Premier League Snooker Betting: Comeback Ding is playing like a champion

Snooker / Cormac O'Keeffe / 12 November 2008 / Leave a Comment

Despite the fact that the Bahrain Championship is taking place at the moment the premier league road show continues on its jaunt around Great Britain with a flying visit to West Sussex.

Ding Junhui v Steve Davis

The first match of the night sees Ding Junhui attempt to continue his comeback to form against a wildly out of form Steve Davis. Davis had planned to fly to Bahrain for a tournament during the week but was unable to fly due to illness. It would have been madness for him to fly over and back in such a short space of time, especially given his current woeful form. Ding is starting to play more like the future world champion that everyone labelled him before a slump over the last 18 months following his traumatic defeat to Ronnie O' Sullivan at the UK Chmapionships.

The Chinese star should have no difficulty in beating the six-time world champion and the price of [1.34] represents good value for those who aren't allergic to backing odds on shots. Davis remains rooted to the foot of the table having lost all four of his matches to date, only having winning three frames out of the 24 he has played. He looks totally out of form and confidence and has only a handful of 50 breaks to his name in this event.

After a slow league start Ding beat in-form Joe Perry last week and looked in fine form and should earn the win that lifts him into the all-important top four tonight. A small bet on Ding to win 6-0 along with larger stakes on a score-line of 5-1 may be worthwhile at prices of [5.8] and [3.2] respectively.

Mark Selby v John Higgins

Mark Selby will remain top of the league regardless of the result of this match (the other players in the top three are not playing this week) but he should extend his lead with victory over John Higgins. The Scot has yet to record a victory or a century break in the league this year and will struggle against Selby who sits on top of the league after winning three of his matches and drawing the other against Ronnie O' Sullivan.

Selby is a great break-builder but as we've seen in a few matches this year he is also one of the best safety players on the circuit and this should stand him in good stead against another great safety tactician. Selby is available at [2.3], which is quite generous given the gulf in the current form of the players. The risk averse may be more comfortable with a saver of the draw at [3.3] as on current form it's very difficult to see Higgins winning.

Bets

Back Ding at [1.34].
Back Selby at [2.3].
Double on Ding and Selby.
Ding 6-0 at [5.8].