World Matchplay tips: Maximums galore as Joe Cullen set to rock the Gardens
- George Dempsey
- 20 July 2023
Planet Sport brings you the best bets from the World Matchplay quarterfinals as Chris Dobey faces Nathan Aspinall and Joe Cullen meets Daryl Gurney.
We're looking to build on a pair of winning tips after Damon Heta thrashed Brendan Dolan and Luke Humphries and Dirk van Duijvenbode banged in the maximums.
There are two tasty tussles scheduled for this evening as Chris Dobey meets Nathan Aspinall and Joe Cullen faces Daryl Gurney at Winter Gardens.
World Matchplay betting tips
Cullen vs Gurney: Cullen -2.5 legs handicap
Chris Dobey vs Nathan Aspinall
Chris Dobey reached this stage of the competition by eliminating world number one and tournament favourite Michael Smith.
Nathan Aspinall didn't produce quite the same standards but he kept his cool and finished relatively well to see off Danny Noppert 11-9.
There's plenty of room for improvement from that performance but the main thing is he's still here and we're expecting better on Thursday.
This match is a complete coin toss in our opinion and represents how open the World Matchplay is with the top five in the betting out.
The highlight of Chris Dobey's second-round performance was his finishing as Hollywood hit just shy of 69% of his doubles.
No one can maintain that level so it's fair to expect regression on Thursday but he has been scoring very well and will fashion plenty of chances.
Equally, The Asp fired in eight maximums in 20 legs against Noppert and we know that Dobey can hit them for fun.
This should be a back-and-forth slug with two heavyweight scorers bouncing off of each other and landing plenty of blows, so we're betting on over 19.5 180s.
Suggested bet:
Over 19.5 180s to be scored
Joe Cullen vs Daryl Gurney
There have been so many high-profile early exits at this year's World Matchplay and Joe Cullen was responsible for one of the biggest.
His second-round victory over Gerwyn Price was a pulsating affair that required additional legs to put daylight between the players as the Rockstar won 13-11.
It did feel like Cullen was well placed before the tournament but to knock off the Iceman on the big stage feels like a watershed moment.
He'll go up against Daryl Gurney who himself showed his class when dismantling Gary Anderson in the previous round.
The challenge for both of these players is to build on those performances but the pressure is probably on Cullen more than Gurney as there's a bit between them in the rankings.
It's worth noting Cullen has won 15 of 20 matches against Gurney, including their sole meeting in 2023, and three of their four televised meetings.
Gurney isn't a pushover but we have to consider that 2023 hasn't been the best year for him with SuperChin making just three appearances at this stage across 25 tournaments.
He'll know there's a real chance to add a second televised title with the top five out of the way so we don't expect him to let Gurney hang around. Back Cullen -2.5 legs.
Suggested bet:
Joe Cullen -2.5 legs handicap
