As we slowly move closer towards the World Championship in December, it is obvious to see that there are currently two players that dominate the world of darts: Michael van Gerwen and Rob Cross. So what can we expect in the upcoming matches looking at the statistics? And who is the better player? Mighty Mike or Voltage? Let’s have a closer look.
Head-to-head:
When we look at the head-to-head figures, we can conclude that Michael van Gerwen has the most wins behind his name; 11-3- to be exact.
After the Semi Final match at the World Championship, where Cross defeated (at that time the defending champion) Michael van Gerwen, both gentlemen played four matches against each other; three in the Premier League (all won by Van Gerwen) and one during the Brisbane Masters (Won by Cross). Again Mighty Mike comes out as the better player; 3-1.
However these number don’t tell the entire story. Although Rob Cross has had a slow start during the first half of the year, the last couple of month it looks like he is finally getting up to steam.
When we look at the rolling average of check-out percentages, you can can see that something interesting is going on:
Looking at the graph it’s is noticeable that over the last two month’s the Englishman significantly improved on his check-out percentages, whereas Van Gerwen’s check-out percentage dipped slightly.
Interesting detail is that in August, Van Gerwen and Cross played against each other in the final of the Brisbane Masters, with Cross winning the title. Although Cross his check-out percentage was lower compared to Van Gerwen (37,93% against 40%), he was simply better on his averages (103,81 against 98,41), which gave him a comfortable score margin during his finishes.
Speaking about scoring, when we have a closer look at the last three months, it is interesting to see that although Mighty Mike has thrown the most 180s, on average the players are almost throwing the same number of 180s per match, with a marginal difference in favor of Cross.
Overall my conclusion is that both players are very evenly matched. It will be interesting to see how both players are going to perform during the next Major TV Tournament: The Paddy Power Champions League of Darts in Brighton. And let’s hope for another head-to-head between these two fantastic players, so we can make up the balance once more.
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