The top half of this year's World Matchplay draw bracket sees Blackpool's Winter Gardens host 25 World titles, three other Worlds finalists and the breakthrough star of 2017.
Kicking off the night is a battle between two Lakeside runners-up in 2010's Dave Chisnall and 2014's Alan Norris. Chizzy got the better of excuse-o-matic Mervyn King in a nervy encounter while Chuck produced some stunning finishing to prolong Kim Huybrechts' Matchplay misery. This is pair's first TV meeting, and with both men prone to nodding off in matches, it could be a tight affair.
Two-tonne buffet-to-buffet World Champion Adrian Lewis then faces off against Kent phenomenon Rob Cross in what is easily the biggest match of the ex-electrician's career. Signs of Snackpot's recent back surgery weren't really visible in his victory over sex god Steve Beaton while Cross ended Ian White's perfect first round record on the North West coast and proved he is the real deal.
Then, the 80th running of the so-called "El Dartico" and the final time it will be on the Empress Ballroom stage with Phil Taylor and Raymond van Barneveld sharing 21 Worlds between them. Pheel was nowhere near even his recent best against Gerwyn Price, whereas Barney had to really work it to defeat fellow ex-postie Joe Cullen after letting an 8-3 lead slip. The Prowler has won the last two meetings - both in the PL - but a repeat of December's Worlds magic would be welcome.
The final match of the last 16 sees Michael van Gerwen battle Simon Whitlock; following his humiliation of Stephen Bunting, the autistic Dutchman disregarded everyone else as a threat to a third successive title, which surely shows where his game and confidence is. The Wizard slapped around Kyle Anderson in the all-Aussie derby and had a dart to beat MVG back in October's Euros, but now he can only dream of the same here.
Coverage starts from 7:00pm UK time on the new-look Sky Sports Action channel.
>Tonight’s matches (Best of 21 legs) Chizzy v Alan "Walker, Yeovil Ranger" Norris SnackP&Ot v Rob "Kent Genetics" Cross Taylel v Barney MvGOAuTism v STRAYA
All matches must be won by 2 clear legs, with up to 5 extra legs played to decide a winner. If the match is tied after 5 extra legs, a final sudden death leg will be played.
Ouch. Well, I guess that's what women look without makeup. Still good enough for me, though.
Jace Perry
Where is everyone?
Andrew Peterson
austriabro isn't here
rest usually drop into the thread at some point
Cooper Adams
And we're on now.
Juan Cruz
>chizzy is so retarded he can't even shake hands down a line without being prompted
Thomas Cooper
That was close.
Grayson Jackson
>start match with 7 perfect darts in a row
Ill probably never throw 7 perfect darts in a row in my life
Colton Walker
I once had 4, but not at the beginning of a leg. A pal of me said he once managed a 10-darter in practice. He's really good, so I don't think it was a lie.
Ayden Hall
DAT CHUCK 120
Cameron Sanchez
>dave abysmal
Jordan Clark
Do kids in other countries have schultüten too? I always wondered.
Joseph Brown
>ridiculous first 2 legs >completely crumble Well that's Chizzy for ya
Samuel Jenkins
>Alan "Walker, Yeovil Ranger" Norris
Luke Ross
Norris is our guy
Hudson Murphy
Was mentioned on commentary a few days back but Chizzy really is the new Terry Jenkins.
Mason Roberts
Kek
Asher Nelson
Well this match has fallen apart.
Brody Robinson
>Dat 5
Hudson Fisher
Chizzy can be an awesome scorer when he's on fire. Too bad that at some point he usually starts to think about what he's doing, and that is when it goes downhill for him.
Now that you say it: I don't really know. Maybe it's a german thing. I don't even know if they are still around here today. Wikipedia says Austria and Switzerland have them, too.
Brandon Sanchez
Cant fizz the chizz
Jason Nelson
Chizzy match over? Who's playing?
Charles Thomas
>that woeful second dart on the 123 attempt
Christopher Lee
Nvm they resumed. I'm playing vidya and they had adverts on just wanted to check. XD
Caleb Rodriguez
Either of these two will get fucking battered in the next round.
Eli Wood
Hard to believe these two are averaging nearly 100.
Alexander Powell
>2 former lakeside jobbers putting on a lakeside classic at the pdc matchplay Really makes you think
Henry Clark
That bull start 110 from Chuck!
Jace Reyes
Bad time to hit a 41 Chizzy
Sebastian Myers
bet they're gutted they're missing out on the meat draw
Easton Morgan
Critical Norris fumble here.
Strange thing is that all those Chizzy 180s show that he could do better, but he just doesn't.
Daniel Scott
That last dart D9 for 9-9!
Julian Torres
>D9 for 9-9 This pleases my autism!
Charles Nguyen
Absolute turd first dart from Chuck.
James Miller
Nice to see they can joke about it still
Angel Thomas
Crazy how their skills deteriorate under pressure.
Ryan Cook
>adverts What went wrong?
Nicholas Gutierrez
...
Levi Ross
DAT 121
Mason Hall
...
David Sanchez
THAT 121
IZZY WIZZY LET'S GET CHIZZY
Joshua Cruz
DAT 121
Carson Fisher
>both averaging 97 This is the best shitfest I've ever seen.
Ryan Stewart
>6 of the 8 players tonight are sponsored by Target >all of them are playing another Target player (Chizz-Norris, Lewis-Cross, RVB-Taylor)
Good night for Target Darts.
Nolan Baker
>That one guy in the crowd applauding Chuck who looks exactly like him Kekd. His brother?
Christopher Roberts
THAT KILLER 109
William Lee
>Dim Dave Chisnall
He was 7-4 up and won 5 of the next 15 legs.
Carson Morgan
Go into any pub with a darts team and the chances are youd find a player who looks a bit like him
Liam King
>almost 1,5h of Chizzy vs. Chuck >still 3 games to go Well, fug.
Brayden Wright
Wish all sub standard games were as weirdly watchable as that. This Matchplay has been pretty good so far.
Dominic Sanders
speak for yourself, still gives me time to get home and enjoy 1 or at least hopefully 2 matches properly
Michael Bennett
>Chizzy and Chuck played 26 legs in 75 minutes >Mensur and Poop played 15 legs in 60 minutes
Numbers alone make it quite bizarre: Chizz 97 average, Norris 99. Certainly didn't look like a 97-99 match. If their doubling was up to standard it would have easily been 100+
Nathan Wilson
Late start for taylor he will be livid
Adrian Cox
Whoops: Mensur-Pipe ended 11-6 so 17 legs.
Still shows the difference in speed.
Anthony Sanchez
Yeah i think ive given them a harsh one there, a lot of 180's and Norris with 5 ton plus checkouts. Weird and close game peppered with bags of nails by both
Ryan Bell
dubs for taylor to have a stroke on stage
Alexander Powell
>Stroke
Colton Barnes
Should go to bed in 1h. But I want to watch at least Barney vs. Taylor. Looks like it will be another hard day at work tomorrow.
Josiah Howard
what will lewis do to deller if he fucks this one up
Bentley Hernandez
...
Tyler Robinson
Lewis shipped in half of Stoke or something? Looked like he knew everyone
Jack Evans
>wayne mardle having a go at him on comms The man was having a fucking stroke wayne
Samuel Parker
Still remember that match as clear as day. It's a real shame Ted's PDC run never worked out.
Ted made a grand total of zero floor quarter finals during his time in the PDC.
Caleb Perry
>lewis broken in leg 1
Juan Lee
>boat darts
Elijah Myers
...
Levi Long
>Cross hasn't a nicknamee yet He should develop some bad teeth and get ugly glasses, llke Gilding. Then he could call himself Rob "Gross" Cross.
Blake Brooks
I am so fucking pleased Gilding isn't on TV any more.
His 2015 UK Open semi versus MVG was his career peak.
Ian Roberts
True. Nothing of value was lost.
Kevin Sullivan
His constant jeeing himself up and telling himself to 'come on' after every miss is one of the most annoying tics in darts imo
Jack Nguyen
>Gross Cross i lel'd always good when a player comes through out of nowhere and has no nickname or real gimmick to speak of, and they have to come up with something. remember james wade going through a ridiculous amount of nicknames that didn't stick, including >009
Jack Flores
>Whilst it is somewhat traditional for a darts player to adopt a sobriquet, Wade has adopted several in his career so far. His first nickname, The Gladiator, was used during his breakthrough year of 2006. His nickname was changed following his nine-dart exploits that year to 009 – a take on James Bond's 007. The 009 nickname was used from December 2006 to October 2007. In November 2007, during the 2007 Grand Slam of Darts – Wade introduced himself on a television promo as having "no nickname". In December 2007, following a competition which invited fans to provide him with a new nickname, Wade briefly became known as Spectacular, a play on the fact that Wade is one of the few players who wears spectacles when he plays. For his Premier League debut in January 2008, Wade unveiled another nickname – The Machine, which he has used ever since.
Also when Zoo Tickets Man was called "Ave 'It"
Isaiah Powell
He should call himself the iceman to troll roidlet
Leo Ortiz
>gets double teamed by price and alan warriner in the barnsley metrodome car park
Levi Walker
All the lads
Jonathan Price
agreed. some great names looking down the rankings though >you now remember mark walsh and that time he came in with buster bloodvessel from bad manners
Robert Lee
>is one of the most annoying tics in darts imo Let's collect annoying things in darts. I nominate Dolans noselick.
Alexander Lewis
The BDO.
Bentley Taylor
>wes "'ave it" newton glorious
Asher Jackson
I nominate dolans 180 finger twizzle
Jackson Murphy
Hi justin
Sebastian Moore
Not really annoying, bit still funny.
Jonathan Cook
>Rob Cross's impressive UK Open run was overshadowed by a one tournament psycho who has bombed ever since Thanks, Barry Lynn.
Chase Brooks
Cross has more stage confidence already than the likes of floor cloggers Jamie Caven and Joe Murnan.
Owen Taylor
THAT 144 TO BREAK BACK!
Parker Ramirez
DAT 144 FROM THE CAKE CEMETARY!
Tyler Edwards
>10 darter to break back Unreal.
Christopher Thompson
Agreed
>Jamie "the way eye see the game" Caven
Adam Myers
>Unreal. Rob "The Boss" Cross
Or just: Like a Cross!
James Parker
It's not gay unless darts touch.
Xavier Nguyen
Can't Toss the Cross!
Nolan Jenkins
Snackpot is really having to play to his best here.
Lincoln Sanchez
THAT 121
IS LEWIS BACK?
Lincoln Murphy
32 180's in 2 matches is pretty unreal
Kayden Nelson
I hope we will be seeing more of Cross in the future, he looks really promising.
DAT 121
James Collins
I hope Snackpot wins it all, destroying MvG in the final.
