average of both players was a bit BDO standard. Taylor to win but I hope for an upset.

dionsiseire

No Broadband, No Sky

Do you have the wheel yet?

nhughes100

I'd love to see Mardle beat Wade but he won't if he throws like he did last night, lets face it Barney was crap and he still took it to a tiebreak. Taylor will beat the menace handy enough, expect the same format as the past few nights with Taylor racing into a lead and Dennis grabbing a few late ones.

Agreed with the post about Barney changing too much stuff, if I hit 21 180's in a year I'd never go changing things around ever again never mind hitting them in one game.

Backed Dennis at evs -7.5 legs, well worth it, Mardle is evs +4.5 legs, make it a double.

shiibata

dionsiseire wrote: »

No Broadband, No Sky

Do you have the wheel yet?

:D

force eleven

So its Wade v Taylor tonight. Got to fancy Taylor - his sheer drive to win, the ruthlessness and experience not to mention the small matter of being in superb form should swing it his way. Wade has the bemused air of someone who cannot believe he is there half the time, but its an act that fools no one now I suspect, and he'll have to produce last nights form to beat Taylor. I think that Taylor is always more suited to these longer games.

NeoRox

Taylor 18-9 Wade

Fantastic final, Wade played terrific darts Taylor played phenomenal darts. As a Taylor fan I really thought Wade had him at 6-4 up but what can one say from both players an absolute brilliant game.

If we could just shut Sid up about the millionaire thing and the dropping of names for the next tournament we'd be right.

Roll on Dublin..

force eleven

Wade played well - averaging around 102. But Taylor is simply awesome, averaging 110, and just upped a gear when he needed to to win reasonably comfortably. That leg where both players had 9 dart finish possibilities on was the best leg of darts I've seen.

leggo

I think Wade/Taylor will develop into one of the great rivalries in sport, ala Nadal/Federer.

Wade shows Taylor way too much respect. He played great last night, especially in the early going, but it went to script. As I said to my friends, Wade will start off with the lead but once Taylor starts putting him under pressure he'll buckle. From 7-4 up, for Taylor to level it up with 84 and 142 checkouts killed him. His darts were visibly slacker from there, he was getting sloppy in leaving finishes and just had no luck.

Once Wade keeps losing in big occassions to Taylor, we'll see him start to come back. He has the game to beat Taylor, and against any other player has the bottle. But he's built Taylor up in his head too much. When he continues to lose big in these finals to him, he'll start to develop the neccessary hatred for Taylor. As long as that hatred doesn't take a Manley-manifestation and influences him for the positive more than winding him up, then I think we'll see Wade start to dominate darts.

But for now, there's no denying Taylor's class. What other player would you be shocked and semi-disappointing DIDN'T hit a 9-darter in last night's final? And the bottle shown to hit that last bull...wow.

These two are taking the sport to an even greater level. I believe that soon enough, we'll become used to 3-4 nine-darters in a final with these two contesting it. They're that good.

AnimalRights

Great final , great tourney full stop.

dionsiseire

I thought it was one of the best finals ever for 18 legs, then wade stopped playing except for that near 9 darter leg which was one of the greatest things to witness just the plain clinical expertise of the 2 greatest darts players on the planet

Wade has been my favourite for a while, he's a cíteóg like myself and he's been growing in ability since that first big win 12 months ago.

he's now showing taylor he's capable of matching average for average and for half the final he was averaging as good as if not better than taylor, it was amazing to watch as nobody has been able to keep up with taylor when he averages over 103, wade showed last night he can, and over the next 12 months i think he'll go from being good enough over half a final to being the full show.

Looking forward to seeing the Citywest event now, have my ticket for the wednesday as most players will still be in the tournament at that stage and hopefully i can get some good games in and meet some of the players.

nhughes100

How Taylor hit that bull to win it is beyond me, he seemed unusually choked at the end to win it. Have my tickets for citywest for Wednesday and Thursday, hopefully pick up one in the meantime for Friday although Friday does tend to be a bit too packed for my liking and considering we got one of the matches of the year last time out on Friday it probably won't be as good this time around.