How the world rankings in darts are arrived at and collated is indeed a curious system. The best guess yours truly can hazard at an explanation is to reckon that rankings are determined via a players’ total prize money accumulated over a two year cycle.
That is the only plausible conclusion as to why Luke Humphries was still ahead of Luke Littler in the PDC world rankings prior to the latter continuing the streak which has seen him never lose a match at the Grand Slam of Darts event in Wolverhampton. Pointing that out is not, in any way, meant to denigrate the form of Leeds United fan Humphries. Cool Hand has been utterly mesmeric throughout the season, both in the style and fluidity of hid throwing and the manner in which he has been mopping up results left, right and centre.
But then, so too has Littler. So basically something had to give when the top two met in the final of what – to me at least – is the biggest ‘big stage’ tournament outside of the PDC World Championship.
Mind you, before even getting into dissecting the latest sporting volcano whipped up by the latest volume of Luke squared, it’s worth analysing how, yet again the Grand Slam proved to be the shop window for those who, for a variety of reasons don’t – or hadn’t been – getting the profile or exposure they should be. Or at the very least used to bring to the table whether justified or not.
One individual for whom the last week’s action absolutely constitutes a rebirth is Michael Smith. Like Gerwyn Price before him and the two Lukes in his wake, the Grand Slam was the launchpad upon which the Bully Boy launched his stellar career after previously suffering nine major final defeats. Whereafter, akin to the latter-named pair, he went on to claim the biggest prize in the sport.
However, one can only assume there have been a multiplicity of circumstances at play which have led to the St Helen’s star dropping to a scarcely believable 30th in the world rankings prior to the week’s work in Wolves. Thankfully, though, his displays throughout the week proved the mercurial, highly entertaining talent is still in there and, you suspect, only requires a little coaxing to float to the top once again. The game will be in a better place when such is the case.
Because as things currently reside, Messrs Littler and Humphries are a bit like Dawn Run and Buck House in the match race in Punchestown many moons ago. The only difference being that while the two tungsten throwers notionally have opponents fairly close to them, they are that far ahead of the pack the others may as well be tailed off.
Mind you, as if to directly contradict the immediately preceding statement, players like Martin Schindler and Danny Noppert and Luke Woodhouse and Josh Rock put in shifts which – for the players concerned – marked the elevation of their careers to the next level on the darting plinth. For the Bully Boy, it represented a step back towards the upper echelons of tungsten throwers.
They all played second fiddle to the hitherto unkown German Lukas Wenig who not only came through the group stages at the first time of asking but also, relatively speaking, making his mark in the knockout stages.
Of course, a realistic appraisal would incline one to see how Wenig progresses from here, but he certainly showed enough to suggest his is a name we’ll be hearing plenty of again. Possibly sooner rather than later.
Ultimately, though, the battle for the Eric Bristow Trophy came down to the two most likely suspects. Not before Josh Rock had given Littler s right rattling in the semi final.
Though ironicallly, when the two called Luke went to duke it out, it was, in my view at least, when Humphries began to deviate from his recognised routine – by notably slowing down his throwing action – that he began to cause Littler serious headaches.
In fairness to he who is now officially top of the pile, as the greats always do, The Nuke changed his methodology, targeting different doubles so as to circumnavigate a typically obdurate challenge from the player who is now undoubtedly his greatest rival.
Remarkably, Littler’s 16-11 victory means he has still to taste defeat at the Grand Slam Of Darts. Yes, he can be got at, but it will take somebody or something very special to do so.
Leave a Reply