Paul Nicholson column: Traditional heavyweight nations of darts being caught up as new flag-bearers rise the ranks

The 'big three' of Gerwyn Price, Peter Wright and Michael van Gerwen may well have locked out the first three spots in the recent Autumn Series Order of Merit by bagging four of the titles between them over the five days, but there was a fascinating observation to make about the rest of the top 10.

Not only were there some surprising names in there, but the variety of nationalities was a real eye-opener.

Former major winner and pundit Paul Nicholson, who spent the week in Germany commentating on the action, shares his thoughts on the globalisation of darts while he also makes special praise for Price, MVG and Devon Petersen.

Global darts

In the top 10 of the Autumn Series Order of Merit there were remarkably 10 different nationalities represented, which further emphasises how much the game of darts is growing globally.

There are more and more players than ever around the world who can carry their nations into the reckoning for titles on tour.

Autumn Series: Top 10 performers

1. Gerwyn Price £24,250 (Wales)
2. Michael van Gerwen £16,750 (Netherlands)
3. Peter Wright £14,500 (Scotland)
4. Damon Heta £13,250 (Australia)
5. Joe Cullen £11,000 (England)
6. Mensur Suljovic £10,250 (Austria)
7. Devon Petersen £10,000 (South Africa)
8. Krzysztof Ratajski £9,750 (Poland)
9. Madars Razma £8,500 (Latvia)
10. Jose de Sousa £8,000 (Spain)

There’s been a lot written about Devon Petersen recently and the work he's done to transform his game, but you have to understand that on top of this, he’s had South African darts on his shoulders for the best part of 10 years. That’s quite a responsibility.

Before Devon came along we had the likes of Wynand Havenga and Charles Losper, but nobody has reached the heights of Devon before and he's now at the world-class level.

He’s by far and away the best player in his continent, let alone his country. Imagine playing a sport that you’re the best at in Europe – and nobody else to back you up. That's essentially what Devon is doing right now in a continent that is a great deal bigger.

Obviously the traditional heavyweights of Wales, Scotland, England and the Netherlands were also represented in the top 10 but you have other nations starting to stake a claim as to what their pedigree could be if their leading figureheads get more support in years to come.

The ‘Ratajski effect’ may not be felt in Poland for another five years while Madars Razma is shouldering the responsibility of Latvian darts and is taking his game to the next the level by qualifying for events that nobody in his country has ever done before.

The PDC were initially mocked when they started staging these World Series events that were branded glorified exhibitions. Well, no, you've got to look deeper than this. You've got to see who's been found by doing this such as Corey Cadby and Damon Heta while showing other parts of the globe what big time darts is really all about and inspiring them to get involved.

I think that's really exciting. And the funniest thing for me is that just one Englishman made the top 10 this week –and that was Joe Cullen. When he goes to the World Series of Darts Finals this weekend, he should be very proud of this achievement.

We’re also seeing the migration of central European players from soft tip darts coming into PDC steel tip darts who are really starting to hit their targets. I'm talking about Ratajski, I'm talking about Suljovic and now I'm talking about Boris Krcmar of Croatia. He finished 20th in the overall table and was genuinely threatening.

He lost to Lisa Ashton one day – and that’s another great story as she reached the last 16 and also hit a 10 darter - but Boris is getting better. He’ll make the worlds and cause some real problems in the next 18 months.

League of nations catching up

Are other countries catching up the English and traditional powerhouses without them really knowing it? Yes.

If you look at the Dart Players Australia Tour - that has been streets ahead of any other sister tour around the world for years. That's why we've had Kyle Anderson, Simon Whitlock, Corey Cadby, Damon Heta, myself and others come through. We all came through DPA darts before we turned professional and consequently have won on the PDC floor and the stage.

If you look at countries like Romania and the Czech Republic, they’ve been making strides in the youth game that other countries are not. They have government funding to allow some of these young talents – both boys and girls – to come through. Look at the WDF World Cup last year, The Czech Republic bossed some of the yououth events. I got in touch with some of my contacts in that part of the world and they said they have definitive plans for the future which people are adhering to.

Look at what Lottery funding has done for athletics and gymnastics in the United Kingdom. It’s bolted them into new stratospheres. These countries like Romania and the Czech Republic are already ahead of other countries in Europe and around the world.

Price is right

Gerwyn Price obviously comes out of this as the star performer after winning the last two tournaments and topping the Order of Merit. Yes, he was somewhat fortunate to win on day four when Devon missed four match darts in the final but the way he performed on Wednesday got everybody's ears pricked up.

The guys in the top four of the Premier League will be very, very glad he didn’t make it because if he's in the play-offs playing like that he wins. It's pretty simple.

Peter Wright will be really disappointed with third spot and £14,500 over the course of the series because he won the first event and was targeting five titles. Michael van Gerwen will be disappointed with second spot too.

Price will be very happy with first, but we are starting to see a bit of consistency with things like this where the top three are stretching their legs away from the others, even though they can be challenged on any given day by the chasing pack.

I know there's going to be a lot of conjecture about who's the best player in the world right now and that's just feeding social media frenzies and arguments. I don't look at it like that. I think it's great that we're having this conversation.

If you're sitting having a coffee with a whole bunch of friends it's a great thing to talk about and it puts darts in the same arena as tennis, which has had that for so many years with Djokovic, Nadal and Federer.

I think we're now looking at a period of time where they're going to share big prizes for years. Wright’s not going anywhere even as the elder statesman of the three, MVG certainly isn’t going anywhere and Price is just getting started!

So this is terrific. And even when you have Federer, Nadal and Djokovic, you still had people coming through doing bits such as Andy Murray, Stan Wawrinka and Juan Martin Del Potro.

There are many equivalents in darts, of course, so it’s a very exciting time for the sport.

At the World Championship, there will be so many different players who believe they can win it, and the big three will all have their work cut out.

MVG under the spotlight

Anyone who has been world number one in their sport for seven years is going to be micro analysed aren’t they?

With Michael it could be a tabloid article about something in his life, the fact that he's wearing a shirt that is slightly different to what he wore before, or whether he's using his old darts, new darts or something in between. He completely understands that everything he does is up for scrutiny.

When he leaves an arena after winning a tournament or being drilled 6-0 by Devon Petersen, he understands he’ll be scrutinised more than any other. It was the same with Tiger Woods, Nick Faldo, Jack Nicklaus, Roger Federer and Pete Sampras.

He understands and accepts this, which is one of the reasons he has held onto this position for so long. He can shoulder the responsibility. We’ve talked about Devon Peterson shouldering it for a continent - what about the whole planet?!

So whatever Michael does - whether it's a new stem, new flight, new point, new dart – people will put him under pressure and he handles it so well. Just imagine if he wore a black shirt instead of a green one! That would put Twitter ablaze.

There’s nobody better than him at handling the pressure. It’s often forgotten that nobody in the current game has ever been world number one apart from him. So, he's the only one who knows how it feels. He’s alone.

The previous number ones of Harrington, Manley, Taylor and Colin Lloyd have all retired! So he's the only one who knows this pressure and he’s still shouldering it brilliantly. We must all give him a lot more credit for this.

Devon delight

The one thing that I'll probably take from the Autumn series is the form Devon Petersen was in. I was privileged enough to see enough of his games to think, what on earth have you done to get this good at 180 hitting. He’s always been quite good at that but now he is the master of how many 180s you can hit in a match.

He’s taking it to a consistent level where he has to be regarded as the best maximum hitter in the world. If you’d said that to me a year ago I’d have said absolutely not. But right now, definitively, Devon is the biggest scorer on the planet and that's what gives him the amount of chances he’s getting.

The improvement in his technique and the stature of his mental game is what stands out and impresses me more than anything. To be the first African player to make a ranking final, that is a huge, huge step. Yes, he did miss four match darts and he will be devastated about that. But he responded by hitting a nine-darter and when he takes stock over the next few days, he’ll be proud of his efforts.

He genuinely believes he will be a world champion one day. He first said that to me two years ago in a radio booth and I didn't believe him. Now, I am more than man enough to say that, but now when he says it I do believe it because he has showed me and the world that he can out 180 many players over a long period of time so I can eat my words humbly there.

His ability to respond to adversity is something that we might be writing about in 20 years. His story's only just about to be written. By the end of the year he’ll have plenty more stock and money in his bank.

By qualifying for his first World Grand Prix – just months after agonisingly missing out on the World Matchplay - their could be a ripple effect for him and help him reach many more of the big televised majors in the months and years ahead.

World Series

Michael van Gerwen is going for his fifth World Series of Darts Finals title this weekend but he won’t have any easy opener against either Glen Durrant or World Matchplay champion Dimitri Van den Bergh.

Anyone could come through that but Dimitri does have an injured knee which could hamper his efforts on the oche and his pre-match dancing. That’s a shame because we are going to see a small crowd in the arena.

Mensur Suljovic won the last event he entered in Austria – beating MVG in the final - so he’ll be delighted to be back at home ahead of his clash with Ratajski, but as far as the title goes, I just can’t see past Gerwyn Price at the moment.

It’s no wonder he told Dan Dawson in his post-match interview on Wednesday that he’s in a really good place and when have you seen a sportsperson play poorly in this kind of zone?

It’ll be fantastic for the tournament if we can get a blockbusting match towards the final stages between the likes of MVG, Wright and Price as it’ll just intensify the debate about who is the best player in the world as they really do bring the best out of each other.

Autumn Series Order of Merit: Final standings top 20

• Cumulative total after the five Players Championship tournaments
• Source: Dartsrankings.com

1. Gerwyn Price £24.250 (Wales)
2. Michael van Gerwen £16.750 (Netherlands)
3. Peter Wright £14.500 (Scotland)
4. Damon Heta £13.250 (Australia)
5. Joe Cullen £11,000 (England)
6. Mensur Suljovic £10.250 (Austria)
7. Devon Petersen £10,000 (South Afrtica)
8. Krzysztof Ratajski £9.750 (Poland)
9. Madars Razma £8.500 (Latvia)
10. Jose de Sousa £8,000 (Spain)
11. Danny Noppert £7.750 (Netherlands)
12. Nathan Aspinall £7.750 (England)
13. Simon Whitlock £7,000 (Australia)
14. Ian White £6.750 (England)
15. Ross Smith £6.500 (England)
16. James Wade £6.250 (England)
17. Glen Durrant £6.250 (England)
18. Ryan Searle £5,000 (England)
19. Stephen Bunting £5,000 (England)
20. Boris Krcmar £5,000 (Croatia)

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