The coronation would have to wait. Michael van Gerwen grabbed the spoils on night two of the Premier League when he beat Luke Littler in a decisive tie that felt like an epic in itself. Both started with 57 visits. When they returned, both had 180 visits. Both men missed the dart of the match. Littler, 80, lost two darts in his favorite double ten to win.
Perhaps it was just too perfect for Littler to win his first Premier League title in the city that gave the world kebabs. But here again is evidence that the emergence of precocious 17-year-olds is pushing everyone’s quality and grit to new levels. Van Gerwen averaged 107 points in the semi-final victory over Michael Smith, but didn’t look that great – a characteristic of Van Gerwen these days. Every game on the night ended 6-4 or 6-5, with Van Gerwen’s victory due as much to good luck as to perseverance.
The nature of the Premier League, a byzantine round-robin format where everyone plays everyone and then everyone plays more games, makes it difficult for a compelling narrative to emerge. Last year, Van Gerwen’s victory, Gwen Price’s continued excellence and Michael Smith’s late surge were largely illusive in terms of foreshadowing how the year would unfold. That being said, we’re only a few weeks into the new season and we can already say one thing with confidence. Children can be spanked.child will Being beaten. But there’s no one on the planet playing better than him right now.
Strangely, the child’s arrival seemed to relax the others. There is definitely something new and exciting about the sport right now, both in terms of tone and texture. The stage was filled with quips and slaps on the back, and a few more gunshots rang out in the interview room. Players unite in allegiance to a new teenage overlord. They’re thinking about ratings and buzz, increasing prize money, and the purple and yellow waves that lift all their boats. They’re not thinking – at least not yet – about the trophy they’ll lose to him.
The usual chatter and comments came from the outside world. Last week, former world number one Peter Manley warned Littler to lose weight to extend his career. “In my opinion, Little is just a big unit,” he told the Daily Star. “If he’s not careful and doesn’t take care of himself, he’s not going to last long. And it’s not going to look good. You want to look good.” If we could all look like a 61-year-old man and humiliate a 17-year-old kid That would be great.
Meanwhile, a traveling circus is on. There’s no time to visit the Brandenburg Gate or the Gropius Museum: From Berlin it’s straight to Wigan, where Littler will play his first ranking match of the season on Monday. Now it works like a dream, or like working in a dream. Once again the Germans showed up in droves, clinging to the guard rails to catch a glimpse of this strange new dart specimen. In a way, the obsession with darts here is another example of German culture’s fascination with all things British, from Monty Python to Phil Collins to Eric Dier. They sang “Stand up if you like darts”. They sang Kolo Touré songs. Next they will whistle to the thrower.
Rob Cross was Littler’s first scalp, beating 6-5 after a brave fightback in the decider. Humphreys got his chance in an exciting semi-final, scoring 115, but struggled in doubles, allowing Littler to tie the score at 5-5. Humphreys was again in the driver’s seat in the deciding set, but Littler pulled a brilliant 162 from his back pocket on 182, followed by his favorite double-10. Since the World Championship final a month ago, Littler has played against Humphries three times and won all of them.
As for the rest of the squad, Peter Wright and Nathan Aspinall are still winless after losing to Humphreys and Van Gerwen respectively. These two already look like the ones most likely to get into trouble. Smith, who was beaten by van Gerwen in the other semi-final, won a brilliant quarter-final with Price, with the pair scoring 170 points each.
