Does Schindler create the sensation against the Bully Boy?
For the German darts hope Martin Schindler it’s going to be tough at this World Championship in London. Because the flight to the English capital was cancelled before his opening match and the native of Strausberg had to rebook without further ado, his luggage was lost.
A day before his first appearance at this World Cup, The Wall suddenly found himself without arrows. Fortunately, a British darts shop rushed to the rescue and presented the newly minted family man with the exact same darts. Schindler won his match and now meets the reigning vice world champion. It’s coming thick and fast – Part II. Before Michael Smith’s encounter against Martin Schindler, a successful tip on the Bully Boy is the far more realistic scenario.
The German showed a convincing performance in his match against Martin Lukeman with a 170 finish, but last year’s World Championship finalist and Major winner is of course a different story.
It would therefore be a huge surprise if a prediction on the underdog should pay off between Smith and Schindler. But maybe the 26-year-old, who traditionally enters the darts stages of this world with “Ich will” by Rammstein, can keep the match more open than the betting companies expect.
Michael Smith – Statistics & current form
On the list of the hottest favourites for the PDC World Darts Championship 2023 Michael Smith is pretty high. The Bully Boy is currently ranked number four in the world, reached the final of the World Championship in 2019 as well as last year and finally won his first Major this season.
In general, the 32-year-old Englishman has had a very strong 2022 calendar year. The father of a son won the Grand Slam of Darts and prevailed in the US Darts Masters as well. Finals at the UK Open, the European Darts Championship or various Players Championship tournaments round off the outstanding record. In terms of experience on big stages in important knockouts the Englishman should be worlds ahead of his German opponent
Michael Smith and his 180
In his opening match he gave Nathan Rafferty no chance and even gave him the humiliating White Wash. All three sets ended 3-0 in legs for the bully boy, who threw the maximum three times and averaged over 96 points despite not being challenged much at all. We certainly don’t go too far out of the window when we predict before Smith’s upcoming match against Schindler that the reigning runner-up will be able to step up a gear or two.
That, in turn, will then in all likelihood again be accompanied by immense scoring violence. At last year’s World Championship Smith threw 24 maximums in the final against Peter Wright. In general he had the most 180s in the tournament. The Triple 20 field is his big strength, so it certainly makes sense to combine odds on the favourite to win between Smith and Schindler with odds on more 180s for the Englishman.
Last games of Michael Smith:
World Darts Championship
17/12/2022 – Michael Smith 3 – 0 Nathan Rafferty
Players Championship Finals
25/11/2022 – Michael Smith 5 – 6 Ritchie Edhouse
Grand Slam of Darts Final Stage
21/11/2022 – Michael Smith 16 – 5 Nathan Aspinall
20/11/2022 – Raymond van Barneveld 12 – 16 Michael Smith
19/11/2022 – Michael Smith 16 – 15 Joe Cullen
Martin Schindler – Statistics & current form
Few other darts professionals can spell the word stress as quickly as Martin Schindler these days. Ten days before Christmas the 26 year old became father of a healthy child, afterwards there was the posse about his lost suitcase which fortunately took a positive turn with the success against Martin Lukeman and now sportive stress on the stage of the Alexandra Palace threatens as well.
Only if Martin Schindler, who celebrated his first ever win in the PDC World Darts Championship before Christmas, outgrows himself on Wednesday evening and Bully Boy has a weaker day, the man from Brandenburg can dream of the next round. How unlikely the combined occurrence of many eventualities is, however, is underlined before the third round match Smith vs. Schindler by the odds of the best bookmakers, who see the German in the clear underdog role.
For The Wall, it’s the biggest match of his career so far
The Wall should definitely not be underestimated, after all, he defied all the sideshows against Lukeman, played a solid average of 93 points, threw a total of six maximums and checked the highest finish as the only pro in this tournament so far. Reason enough to consider betting odds on the next 170 checkout between Schindler and Smith. Bet365 is currently offering an 8.00 at the top.
Although Schindler meanwhile worked his way up into the top 30 in the world ranking and also managed to convince in the calendar year 2022 with some good results in the Players Championship tournaments or for example in the European Darts Grand Prix (quarterfinals) or the Belgian Darts Open (quarterfinals), he of course lacks the wealth of experience on the biggest darts stage in the world.
Nervousness can become a factor, especially if – similar to the round before – the crowd will be against him. The bottom line is that everything points against The Wall, which is why we wouldn’t rule out even a clear win and one-sided match in favour of Bully Boy.
Last matches of Martin Schindler:
World Darts Championship
24/12/2022 – Martin Schindler 3 – 1 Martin Lukeman
Players Championship Finals
27/11/2022 – Rob Cross 10 – 6 Martin Schindler
26/11/2022 – Martin Schindler 6 – 5 Chris Dobey
25/11/2022 – Martin Schindler 6 – 4 Vincent van der Voort
Grand Slam of Darts Group D
15/11/2022 – Rob Cross 5 – 4 Martin Schindler
Michael Smith – Martin Schindler Direct Comparison / H2H Record
The paths of Martin Schindler and Michael Smith have actually crossed a few times on the Pro Tour. Since 2019, there have been seven head-to-head duels, six of which have gone to the Bully Boy from England. The last match took place at the beginning of August. Smith won by a narrow margin of 6-5. On Wednesday evening, the set mode will decide between these two professionals for the first time. The advantages for the favourite will tend to be magnified, as even more timing will be required in important situations.
Michael Smith – Martin Schindler Tip
For all German darts fans Wednesday will be a real holiday. Martin Schindler will get the chance to test himself against one of the best in his sport. The player from Strausberg, who celebrated his very first win on the Ally Pally stage against Martin Lukeman, will now meet the reigning runner-up and Major winner Michael Smith.
The Bully Boy again showed impressive form in his first match, didn’t lose any of the nine legs and played an average of over 96 points. Already during his final run last year the family man threw the most maximums of all participants. Against the scoring power of this year’s UK Open finalist and Grand Slam of Darts champion there will probably be no match for him
Our preferred approach is to play a tip between Smith and Schindler that the favoured Englishman will not only reach the next round but will also hit more 180s as the match progresses.
