Ryan Searle has always had the talent to put up displays like he did against Brendan Dolan in the last round, leaving the stage with a 98.67 average and a straight sets victory. Searle’s issue has been consistency, he’s never been past the last 16 of the World Championships, so there are bound to be some nerves at times against the German number one here. 

Schindler has had similar issues to Searle when it comes to pushing on to the latter stages of TV tournaments. He’s never been past this stage of the World Championships, so we can also expect some nerves from Schindler’s side. Neither player has really been pushed yet, with the pair dropping just one set between them at the World Championships so far. I can’t see a one sided victory either way here, setting the stage for what should be a contest that goes deep. 

The edge for Searle here may come on Schindler’s own throw. There’s a noticeable difference in the German’s with throw and against throw averages (93.35-95.21) which suggests that Schindler can be a little too relaxed when toeing the oche first. 

These two have very similar scoring numbers this season, with both having a 180 per leg rate of 0.28. I’d expect the clash to go with throw in the early stages, which should allow for each player to pick up a set early on, with Searle potentially having that slight advantage later in the game on Schindler’s throw.

Martin Schindler has been peppering the treble 20 bed across the first two rounds of the World Championship, and he’ll have to score heavily here to match Searle, who averaged in excess of 98 against Brendan Dolan. 

Schindler hit seven 180s across just 13 legs in his first round victory over Steve Burton (0.53 per leg), firing in three in the final set to secure his victory and set up a second round clash against Keane Barry. Schindler hit five 180s in that straight set victory, this time doing his damage early on in the contest, with two 180s in the first set and three 180s in set two. 

I’d expect this tie to go to at least six sets, with both players being well matched across various statistics when comparing their seasonal numbers and performance at the World Championships so far. This should give Schindler ample time and opportunity to cover this 180 line.