Newton Can Handle Hankey at Grand Slam of Darts

Both Phil Taylor and Raymond van Barneveld are in action on the second day of the Grand Slam of Darts but there are better betting propositions elsewhere

Barney faces 2010 PDC Women’s World Championship runner-up Tricia Wright and should have no problems in progressing at odds 1/25. Those looking for a bet on this match could do a lot worse than the generally available 13/8 on a van Barneveld 5-0 whitewash. Taylor, meanwhile, faces a youngster who promises much in the game but has yet to reach the peak of his potential. We can expect The Power to beat 21-year-old Michael van Gerwen with the minimum amount of fuss.

One of the early games of the day sees last year’s beaten finalist Scott Waites up against crowd favourite Co Stompe. Waites enjoyed a fantastic run to the final of last year’s event beating Gary Anderson, Simon Whitlock and Terry Jenkins before running into a Phil Taylor shaped brick wall in the final. However, he failed to capitalise on that momentum and was knocked out of the subsequent BDO World Championships at the quarter-final stage.

Stompe’s form seems to fluctuate between just below average and just above average without ever reaching the extremes at either end of the scale. This really is one of those matches that could go either way and that is reflected in the bookmakers making each player a 10/11 chance for victory. One probably best kept well away from in terms of the match odds betting.

The afternoon session concludes with one of the in-form PDC players Wes Newton taking on two-time BDO World Champion Ted Hankey. Newton has won four Players Championship events this year and has moved to a career high ranking of 15 following back-to-back tournament victories earlier this month.

"I've been doing it for six or seven years and I said to myself at the start of this year that I need to start pushing myself a bit more and take the next step," said the Englishman.

Hankey, however, is a seasoned pro and will give as good as he gets, but he has struggled with the raucous PDC crowds in the past and being the last game of the afternoon is a major negative for the 42-year-old. At 8/13 with the bookmakers Newton can continue his good vein of form here.