WORLD DARTS CHAMPIONSHIP SCHEDULE: THURSDAY AFTERNOON INCLUDES CHRIS DOBEY, JOE CULLEN, AND STEPHEN BUNTING

The following three third-round matches will be played on Thursday afternoon in the 2024 World Darts Championship. Given that five of the six players we will watch on Thursday afternoon are English, it is essentially an English party.

There’s only one afternoon match featuring a player without an English passport. Following the losses on Wednesday by Martin Schindler and Gabriel Clemens, Florian Hempel and his surviving countryman Ricardo Pietreczko will have to work to maintain German honour at Alexandra Palace. That won’t be simple, as he’ll be facing the top player from the second round in Stephen Bunting.

With an astounding 107.28 average, the former Lakeside champion defeated Ryan Joyce in three sets in the second round. “The Bullet” has been doing admirably lately. He advanced to the quarterfinals of the Players Championship Finals and the semifinals of the Grand Slam of Darts in the autumn. This tournament, Hempel has already had the chance to participate in two games. In his matches against Dylan Slevin (3-1) and Dimitri van den Bergh (3-2), he overcame deficits in three consecutive sets.

Joe Cullen and Ryan Searle are playing a friendly match as the afternoon’s second event. The preceding match was easily won by both Englishmen. Searle outplayed Tomoya Goto 3-1, while Cullen defeated Darren Penhall 3-0.

In the afternoon’s last game, Ross Smith takes against Chris Dobey. Given that the players ranked sixteen and seventeen in the world, this game appears to be fantastic. Dobey’s game at Alexandra Palace has already been fantastic. Hollywood defeated William O’Connor 3-2 in a thrilling contest. Smith was the one who got rid of Niels Zonneveld (3-1). This will be Dobey and Smith’s seventh encounter. In the past, both players were able to defeat one another four times. Nevertheless, Smith prevailed in the most significant matchup. In the 2022 European Darts Championship semifinals, “Smudger” defeated Dobey 11-9; thus, Smith would also, rather shockingly, win his first major championship.