Darts

[The Blobster]

Littler just hammered Rob Cross 6 sets to 2 , one of the best darting displays I've ever seen , his last set included a bull , bull , double 16 finish.
Fantastic play by the youngster .
The final is tomorrow night and I hope Humphries wins his semi , that would set up a superb final .

 

[ivoralljack]

Humphries won his game averaging 108.74 against Littler's 106.05. I've watched every one of Littler's games and he's been that good in all of them. Humphries is on fire and now #1 in the world. Wayne Mardle reckons Littler is the best youngster he's ever seen and that includes Phil Taylor, Adrian Lewis and MVG he said. Should be a hell of a game but I can't forecast the winner. Too tight to call.

 

[ivoralljack]

Seems to be all 'Lukes' today: Williams maybe coming to us; and Humphries v Littler in the darts final. Well Cool Hand beat Nuke 7-4 after being 2-4 down. So Humphries was a worthy champion taking 5 sets on the bounce against Littler. It has to be said that Littler didn't find the form that got him to the final. But there were enough glimpses which warned Humphries that, if he did go off the boil, Littler would step in.

So it was not to be the youngster's night but we saw enough to know that he's got the talent to become a World Champion, probably a number of times. As for Gez, well I think he's just not in that class right now - and Jonny certainly isn't. Maybe their time will come again but they'll have their work cut out. I can see a spate of juvenile wannabees taking up the game inspired by Littler's great performances and there'll be more and more young kids arriving to push the older hands further down the rankings. For example, I read an article today saying that MVG had better get used to losing far more often because the young brigade are coming. If there are more like Littler in the offing, I can't wait.

 

[ivoralljack]

Humphries hit 23 maximums, so I guess he deserved his win. Reading that Littler might well earn in the region of £40 million during his darts career due to the high profile coverage he enjoyed during the competition. He did brilliantly and I guess the prospect of his future earnings will temper his disappointment at not becoming World Champion.

 

[The Blobster]

Littler obviously felt the pressure in his final , his scoring wasn't so consistent but his combinations and counting were superb but as I predicted earlier his finishing let him down in the last few sets , missing many opportunities, except for a brilliant big fish ( 170 out )
Overall he showed that he has a great future in the professional darts game .
As for Humphries he is worthy of the title and his no.1 spot in the world rankings .
Snakebite hit 24 maximums in his final win , Humphries with 23 comes close to that record .

 

[ivoralljack]

Luke Littler has made this year's Premier League - the other seven are Luke Humphries; Bully Smith; Gerwyn Price; Peter Wright; Nathan Aspinall; MVG and Rob Cross. I wonder how Littler will get on with the weekly cut throat slog that is the PL? Personally I think he'll do well.

I see that Jonny Clayton has missed out this year which is a shame. He'll have to up his game to get back in for sure.

 

[ivoralljack]

Premier League Night One - Cardiff: Gez beat Aspinall 6-4 then beat Cross 6-2 where he played well. Meantime Bully Smith took out Littler 6-5 in their semi despite having a lower average. Bully then went on to beat Gez 6-2 in the final.

Has to be said that Gez's doubling has become really poor. It's nowhere near the quality it should be and it's been costing him games for some time; games he should have won. That said he also seems to have caught the Clayton curse with his scoring. His throws are increasingly going wayward and are sliding almost as bad as were Jonny's. And look what happened to him. After winning the prestigious and lucrative PL at his first attempt, this season Jonny has been dumped entirely from the competition. And all because he can't control his sliding.

Let's hope that Gez doesn't go the same way.

 

[ivoralljack]

Jonny beaten 3-6 in the first round of the darts Masters 2024. He's just not the same player of a couple of years ago and averaged only 89 against 93. He slid 13 darts which accounts for his low average and his doubling was atrocious missing his favourite 8s and 16s a few times. His % success, if you can call it that, was just 23 whilst that of his opponent was 75. More evidence that his throwing has gone to pot is the number of trebleless visits he makes to the board. And, widely regarded a year or so ago as the best 140 hitter in the game, even that's gone losing out tonight 3-6 in the 140 count.

Jonny has a lot of work, and practise, to do if he's to get back to the player he was. He's won 14 major competitions, including this one a couple of years ago, but that'll become a distant memory if he doesn't sort out his shit pdq. No more Welsh involvement as Gezzie opted out of this one for personal reasons. Probably didn't want another trouncing from Littler.

 

[The Blobster]

Littler can't play in this one as he's not yet ranked in the top 30 .

 

[ivoralljack]

Littler can't play in this one as he's not yet ranked in the top 30 .

True. I forgot that. Bet Gezzie did too . But hope his 'personal reasons' are are nothing serious.

 

[ivoralljack]

Premier League - Week 2 BERLIN. What a great night of darts! Seven games and there were five 6-5 matches and two by 6-4. Gezzie went out in the first round (quarters) losing 5-6 to Bully Smith after being up 3-0. MVG won the final beating Littler 6-5 who had again beaten World Champion, Luke Humphreys, 6-5 in the semis. Enjoyable watch.

 

[ivoralljack]

NIGHT 3 - GLASGOW: Gezzie beat Littler 6-5 in the quarters after missing double 12 for a 9 darter (Aspinall did likewise losing to Humphries). Gez was like Jekyll and Hyde with the comms remarking that his scoring was phenomenal but his doubling absolutely dismal, which it was. Even though he won, his doubling was about 20% and Littler's was around 50%. Yet he still won. Unbelievable.

Shows how good his scoring was yet he was sliding so often I thought I was watching Clayton! This was enough to see him lose his semi against Humphries 3-6 who, in turn, lost the final to MVG 5-6. Humphries could easily have won it but threw shit at the wrong time leaving MVG the winner despite having an average some 10 points worse than the man he beat. The timing of big scores is so important at this level and MVG is a master at it.

 

[ivoralljack]

NIGHT 4 - NEWCASTLE: Gez straight out in the quarters beaten 6-4 by MVG. The 3 other quarter games were all 6-5 results, so some tense and watchable darts. Aspinall went through to the final and MVG in his semi edged Littler 6-5 after missing SIX MATCH DARTS at 6-4. It was Littler's throw and he was on a handy 110 with MVG needing 90. He took it out to win the game with a single and 2 double 18s. Superb!!

MVG went on to beat Aspinall in the final which means he's won 3 of the 4 nights so far without being at his best. He's already on 15 points and is guaranteed to make the final night leaving the rest in a dog fight to join him. There's 17 nights in total, so lots of good darts to come.

 

[ivoralljack]

NIGHT 5 - EXETER: Quarters - Humphries 6 MVG 3: Apinall 6 Wright 4: Littler 6 Smith 2: Cross 6 Gezzie 1. Cross and Gez are good mates but that counted for nothing and Gez had to nail a 160 out to avoid a whitewash. Cross averaged nearly 110 and almost had a 9 darter. He turned down a dart for a 170 Big Fish finish that he would probably have got so well was he playing. As it was he took out a 132 with bull, bull and double 16.

As for Gez, I've seen better performances from county players to be honest. He's off his game big time and likely to follow Jonny Clayton into top level obscurity unless he finds his form again. Don't understand how they've both plummeted so badly. Lack of practise? Only they will know. But I do know that Bully Smith is also way off his game and he admits that it's entirely down to him hardly ever getting on the practise board after he became world champion. It happens.

In the semis, Humphries fought back from 1-5 down to level at 5-5 before losing 5-6 to Aspinall and Cross did a number on Littler winning 6-3 after missing SIX match darts. Then Aspinall skated to a 6-2 win in the final after being up 5-0. Cross it seems had played himself out in demolishing Gez and beating Littler and never looked the same player in the final. Pleased for nice guy Aspinall winning the Night. As for Gez, he stands 7 of 8 in the table and has it all to do to make the top 4 for Finals Night. His present form suggests he hasn't got a hope in hell of doing it.

 

[ivoralljack]

Been watching the UK Open at Minehead and just witnessed one of the greatest games I've ever seen in the quarters. Damon Heta of Australia finally beat Luke Littler 10-8 after missing 3 match darts and blowing a healthy lead. Some of the throwing was insane from both of them and it seemed they couldn't miss at times. Deep into the game Littler was averaging over 118 yet trailed Heta who was throwing an unbelieveable 125.

Of course they coudn't keep up those averages for an entire game (missing just one dart at a double drops the average conspicuously) but Littler still avaeraged over 104 and lost!! Can't quite remember Heta's final average which was either 106 or 108. Just brilliant stuff, I thought.

Gez went out early after leading 3-0 in his game but he couldn't buy a double. He was absolutely gutted but as the old darts saying goes - "scoring for show, doubles for dough." Jonny, still battling to regain his form, went one round further but these days he isn't cutting it.

 

[The Blobster]

I agree that littler, hetta game was superb . Just a shame Hetta couldn't keep to that standard for his semi final , but I guess no one could keep that standard for long !

 

[The Blobster]

The final was epic as well with Humphries coming from well behind to tie things up at 10 all , after Dimitri missed several match darts , both missed chances at the double in the final leg but the advantage of throwing first came to Dimitri who took out double top for the trophy win .

 

[ivoralljack]

Yes, the final was a good game as well and a good watch. As for Littler, I'd say he's destined for great things but he has to learn to lose with more dignity - his sulking after the Heta game was not a good look and has been picked up big time online. Many critics about his behaviour. In contrast Gez, who went out to Schindler after blowing so many chances to win, was absolutely gutted but his first reaction was to congratulate his opponent.

Got a daft theory. People who dominate for a long time in darts seem to be built the same - short, stocky with a broad beam. Phil Taylor fits that description as does MVG as does Littler, who has yet to become the force they were but shows huge signs of doing so. Of course, Bristow, who was of tall willowy build, bucked that trend but I wonder if the build of the first three I mentioned enables them to get a more stable base to throw from. Just a thought.

 

[ivoralljack]

PL NIGHT 6 - BRIGHTON: Gez out in the Quarters beaten 2-6 by Humphries (105+). Unfortunately although present day Gez isn't second rate he's certainly become a second tier thrower. Right now the likes of Humphries, MVG (present PL table-topper), Littler, Cross, Smith and even Aspinall are all way better than him. At this level his doubling is atrocious and he even struggles on his favourite doubles.

Other Quarter results were - Cross 6-2 MVG; Aspinall 3-6 Littler; Smith 6-5 Wright.

The Semis went: Littler 3-6 Smith and Humphries 6-3 Cross. Rob Cross averaged about 108 yet lost because Luke averaged an amazing 113.71. Luke went on to beat Bully Smith in the final 6-3 with an average of 101, which would have been much higher had he not had a bad run/eased off at the end of the game. As for Gez, he's virtually no chance of making the final four for the last night as he sits 7 of 8 right now with a lot of ground to make up.

 

[ivoralljack]

Some darts fun. The make-up is incredible!