Schedule Saturday afternoon at Grand Slam of Darts 2024 including Wright, Cross, Bunting and Beau Greaves

One of the biggest tournaments on the darts calendar is about to begin. Saturday afternoon, the group stage of the 2024 Grand Slam of Darts gets underway at the Aldersley Leisure Village in Wolverhampton.

First, it is the turn of the players in Groups B-C-D-H to take the stage. When making the schedule, it was taken into account that the highest ranked player of the group will start the tournament against the lowest ranked player of the group.

The tournament got underway with a downright cracker from the group of death. Stephen Bunting has a tough tussle to start against Wessel Nijman. Nijman managed to impress in his very first season on the Pro Tour this season. It even led to winning a Players Championship tournament.

However, 'The Bullet' had something else on his mind this past week other than worrying about his draw at the Grand Slam of Darts. His wife was heavily pregnant, forcing him to withdraw from last week's final Players Championship tournament of the season. Finally, his partner Keila gave birth to baby son Theo last Wednesday. This tournament will show whether it was a burden in the preparation or, on the contrary, an incentive for a great result. For Bunting, it is his sixth participation in this event. Last year, the Englishman achieved his best result by reaching the semifinals.

The "group of death" is completed by Josh Rock and Gian van Veen, the two players who meet in the second match of the afternoon session. It is a duel between the 2022 World Youth Champion and the man who may become World Youth Champion later this year, as Van Veen will be playing in the final of the PDC Youth World Championship later this month against compatriot Jurjen van der Velde. Rock has competed twice at the Grand Slam of Darts and managed to get through the group stage each of the previous two years. Van Veen made his debut in 2023, but lost all his group matches then.

The Grand Slam of Darts should be the start of a great finale of the season for Dave Chisnall. After his quarterfinal finish at the World Darts Championship, 'Chizzy' performed fine on the Pro Tour, but his television results have been downright disappointing. Especially with an eye on a possible participation in the Premier League Darts, the current number six of the world will have to show something good on the big stage. Chisnall starts his tournament against someone with hardly any experience on the big stage. Connor Scutt does not even hold a PDC Tour Card, but qualified for the Grand Slam of Darts as number one on the Challenge Tour. Good results at the second level of the PDC did allow Scutt to compete in the Players Championship tournaments as a substitute. There, 'The Sniper' even did so well that he forced qualification for the World Darts Championship via this route.

Danny Noppert and Beau Greaves get the action going in Group B. 'The Freeze' is the group leader, but has met a formidable opponent in Greaves. The 20-year-old is seen by experts as the only woman good enough to make things difficult for her male darts colleagues. With eight titles, Greaves was again the most dominant woman at the PDC Women's Series, and by winning a Development Tour title, she showed she can win over men as well. Greaves did the same last year in her group match against Ricardo Pietreczko, but narrow defeats to Nathan Aspinall (5-4) and Damon Heta (5-4) prevented Greaves from continuing her tournament. Noppert already has five participations to his name. Twice Noppert has been stranded in the group stage, while Noppert got past the group stage three times and then was eliminated in the last sixteen.

The other match in Group B follows immediately after the match between Noppert and Greaves. Martin Schindler and Cameron Menzies will go up against each other in the hunt for points in this group. Schindler forced qualification for this tournament by winning two Euro Tours. Menzies was one of the winners at the Tour Card-qualifying tournament for the Grand Slam of Darts. For Schindler, it is already the fifth participation in the Grand Slam of Darts, but in the four previous attempts, 'The Wall' did not get past the group stage a single time. Menzies only participated once, but that dates back to 2017. 'Cammy' also failed to survive the group stage back then.

Group C is the group with two former world champions. Rob Cross is the first of this pair to climb the stage in Wolverhampton. The former world champion will battle Leonard Gates. 'The Soulger' owes placement for this tournament to winning the CDC Continental Cup, a tournament in North America. Cross was pretty much assured of participating in this Grand Slam of Darts, as he was the losing finalist last year. By reaching the final in 2023, he immediately earned a ticket to this edition. Gates previously competed in 2022, but then stranded in the group stage. Cross has been an uninterrupted presence at the Grand Slam of Darts since 2017. A good omen for 'Voltage' is that he managed to reach the knockout stage each of the previous seven times.

Peter Wright is the other big name in Group C. For the two-time world champion, the tournament begins with a group match against Martin Lukeman. For Wright, this tournament has not proven to be a very good combo in recent years. In three of the four previous editions, he was eliminated in the group stage. In any case, things have not been going so well on television with 'Snakebite'. At the World Matchplay, World Grand Prix and the European Darts Championship he did not get past the opening round. For Lukeman it will be his debut at the Grand Slam of Darts. 'Smash' showed well earlier this year with a quarterfinal place at the UK Open, and qualified for this tournament as one of the winners at the Tour Card qualifying tournament.

The afternoon session will conclude with a friendly between Ross Smith and Ritchie Edhouse, both of whom have something in common. Smith sensationally won the 2022 European Darts Championship, a feat recently matched by Edhouse. By winning the European Championship title, 'The Madhouse' forced placement for this event, while Smith needed the qualifying tournament to book his ticket to Wolverhampton. Both Englishmen already have some experience at the Grand Slam of Darts. Edhouse's only participation dates back to 2022, when he failed to get past the group stage. Smith did manage that in 2022, but was eliminated in the group stage in 2013 and 2019.

As ever in the UK, it is shown on Sky Sports. As usual, the tournament begins with a group stage with eight groups of four players each. The group stage takes place from Saturday through Tuesday, with all players playing three times.

The top two players from each group will advance to the knockout phase. Starting Wednesday, Nov. 13, the knockout phase will begin with the first matches of the final sixteen. This round will be completed on Thursday, Nov. 14. The quarter-finals will be played on Friday, Nov. 15, and Saturday, Nov. 16, before the semifinals and finals are finished on Sunday, Nov. 17.

The Grand Slam of Darts is one of the biggest tournaments on the PDC calendar in terms of prize money. The 32 participants at this major event have a prize fund of 650,000 pounds to divide between them.

Each participant in the Grand Slam of Darts is guaranteed £5,000, which is the prize money you are paid if you finish last in your group. The amount can then go up to £150,000 for the winner of the tournament.

Stephen Bunting v Wessel Nijman (H)

Josh Rock v Gian van Veen (H)

Dave Chisnall v Connor Scutt (D)

Danny Noppert v Beau Greaves (B)

Martin Schindler v Cameron Menzies (B)

Rob Cross v Leonard Gates (C)

Peter Wright v Martin Lukeman (C)

Ross Smith v Ritchie Edhouse (D)