Man Of The Moment Humphries, Cullen and Sherrock Headline Day 3 At The Palace

Luke Humphries gets his assault on a maiden world title underway on Sunday evening, while former Masters champion Joe Cullen is the seeded player in action in the afternoon session as the 2024 Paddy Power World Darts Championship heads into day three.

Evening Session

‘Cool Hand’ has been the talk of the darting world in the past few months after breaking his major tournament duck at the World Grand Prix, before backing that up with wins at the Grand Slam of Darts and most recently the Players Championships Finals at Minehead. It’s darting dominance that has rarely been seen in recent years, given the plethora of talent capable of winning the sport’s biggest prizes. The man from Newbury comes into the tournament as the bookmakers favourite and it’s hard to argue given not only his form but a resilience perhaps not seen in the supremely talented arrowsmith before.

He faces Lee Evans in the final match of Sunday evening’s session, Evans having coming through his opening match against Sandro Sosing on Saturday afternoon. Humphries and Evans are former doubles partners and will know the flaws in each other’s games but even so, it’s hard to make a case for Evans to cause the most gigantic of upsets.

Immediately before that match, ‘Queen of the Palace’ Fallon Sherrock is in action against capable Dutchman Jermaine Wattimena. Sherrock shot to prominence with her run to the third round in 2020, beating Ted Evetts and Mensur Suljovic before bowing out to Chris Dobey. Her past two visits to the Palace have resulted in first round defeats and she’ll be eager to avoid a hat-trick against Wattimena, a man that has exited at the first round stage in the last two years himself. With the crowd inevitably due to be on Sherrock’s side, it could be a difficult evening for ‘The Machine Gun’. The winner will face Martin Schindler in round two.

Opening the evening, Irish youngster Dylan Slevin takes on Florian Hempel of Germany. Hempel came through the Tour Card Holder qualifier to take his place at Ally Pally for the third time and is yet to fall at the first hurdle. Slevin is making his debut at the Worlds and will be hoping to book a place in round two, where Dimitri Van Den Bergh awaits the victor.

Another man to qualify at the last attempt at the Tour Card Holder qualifier was Darren Webster and he faces Niels Zonneveld in the other match in the evening session. ‘Demolition Man’ is a former quarter finalist, most recently in 2018 but it’s first appearance at the Palace since 2020. Zonneveld is making his third appearance at the championships as is yet to make it past the first round. A Wednesday afternoon clash with Ross Smith lies in wait for the winner.

Afternoon Session

‘Rockstar’ Joe Cullen is the seeded player in action on Sunday afternoon, taking on Australia’s Darren Penhall. It’s been a solid rather than spectacular year for Cullen, reaching the semi finals at both the World Matchplay and the World Grand Prix, losing to the eventual winners on both occasions, in Nathan Aspinall and Luke Humphries respectively.

He may not have things all his own way against Penhall, who was impressive in beating Jules van Dongen on Saturday afternoon, averaging in the low 90s and hitting 50% on the doubles.

Opening the session will be Ricky Evans, as he takes on African qualifier Simon Adams of South Africa. Adams has been making a name for himself on the Modus Super Series in the past fortnight with his quirky antics and with Evans being a character himself, it could be one to watch. The winner will take on Nathan Aspinall in round two.

Welshman Jim Williams is also in action on Sunday afternoon, facing Guyanese Norman Madhoo, who features at the Palace via the CLDC Pro Tour. It will be a first appearance in the first round proper for ‘Stormin’ Norm’, although he has featured in preliminary rounds previously. Williams reached round three last year, missing a dart to beat eventual semi finalist Gabriel Clemens, and will be looking to set up a round two clash with Peter Wright.

Canadian Matt Campbell and Lourence Ilagan face off for the right to play James Wade in the afternoon’s other tie. Ilagan broke his Ally Pally duck last year in beating Rowby-John Rodriguez and will be hoping for a similar performance here against a man yet to win on the biggest stage in darts.

Sunday’s Order of Play

Afternoon Session

Ricky Evans v Simon Adams (R1)

Jim Williams v Norman Madhoo (R1)

Matt Campbell v Lourence Ilagan (R1)

(14) Joe Cullen v Darren Penhall (R2)

Evening Session

Dylan Slevin v Florian Hempel (R1)

Niels Zonneveld v Darren Webster (R1)

Jermaine Wattimena v Fallon Sherrock (R1)

(3) Luke Humphries v Lee Evans (R2)