In his latest column, PDC Stats Analyst @ochepedia assesses the developing and potentially record-breaking rivalry between World Champion Luke Humphries and Premier League winner Luke Littler... Full story 👉 bit.ly/HumphriesxLitt…
Breakdown of the stats behind Luke Littler and Luke Humphries' darting rivalry
PDCSaturday, 01 June 2024 at 09:00
Luke Littler and Luke Humphries contested the final of Premier League Darts last week. It was a replay of the World Championship final early this year, but with a different ending.
In the two most high-profile major finals of 2024 so far, two players who were not yet born at the time of the founding of the PDC (1994) played. Littler and Humphries combined for 65 legs in those two finals. After losing the World Championship final, Littler did manage to win his first PDC major this time, good for a winner's cheque of 275,000 pounds.
The 18-year-old Littler is well on his way to dominating the sport in the coming years. Notably, a similar situation played out 11 years ago when Michael van Gerwen defeated 16-time world champion Phil Taylor, kicking off the then 24-year-old's legendary career.
For the next four years, the rivalry between Taylor and van Gerwen was the most exciting and fiercely fought in darts. The rivalry between Littler and Humphries could well go the same way. They also seem to be pushing each other to higher and higher levels. PDC analyst Christopher Kempf calculated that in the first five months of 2024, the world champion and the Premier League champion played 140 legs in matches between them. They did so at an exceptionally high level with a combined average of 100.78.
Littler does seem to set himself up as Humphries' "bogey player," winning seven of their eight duels between them that took place after the World Darts Championship final.
Damon Heta defeated Littler at the UK Open
One of Littler's main rivals could be Damon Heta, the Australian number one who eliminated Littler at the UK Open in March. Heta then averaged 106 in that quarterfinal, which was his best performance ever in a ranking match on TV. It is also the only 2024 TV tournament in which Littler, after qualifying, did not make the final.
Littler recovered somewhat by beating "The Heat" 6-3, 6-2 on the European Tour, but Littler will need to beat Heta often on the to make up for the impact of that loss on the UK Open ranking.
Still, Littler will especially have to take Humphries into account it seems. With Littler still only 17 years old and his biggest rival not yet 30, and with nine matches already in the books this year, this duel could probably effortlessly surpass previous long-standing rivalries such as Phil Taylor-Michael van Gerwen and Phil Taylor-Raymond van Barneveld.
claps 0visitors 177
Just in
Popular news
Latest comments
- More roid rage than nonsenserichieburnettrocks18-12-2024
- Even the wild crowd went easy on him... we really have gone soft in this country. He should now play in the men's events and try and recover a smidgen of respect, rather than take advantage of the women's game.MrYnyslas197118-12-2024
- The bloke wouldn't get any abuse if he just earned his way in instead of putting on lipstick and larping as a bird.thebogeyman17-12-2024
- Imagine what he'd be like if he done it on TV.medinabello15-12-2024
- Moot point Wattemina will beat him anyways so he will have an early Xmas after all.medinabello15-12-2024
- Grow up mate it's a game of darts surely a player has the capacity to play more than 1 best of 5 set match in one evening.medinabello15-12-2024
- Modus will be good for him. Great comp.medinabello15-12-2024
- I'm with Asp here. If they moan about it don't pick them. Simple as.medinabello15-12-2024
- We don't need the Saudi's money and prohibitive laws. Simply take the World's to other countries like Germany, Holland, Scotland, Poland, Belgium. Not only will you get sell out crowds with bigger venues but it will also freshen up the comp a bit. Let's face it Ally Pally is getting a bit boring now. Imagine 10,000 in Berlin, Rotterdam, Brussels etc.medinabello15-12-2024
- Am probably going to be in a small minority, i would not miss the walk ons, best part used to be the lovely ladies which obviously now makes me a misogynist. Its all part of the razzamatazz show business side and its not that long so not something that winds me up however some of the walk on choices are abysmal while some work, MVG and Seven Nation Army being an example. Dimi the Dancer is / was just awful and Peter Wrights is old hat now.Mysstree14-12-2024