Rob Cross made an early statement of intent at this year’s World Grand Prix with his round one win over Luke Littler. Cross put in a typically efficient performance to overcome the pre-tournament favourite on Monday night. He averaged just shy of 92 and posted an impressive 80% success rate with his checkouts. ‘Voltage’s’ reward for seeing off Littler is a round two clash with Martin Schindler, who comfortably dispatched Brendan Dolan in his first round assignment.

While ‘The Wall’ is enjoying his best year on the PDC tour to date, he is expected to once again come up short against Cross, who he has failed to defeat in eight of his previous 11 attempts. Cross’ doubling-in and his subsequent scoring and finishing on Monday night was a joy to behold at times, and if he can replicate that kind of performance then he should put Schindler to the sword.

While Rob Cross is the rightful favourite to win this match, Martin Schindler looks worth siding with to hit over 3.5 180s. The German number one managed to hit three maximums in his round one win over Dolan, a game that featured just two sets. He has been a steady operator with his 180s this year, amassing an overall total of 259 to date.

While his head-to-head record with Cross doesn’t make for encouraging reading, the German hasn’t lost the 180 count in each of his last four meetings with ‘Voltage’, winning the maximum count on three of those occasions. Schindler has also comfortably covered the over 3.5 180 line in each of those four contests. Thus, siding with Schindler to fire in four or more maximums in his latest clash with Cross makes perfect sense at the price on offer.