In the run up to any big major, there would normally have been numerous events to look back on throughout the course of the season. This year, however, we have been limited to online darts since the restrictions were put in place due to the Coronavirus pandemic.
The return of the Summer Series in the PDC ended an almost four-month long wait for normal darts to return and gave us something to grasp in terms of the current form of players in the World Matchplay field.
Here, Carl Fletcher has collated the key Summer Series stats for all 32 players who qualified for a return to the Marshall Arena - including their overall ranking for each one against the rest of the field - as well as a summary and best bets for who he feels stand the best chances of working their way through the draw.
Michael Van Gerwen (1)
Peter Wright (2)
Gerwyn Price (3)
Rob Cross (4)
Michael Smith (5)
Nathan Aspinall (6)
Daryl Gurney (7)
Gary Anderson (8)
James Wade (9)
Dave Chisnall (10)
Ian White (11)
Mensur Suljovic (12)
Krszystof Ratajski (13)
Adrian Lewis (14)
Glen Durrant (15)
Simon Whitlock (16)
It didn’t take long for the pecking order to be re-established in the PDC. World number one, Michael Van Gerwen won two of the five events available, whilst reigning world champion, Peter Wright topped the Summer Series order of merit with his tournament victory on the final day (Scroll down for Order of Merit standings). In that final he beat, Gerwyn Price who averaged the third highest across the summer series from the players involved in the World Matchplay. These three without doubt are still the three to beat, something which the betting suggests too.
Looking further afield from these sixteen however and at bigger odds, the first one that jumps out and looks more than capable of a good run is James Wade. He won the fourth event of the series on a day that saw a new Players Championship tournament average recorded, he was consistent all week – only Peter Wright won more matches – and on top of that, he loves this event. The only negative would be that a potential quarter final match up with Michael Van Gerwen awaits.
The next one would be Krzysztof Ratajski. Prior to lockdown the seasonal average of the ‘Polish Eagle’ across all events was 97.66. He maintained this standard on return with a Summer Series average of 97.40. He opened up with a Semi Final in the first event and backed this up with a Quarter Final run in event 4. His seeding for this event changed last week and he now ends up in the second quarter, arguably the most wide open section of the draw, which also means he avoids the aforementioned big three until the Semi-Final at the earliest.
Finally, Daryl Gurney impressed last week. His Summer Series average was 97.44. Which was an increase of just over 3 points on his pre-lockdown season average of 94.38. Following an opening event disappointment the Northern Irishman was ultra-consistent thereafter. His defeats in the final four events were all against high quality opponents playing to an excellent standard namely: Gabriel Clemens, Jose De Sousa, Mensur Suljovic and Devon Petersen. He’s placed in a section of the draw where a Quarter Final berth should be his minimum aim and if he can sustain his current level of performance, this previous major winner is a threat to all.
Scroll down for the 16 unseeded players
Joe Cullen (17)
Brendan Dolan (18)
Jose De Sousa (19)
Danny Noppert (20)
Jermaine Wattimena (21)
Gabriel Clemens (22)
Jonny Clayton (23)
Jamie Hughes (24)
Jeffrey De Zwaan (25)
Ryan Joyce (26)
Dimitri Van Den Bergh (27)
Justin Pipe (28)
Vincent Van Der Voort (29)
Keegan Brown (30)
Steve Beaton (31)
Ricky Evans (32)
There’s no better starting point than Jose De Sousa. The Portuguese star recorded the highest average over the Summer Series, recorded the joint most ton plus averages and has a 180 per leg ratio of 0.39. He lost to MVG in the third event of the Series and there’s no doubt he’ll carry a threat to Peter Wright in the most exciting of first round of ties. If he comes through that you wouldn’t bet against this maverick dartist going all the way.
Another unseeded player who could potentially be well placed for a good run is Jonny Clayton. ‘The Ferret’ started the Summer Series with three decent events followed by two first round exits but look into his statistics a bit closer and you can see how much the former Top 16 player is a threat to Michael Smith in the opening round. He boasted an average across the five events of 98.57 (fifth best in this field), a 180 per leg ratio of 0.36 and registered a ton plus average in 50% of the matches he played. In the two televised tournaments so far this year, he reached the Quarter Finals of the Masters and the Semi Final of the UK Open. If ‘Bully Boy’ isn’t at full strength in the opener the Welshman could take advantage.
To conclude this article I’m going to suggest three bets that may be worth following. First up is Steve Beaton to beat Adrian Lewis in the first round at odds of 7/5 (Sportingbet). Over the Summer Series ‘Jackpot’ didn’t play the final event due to personal reasons but was playing well below par with an average of just 88.97. Three first round exits surrounded a venture to the third round in event two but that was as good as it got for him. Whilst ‘The Adonis’ didn’t fare a great deal better he was more consistent. The current odds – albeit shortening - for Beaton to prevail in this match are certainly fair given all doesn’t seem to be going to plan for Lewis of late.
I’ve already mentioned Peter Wright, Daryl Gurney and Jose De Sousa in the summaries that accompany the stats presented and it’s interesting to note that those three are all drawn in the same quarter. So the widely available 100/30 for Quarter 3 to produce the tournament winner would be a play I’d like to side with. On top of these three this quarter also features last year’s semi-finalist and Premier League table topper Glen Durrant. This quarter certainly boasts strength in depth.
Finally, Gerwyn Price to win the fourth quarter at 6/4 (bet365) is the other pick I’ll be taking pre-tournament. The ‘Iceman’ would have registered a 100+ Summer Series average but for a disappointing final vs Peter Wright in the fifth Summer Series event. He’s not been given the easiest of first round matches vs Danny Noppert, but he did beat him quite comfortably at the UK Open. Next up would be a tie vs Steve Beaton or Adrian Lewis which you’d certainly expect him to come through, whilst tougher match ups then await, potential opponents include Nathan Aspinall or Ian White who didn’t quite reach the heights last week that they did pre-lockdown.
This is how much every player in the World Matchplay earned during the five-day Summer Series to give you an indication of form ahead of their return to the Marshall Arena. Michael van Gerwen won two of the first three titles either side of Ryan Joyce's maiden title while James Wade and day one runner-up Peter Wright bagged the others. Each title was worth £10,000 while Wright, Dave Chisnall, Jose De Sousa, Rob Cross and Gerwyn Price picked up £6,000 cheques for runners-up placings.
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