"I actually called it but I'd hoped I'd hit a nine-darter to win the title" - Adrian Lewis recalls perfect leg in 2011 World's final

Probably the greatest leg of all time took place in the 2023 World Darts Championship final between Michael van Gerwen and Michael Smith. Both players came down in nine-dart fashion, before Smith pinned double 12 to send the darting world into meltdown.

However, that was not the first nine-darter in a World Championship final. That honour was reserved for Adrian Lewis. In the 2011 World Darts Championship final against Gary Anderson, he threw a nine darter in the third leg. "When you first start playing, your dream is to obviously win the World Championship," Lewis recalls on The Checkout podcast by AK Bets. "I actually called it but I'd hoped I'd hit a nine-darter to win the title but it didn't pan out like that."

For the very first nine-darter live on Sky Sports, however, we have to go back to 2002. In the fifth leg of his quarterfinal against Chris Mason at the World Matchplay then, Phil Taylor threw a nine darter. "I was lucky enough to call that match," Russ Bray recalls on the same podcast. "It was the fifth leg actually and you had a break after the five, so it was sort of a natural time for Phil to hit it," Bray says. "He won £100,000 for it as well! Nowadays you don't get anything but a pat on the back."