Schedule Wednesday night at Grand Slam of Darts 2024 featuring James Wade, Danny Noppert and Rob Cross

It’s already been an action-packed start to the Grand Slam of Darts, and things have only really just got underway. The big news is that defending champion, and world number 1, Luke Humphries, has been dumped out of the competition, after he was beaten by James Wade and Rowby-John Rodriguez in Group A.

So with the defending champion out already, many of the world’s best will fancy their chances to get their hands on the trophy come Sunday. The knockout stages are set to begin on Wednesday evening, so let’s take a closer look at the match ups we’ve got coming up.

Danny Noppert will definitely have Cameron Menzies cheering him on in this round, after he helped the Scotsman make it out of his group. Noppert was in strong form in the group stage, winning all three of his match ups against Greaves, Menzies and Schindler. Mickey Mansell was also in strong form in Group A, and beat James Wade and Rowby-John Rodriguez in tight contests to secure qualification. He was then thrashed 5-1 by Luke Humphries, by which point Cool Hand had already been knocked out of his Grand Slam defence.

Noppert and Mansell have met just twice in 2024, with Noppert coming out the winner last month, whilst Mansell was the winner back in April. They were both close contests, and this could be one of the tighter second round match ups we’ve got on Wednesday night.

Wade is coming off a superb showing against Humphries in Group A, where he came back from 2-0 and 3-2 down to beat the World Champion 5-3. ‘The Machine’ also got the job done against Rowby-John Rodriguez, where he also pulled off a 121 finish, and will be starting to get his hopes up about finally getting his hands on the Grand Slam trophy. He’s won multiple other majors, but so far, the Grand Slam has eluded him, and the 41 year old finished as the runner up on 3 separate occasions, in 2010, 2016 and 2020. 4 years ago it wasn’t third time lucky for Wade, and he’ll be hoping to get the job done this time.

His next opponent is Cameron Menzies, and the Scotsman will be a tough man to beat. Menzies barely made it out of his group, as things weren’t looking good for him after he was battered 5-1 by Beau Greaves. But thanks to Danny Noppert beating Martin Schindler 5-2, Menzies made it through his group by the skin of his teeth. Menzies has actually beaten Wade a number of times in recent months, including a 6-2 at the end of November. But, there’s little doubt that most people will have their money on James Wade to get the better of Menzies, and move on to the next round.

Martin Lukeman may have produced the performance of his career to batter Peter Wright 5-0 on Saturday. The 39-year-old made it to the last 16 of the Grand Slam this time last year, and he’ll be hoping to make a deeper run in the competition this year. He won all 3 of his group matches, including 5-3 wins over Rob Cross and Leonard Gates.

Martin Lukeman also came out victorious over Rob Cross in impressive fashion, as Cross, the former world champion, has been in strong form of late and still couldn’t handle Lukeman’s game. His commanding 5-0 win against Peter Wright showed he’s coming in to strong form, and beating both Cross and Wright within the same group is no mean feat. In fact, not many would have tipped Lukeman to still be in the coemption at this stage.

Smith has also shown glimpses of his potential, including a 5-2 victory over Dave Chisnall and a whitewash against Connor Scutt to secure his place in the last 16. But if you take a look at their recent matches, it’s clear that Lukeman holds a psychological edge, having won their last three encounters. Smith will be hoping to break this streak on Wednesday.

Rob Cross looked strong on Monday, when he heaped more misery on Peter Wright in a 5-1 thumping, to make it into the last 16. He finished just behind Martin Lukeman in Group C, and will be feeling confident ahead of his match up with Ritchie Edhouse. Cross, who was the World Champion back in 2018, actually showed some sympathy after his win over Wright, saying, “I was playing a legend of the game. He’s a two-time World Champion, he’s a great man and he’s given a lot to the game. I hope he can come back. I hope he can rebuild.”

Ritchie Edhouse was the first man to secure his spot in the knockout stages, after beating Connor Scutt 5-2. Edhouse arrived at the Grand Slam with newfound confidence after clinching his first major PDC title at the 2024 European Championship, where he defeated Jermaine Wattimena 11-3. His performance showed the darts world just what he’s capable of, including a 144 finish and a match-clinching 92.

Despite Rob Cross’s comfortable win over Peter Wright, Edhouse’s recent triumph and their head-to-head record, featuring two wins in Edhouse’s favour in their last five matchups, suggests that he could provide a stern challenge to the 2018 world champion.

The tournament is shown in full in the UK on Sky Sports. As usual, the tournament begins with a group stage with eight pools 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 event has been part of the PDC calendar since 2007. Back then, the prize pool already included £300,000, with £80,000 going to the winner. The prize pool was thrown up a few times in the following years, and in 2019 more than half a million prize money was distributed at the Grand Slam of Darts for the first time. Since the 2022 edition, the prize pool includes £650,000.Every participant in the Grand Slam of Darts is guaranteed £5,000, which is the prize money you will be paid if you finish last in your group. This amount can eventually go up to a sum of 150,000 pounds for the winner of the tournament. The players who win their pools in the group stage receive a bonus of 3,500 pounds. The Grand Slam has been a ranking tournament since 2015, so the prize money won counts toward the PDC Order of Merit.

Danny Noppert v Mickey Mansell

James Wade v Cameron Menzies

Martin Lukeman v Ross Smith

Ritchie Edhouse v Rob Cross