Sporting Life
Which was your favourite nine-darter?
Which was your favourite nine-darter?

Was Luke Littler's nine-darter against Josh Rock the best perfect leg of all time? Paul Nicholson ranks the moment of magic in his World Matchplay review

By Paul Nicholson
Darts
Sun August 10, 2025 · 4M ago

Luke Littler's heroics at the World Matchplay drew comparisons with Phil Taylor, while his nine-darter in the semi-finals challenges Michael Smith's for the best of all time. Paul Nicholson gives his verdict.

Where does Luke Littler’s World Matchplay campaign rank among the greatest?

If we just think firstly about the statistics, Luke Littler’s tournament average was a staggering 105.12 which is the fifth best of all time behind four of Phil Taylor’s; 106.31 in 2010, 105.81 in 2013, 105.73 in 2009 and 105.5 in 2011.

By averaging 99 against Jermaine Wattimena, he narrowly missed out on reaching three figures in all five of his games – a feat only previously managed by Taylor three times and Luke Humphries once.

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The difference between a 99 and 100 average can sometimes just be one dart so he couldn’t have been much closer.

He also broke Adrian Lewis’ record of 58 180s in a single campaign by crashing in 64 of them.

So, all things considered, it’s very, very close to the best we’ve ever seen on the Winter Gardens stage.

Post-Taylor, we often reference Peter Wright's 2021 campaign as being almost unbeatable thanks to demolishing Michael van Gerwen 17-10 in the semi-finals with a 110 average and then annihilating Dimitri Van den Bergh with 105.9 in the final.

But this probably even eclipses that.

I really hope it doesn’t get lost in the ether that it's “just” Littler winning another tournament with the kind of stuff that he can do. I think we need to give this the credit it fully deserves. Especially because it’s just his second World Matchplay appearance.

One other important factor to note that stands it apart from Taylor’s most dominant of World Matchplay wins is that he was pushed in almost every game.

Jermaine Wattimena and Andrew Gilding both gave him unexpected scares and resistance that he had to find an answer to, while Josh Rock and James Wade both produced high class displays that required incredible mental strength to overcome.

He was five legs behind on three occasions during the tournament but he never knows when he’s beaten.

Luke is like one of those 800 meter runners that just goes to the back of the pack at the start and bides his time before cooking everyone over the final lap.

He doesn't panic, but by the end he'll figure it out because he has these sustained bursts towards the end of a match that not many people have ever had.

When Michael van Gerwen won in 2022, he won the semi-final and final by winning the last four legs when pretty much level pegging until that point.

Littler also has that kick-finish that MVG used to have but it’s a longer kick, from about 10 legs to the end.

If people are going to beat him they're going to have to work even harder than they are now.

Was Luke Littler’s nine-darter the best of all time?

Obviously there’s been some debate about whether Luke Littler’s nine-darter against Josh Rock was ‘better’ than Michael Smith’s against Michael van Gerwen in the 2023 World Championship final.

There's an obsession at the minute with ranking everything but for me, the best leg is the Littler one because there were no misses from either player.

However the most dramatic was Michael v Michael because it was on the biggest stage of them all and, of course, we had the miss at double 12 from MVG before Bully Boy showed him how it was done.

I was backstage for the Michael Smith’s one preparing for my stint on commentary with TalkSport and when he hit the double 12 I had my hands on my head in sheer disbelief.

I was also sitting backstage for the Littler one and I just said to myself ‘that’s the greatest leg ever!’

I then went into the press room and said to Mark Webster ‘what the f*** was that?!’

It’s so often said that sport can't be perfected, it can only be played. You can’t perfect darts but this was proof that two players can perfect a single leg!

Trying to decide which was more enjoyable is purely subjective but, as a fan of perfection, I think it’s objectively fair to say Littler’s was ‘best’.

Even if we can’t agree on which is best, at least we can say Littler has established his own unique route of taking out 141 by going treble 20, treble 17, double 15.

It was only the second time in history that someone has gone that way, with Littler also being the player who did it first earlier this season.

Both nine-darters brought us so much mind-blowing joy, we’re now left to wonder what more could anyone do to top either leg?

We could have one of those legs repeated in a sudden-death leg in a World Championship final but the chances of that are ridiculously low.

So, what about more unusual routes of nine darters?

We could have someone doing three 167s in a row (treble 20, treble 19, bullseye) but sadly I don’t believe it will ever happen. Certainly not on the big televised stages anyway.

If you’re lucky it might happen at an exhibition or potentially at the Modus Super Series where players are challenging themselves to do crazy feats.

As they aren’t playing for the same kind of stakes as in the PDC and are occasionally involved in ‘dead rubbers’ with nothing put pride on the line, the conditions are riper for some maverick strategies.

For example, Andreas Harrysson and Connor Scutt are having a bit of a thing about who can get a nine darter by going 180, three treble 19s then three bullseyes.

Now that would be fun and a lot more possible.

If you’re on a score of 321, then unless it’s your second visit then you’d automatically go to the 19s. So if you do that after 180 with your first visit and leave 150, you should be so far ahead that you can try anything you like.

We’ve seen Simon Whitlock go viral for winning a match with three bullseyes in 2022 so imagine finishing a nine-darter that way?!

It’s still highly unlikely on the major stage but when you break it down like I’ve just done, you could potentially see it happening one day, especially with how inventive players have become.

More oil in the Machine

I don't think we should underestimate just how much both Luke Littler and Luke Humphries have inspired not just the next generation, but the current generation.

They see how much money they're making and know they need to work incredibly hard to see a decent share of it.

Look at someone like James Wade and think about what he's done over the last 12 months.

His career could have easily gone severely downhill. He could have said, ‘You know what? I'm not as good as I used to be and the youngsters are overtaking me.’

But this is not the first time that James has rebounded. And there are other players who are saying, ‘do you know what, if I just put in the work, look at what is possible.’

Money does talk in this game and people want money. Dart players are mercenaries, they always have been, and they always will be as much as they want to have a great image and a legacy, and things like that.

They're very much “now” people, and the thing that's the same now as it was 20 to 30 years ago. They're very much hand to mouth sportspeople.

They're always thinking about what they're doing now, and what kind of repercussion would happen when the invoice comes in.

So when you grab a hundred grand like James Wade has just done, and he's back up to world number five. He's thinking to himself ‘Well, hang on a minute. Things are a little different now. Maybe I'm going to be in Premier League Darts next year.’

So it's a reinvigoration for some of the older players, whereas the Luke’s have been inspiring the kids coming through. It's a double edged sword of inspiration.

There's been a time where no one's talking about James Wade, and then all of a sudden he pipes up and says, ‘ why is nobody talking about me?’ Well, because we're too busy talking about other people who are in better form.

But now we have to talk about him because of what he's done.

He was inspired by Taylor.

He was inspired by Van Gerwen.

He's being inspired by Peter Wright.

And now he's been inspired by Littler and Humphries. All these people have been on his radar over these years so I think what we've learned about James in this tournament is that it doesn't matter who comes through.

They're the ones who kick him up the butt and tell him to get back on the practice board.

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