Does the Australian’s dream continue?
Besides the great sport at Alexandra Palace, it’s always the stories around it that make the PDC World Darts Championship so exciting for viewers. Leaving aside the now almost daily bad news of players falling ill, there are some interesting fringe aspects that are great fun to watch.
There is for example Australian Raymond Smith who doesn’t appear at all in the PDC Order of Merit and who is the last remaining qualifier in the tournament. The guru secured his ticket to the World Championship via a DPA qualifier in Down Under. The 42-year-old is perhaps the big surprise at the current World Cup.
In addition, he also brought his son Ky to London. For the first time there was a father-son combination in the main draw of the PDC World Championship and the 19 year old youngster had to drop out already in the first round. Before the last 16 between Raymond Smith and Mervyn King the forecast is that now the father will be eliminated as well.
Mervyn King is one of the veterans in the field. For the 25th time the Englishman is now competing in the PDC World Championship. Even if he never managed to win the big title the 55 year old is a legend whose stay in the tournament would be very attractive.
Raymond Smith – Statistics & current form
Current Position Order of Merit:
Position in Seed List: unseeded
Raymond Smith isn’t one to take the big prize money. Travelling to Europe for the big tournaments must therefore always be carefully considered for the Australian. It is all the more astonishing that the guru is currently celebrating the greatest success of his career at the tender age of 42. After 2019, when he failed in the first round, he is now playing in the World Cup for the second time ever.
Big prize money for the guru
The Australian usually plays at the tournaments in his home country. That’s why he can actually be happy about a really big prize money for the first time. The fact that he has won three times at the Ally Pally is not only due to his strength, but also because his opponents have not had the best days against him.
In the first round, the guru won against Englishman Jamie Hughes with 3:1 sets. Afterwards, he was the clear outsider against the seeded South African Devon Petersen, but showed strong nerves especially in the checkouts and even won 3:0. In the third round, Raymond Smith had to deal with the German Florian Hempel.
In this match, too, it was the good checkout quota of almost 40 percent that put the Australian on the winning track. In the end he won 4:1. Nevertheless he now faces the toughest challenge and we are rather reluctant to check the odds on a success of the guru in the match between Raymond Smith and Mervyn King
Last matches of Raymond Smith:
World Darts Championship
12/27 2021 – Florian Hempel 1 – 4 Raymond Smith
12/21 2021 – Devon Petersen 0 – 3 Raymond Smith
12/18 2021 – Jamie Hughes 1 – 3 Raymond Smith
Australian Pro Tour 6
03/08 2020 – James Bailey 2 – 1 Raymond Smith
03/08 2020 – Raymond Smith 2 – 0 Dean Abbott
Mervyn King – Statistics & recent form
Current Position Order of Merit: 21
Position in the seedings list: 21
Mervyn King is an institution on the PDC Tour. But his biggest successes he celebrated when he still played for the BDO. There he was twice runner-up in the years 2002 and 2004 and won some Major tournaments as well. In the PDC he still waits for the big success. But in 2009 he already reached the semi-finals of the PDC World Championship.
Biggest World Championship success in twelve years
With a win on Thursday, he could celebrate his second biggest title success. In 2021 he was in the final of the Masters in Milton Keynes. Otherwise, the big wins this year have been rather sparse. So it’s all the more surprising that The King is now coming up big at the Ally Pally, because his performance in his first two matches was quite respectable.
After a walk-through in the first round he had to play his compatriot Ryan Joyce. The 55-year-old had his problems in the 3:2 match, but in the third round he showed all his class when he put Irishman Steve Lennon in his place with a 4:0 win. However, his opponent also showed extreme problems with the checkout.
But Mervyn Kind used his chances ice-cold and could reach the quarterfinals of the PDC World Championship after twelve years. We think he has with the Guru a predestined opponent in front of his chest and before the clash between Raymond Smith and Mervyn King we dare to predict a win for the Englishman
Last matches of Mervyn King:
World Darts Championship
12/28 2021 – Steve Lennon 0 – 4 Mervyn King
12/21 2021 – Mervyn King 3 – 2 Ryan Joyce
Players Championship Finals
11/26 2021 – Mervyn King 4 – 6 Darius Labanauskas
Grand Slam of Darts Group B
11/15 2021 – Jonny Clayton 5 – 4 Mervyn King
11/14 2021 – Mervyn King 5 – 4 Rusty-Jake Rodriguez
Raymond Smith – Mervyn King Direct comparison / H2H record
We already mentioned that Raymond Smith usually earns his prize money Down Under and rarely competes in the big tournaments in Europe. Exactly the opposite is true for Mervyn King. That’s why the two opponents have always avoided each other until now. On Thursday it will be the first duel between Raymond Smith and Mervyn King.
Raymond Smith – Mervyn King Tip
No matter what happens on Thursday. Raymond Smith will be able to make the long journey home to Australia with his head held high. That the guru would play his way into the fourth round was not to be expected. At the age of 42, he is playing the most successful tournament of his career and is also collecting the most lavish prize money.
Mervyn King, on the other hand, has even more in store at Alexandra Palace. He could now build on his great successes of the early 2000s when he was twice runner-up in the BDO and even once reached the semi-finals of the PDC World Championship.
We think the guru from Australia will clearly reach his limits in this round of 16, especially as the crowd will surely be on the side of the experienced local hero. We expect a clear success for the English veteran and have decided to play the betting odds on a handicap win (-2.5 sets) for the Englishman between Raymond Smith and Mervyn King.
