World Cup of Darts 2020 preview and schedule: Friday 6 November evening session with Wales, Scotland and the Netherlands

The favourites are in play on the first evening of the World Cup of Darts.

But who are those favourites? The Dutch, always a big deal at the World Cup? Perhaps the in-form Wales pair? There's even defending champions Scotland - though things are a bit different for them this year.

More on that in a moment, but first we start with two nations whose aspirations are a bit more modest. Sweden's team of Daniel Larsson and Dennis Nilsson take on John Michael and Veniamin Symeonidis of Greece. Having only ever won one match at the World Cup, this is a chance for the Greeks to get their record on the right track.

In 2019, Scotland beat Japan in the World Cup of Darts semi-finals. Gary Anderson beat Seigo Asada, before Peter Wright saw off Haruki Muramatsu to seal the second seeds' place in the final - which they of course won. Scotland and Japan meet again, and only Asada has survived from their last game. John Henderson and Robert Thornton have a mammoth task in filling Anderson and Wright's shoes, but they have good chemistry and experience. Asada's task is to mesh with Yuki Yamada in the same way he did with Muramatsu last year.

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Two top-heavy sides in Poland and South Africa take to the Salzburg stage next. Krzysztof Ratajski and Devon Petersen will draw the eye as two of the big movers in the world of darts. Ratajski's partner Krzysztof Kciuk has some experience himself, while Petersen has a fifth partner in five years, in the form of Carl Gabriel. Gabriel will give us an insight into the top talent coming out of South Africa, one of the fastest-growing darts hotbeds.

The fourth tie is one of the major standouts of the first round. First, there's the Republic of Ireland, a dynamic duo of William O'Connor and Steve Lennon who blasted their way into last year's final. Then there's Australia, the 2012 runners-up who don't earn a seeding, but do boast the talents of Simon Whitlock and Damon Heta. One of these two nations is guaranteed to fall at least two rounds short of where they'd expect to be, while the other will lay down an early marker in a possible title run.

Wales are the favourites to most outside viewers. Gerwyn Price has been the best player in the world in 2020, while Jonny Clayton comes into this off the back of some excellent performances in European contests. It's time for the two to really click as a team - it didn't happen last year at all, and they were unceremoniously dumped out by Singapore. The Russian pair of Boris Koltsov and Aleksei Kadochnikov look less equipped to spring a surprise than the Lims, however.

Germany aren't the hosts this year, not that there's a crowd to consider anyway. That might have an impact, but likely not, as Max Hopp and Gabriel Clemens are both excellent players. It remains to be seen if Clemens will gel with Hopp in the way that Martin Schindler did. Finland, shorn of Kim Viljanen, will find it tough going here.

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It's been a real pleasure to see Brazil at the World Cup of Darts; they give a South American presence, and Diogo Portela in particular has brought real passion to proceedings. The Samba Stars are out to cause what would be the biggest World Cup shock since their football equivalents shipped seven against Germany. Michael van Gerwen and Danny Noppert play together for the first time, and will be out to win. This will show us how good they're feeling about doing that.

We close out play with what would've been a local derby of sorts between Hong Kong and China. Kai Fan Leung and Royden Lam will instead have to play Latvia, headed up by Madars Razma and rounded off by Janis Mustafejevs. Leung in particular is worth keeping an eye on here, having put in some superb lockdown performances across the Darts At Home and floor events.

World Cup of Darts 2020 schedule

Friday 6 November

Evening session (18:00 GMT)

Sweden v Greece
Japan v Scotland
Poland v South Africa
Republic of Ireland v Australia
Wales v Russia
Germany v Finland
Netherlands v Brazil
Hong Kong v Latvia