World Matchplay round 1 Sunday first session: Bunting in action

The famous World Matchplay darts event is underway, and Coral writers preview the first half of Sunday’s top tungsten action which features the likes of Stephen Bunting, Mervyn King and rising stars Jamie Lewis and Michael Smith in the afternoon.

Mervyn King v Andrew Gilding

This East Anglian duo kick off the day, and it will perhaps be the closest battle of the session as favourite King (8/11) lost to Gilding (11/10) most recently back in May at the Players Championship in Crawley.

The King, a semi-finalist here in 2009, and Goldfinger have only met four times before and only ever at this stage in tournaments (last 32), with the former winning three of them, so back him to triumph 10-7 at 7/1.

Ian White v Stephen Bunting

Bunting is the main attraction of the afternoon, and the odds-on favourite at 8/13 to beat Stoke’s number three White (13/10), despite being unseeded due to his relatively recent crossover to the PDC.

BDO world champion in 2014 The Bullet boasts a winning 5-2 record against Diamond, however has lost both battles this year against him. Bunting, though, got the highest checkout of the tournament last year, so you can back him at 10/3 to be king of the oche in this match (highest checkout, most 180s and match victor).

Justin Pipe v Jamie Lewis