Luke Humphries and James Wade face off for a place in the final of the 2024 World Matchplay at the Winter Gardens on Saturday night. Top seed Humphries battled past Dimitri Van den Bergh with a 16-10 victory to reach the semi-final stage at Blackpool for the second year running. ‘Cool Hand Luke’ fell at the last four hurdle last summer so he will be looking to go one better this year in his pursuit of a maiden Matchplay title.

Standing in Humphries’ way is seasoned stalwart Wade. Having already dispatched both Danny Noppert and Nathan Aspinall, ‘The Machine’ rolled back the years with a sublime performance when overcoming Ross Smith 16-10 at the quarter-final stage on Thursday night. Consequently, Wade will now feature in the World Matchplay semi-finals for the ninth time, his first appearance at this stage of the competition since 2015. The Surrey-born ace now faces his toughest test of the tournament to date when he takes on world no. 1, Humphries.

Cool Hand Luke is the overwhelming favourite to reach this year’s final at 1.14, but a play on Humphries to hit over 10.5 180s holds much more appeal at 2.1 on Sky. No player had hit more 180s than Humphries in the 12 months leading up to this summer’s showpiece in Blackpool, and that trend is showing no signs of slowing down.

The reigning world champion has rammed in no fewer than 22 maximums across his opening three outings of this year’s Matchplay, including 12 in his aforementioned victory over Van den Bergh. Humphries managed to cover the 10.5 line against the Belgian and there is plenty of scope for a repeat here given that this last four showdown will be a best-of-33 legs affair. Even in defeat against Wade on Thursday night, Smith still managed to hit double figures (10) on the 180 front, so serial maximum hitter Humphries looks well placed to deliver at least 11 against the Machine on Saturday night.

In a repeat of their epic 2023 World Darts Championship final, the second semi-final of the night sees Michael van Gerwen and Michael Smith square off for a place in tomorrow night’s grand finale. Three-time Matchplay champion MVG was far from his sparkling best but still managed to clinch his place in the semi finals with a 16-10 win over Andrew Gilding on Friday night. As for Smith, he recorded a resounding 16-7 victory over an out-of-sorts Rob Cross to reach the last four and is now just two wins away from clinching a first-ever World Matchplay crown.

Dutch destroyer van Gerwen has been priced up as the 1.73 favourite, but battles between the pair over the years suggest this blockbuster showdown could be a closer game than the odds would have you think. It’s a mighty tough encounter to call, so over 16.5 180s seems the most sensible option to take at 1.44 in what promises to be a heavy-hitting tungsten tussle.

‘The Green Machine’ has been one of the most prolific 180-hitters in Blackpool this summer, delivering 24 maximums en route to the semi final stage, a tally only marginally topped by the already-eliminated Ross Smith (26). What’s more, van Gerwen’s quarter-final success over Gilding saw both arrowsmiths combine to produce a match total of 15 180s, with the Dutchman responsible for 11 of those. We’re only asking for two more match total maximums here and that should be well within range when adding another big scorer into the mix in the shape of ‘Bully Boy’.

The St Helens star ranks sixth for 180s scored at this year’s World Matchplay so far (16) but it’s worth noting that eight of those maximums were racked up during his aforementioned quarter-final crushing of Cross. Like MVG’s victory over Gilding, Smith’s success against Cross also generated 15 match 180s. As always, the number of legs required to triumph increases as the rounds go on, making the over 16.5 180 line well worth supporting in Saturday night’s main event.