Lewis handicap loss highlight of our 18/1 World Matchplay fourfold

Day three of the World Matchplay has prompted the Ladbrokes News team to concoct a lethal fourfold that encompasses all of the evening’s clashes and pays out at around 18/1.

The opening bout of the night sees heavily-fancied Robert Thornton take to the oche to tackle Ian White and we envision a tough night for the 2012 UK Open champion.

The Thorn can be backed as short as 2/7 against White, a native of the tungsten Mecca that is Stoke, despite the fact that he holds a truly woeful record in this competition.

The first hurdle has done for him on each of his last three outings at the Winter Gardens, failing to take a single leg from Gary Anderson or Adrian Lewis in the most recent. Backing Diamond to upset the odds at 5/2 has to be the way to go here.

Match two sees Wes Newton take on Jamie Caven at a surprisingly good-value price.

Odds of 4/6 say the Warrior will advance into the second round against Caven and, after showing some excellent form of late, it’s difficult to see how the world number seven will fail to do so.

Michael van Gerwen, Simon Whitlock and Dave Chisnall are some of the scalps he’s claimed of late, while his last-32 exit in the UK Open was desperately unlucky, losing 9-8 to Adrian Lewis in one of the matches of the tournament.
Caven has exited in the first round of the two majors he’s participated in this season and that run is set to continue.

Two-time world champ Lewis takes centre stage in the third tussle of the evening when he squares off against Ronny Huybrechts.

A win for Jackpot is the logical conclusion to draw, but the Belgian dartist has been attributed a very generous handicap ahead of this one and, with the added bonus of 4.5 legs applied to his final total, he should prove good value at 8/11.

The lesser-known brother of Kim has ran some of the game’s top players close in recent weeks and also added a victory over Phil Taylor to his CV at the recent European Championship, of which he made the semi final.

He’ll probably lose, but it’s unlikely to be a mauling.

The same can be said of Huybrechts’ namesake Ronnie Baxter in the night’s final tie, as he takes on 2011 World Championship runner-up Andy Hamilton.
The Hammer is a very consistent performer and shouldn’t encounter too many difficulties against Baxter, but adding 2.5 legs to the Rocket’s final score should see him prevail at 5/6.

His last five defeats have all been by a margin shorter than 2.5 legs so he must be worth a punt on the handicap against Hamilton.

All odds and markets accurate as of publication’s time and date