Memorable darts moments and matches of 2022 as Paul Nicholson reviews a dramatic season

The darts season will reach its climax at the World Championship on January 3rd but the final will have to be an absolute classic to compete with the drama we've witnessed throughout a thrilling 2022 - from the sublime to the ridiculous.

Here, former major winner, pundit and commentator Paul Nicholson picks out his highlights as well as his favourite matches and players of the season.

Top three moments

At the top of my list at the moment JOSH ROCK produced the highest individual average of the year in excess of 121 during a Players Championship victory over Brendan Dolan. We already knew he could attain the 110 level but this gave us a serious insight into the incredible potential he has, and it's pretty much unplayable.

SIMON WHITLOCK hitting three bullseyes to take out 150 for the match on the European Tour was incredible. I was in the commentary box that night but even if I wasn't, I'd still put it on the list. He was 5-1 up against Daniel Larsson at the time and had 150 remaining but when he hit the first bull you knew what he was going to try!

Sometimes people criticise the Premier League for being a bit monotonous but I love the roadshow element, especially when it reaches Belfast. They are extraordinary on a 'normal' night but this year they were treated to two nine-darters from GERWYN PRICE. In one of those perfect legs - against Michael van Gerwen - he even dropped one of his darts before regaining the composure to finish off a leg. For him to go and get another against James Wade is an extremely rare feat and nobody will forget it.

I have to give an honourable mention to Mensur Suljovic for the 161 checkout after Michael van Gerwen had rejected the chance at going for the bullseye to win a match. It had everyone going crackers here at Ally Pally!

Top three players of 2022

It's really tough to pick three players from what's been an amazing year, especially as I've covered so much darts on a number of levels from the PDC and the WDF to the Modus Super Series. But ultimately I've got to select three from the PDC because they've been playing the most exciting standard in 2022, just like you'd expect.

This has very much been MICHAEL VAN GERWEN'S year and won pretty much all the big titles that he probably had listed on a wall with boxes to tick. Having kicked his major haul off with the Premier League - albeit after surviving a championship dart from Joe Cullen - he goes on to win the World Matchplay and the World Grand Prix before picking up the Players Championship Finals crown. If anyone else won that many majors then it would be seen as a flawless year so MVG deserves so much credit even though he used to pick up even more before his lean spell.

One of the majors he didn't collect - the Grand Slam of Darts - was won by MICHAEL SMITH and he has to go in this list. However, it's not just because of his major breakthrough that he'd waited so long to snap, he also won a World Series event in New York and enjoyed an incredible spell in May when he was pretty much untouchable.

The other player is LUKE HUMPHRIES because of the incredible progress he's made, even though he's still waiting for his maiden major title. In 2021 he started making finals but then in 2022 decided he wanted to take that next step to winning titles and he's done that more than once, particularly in the first half of the season when he won four European Tour titles.

Top three matches

I've looked at some of the stats from the year and some of the top guys have played around 170 matches this year so it's very hard to pick just three!

But without a shadow of a doubt, my first has to be DIRK VAN DUIJVENBODE v RYAN SEARLE at the Players Championship Finals which I firmly believe was the match of the season. It had massive averages from both players, a dramatic comeback from Dirk, a stack of 180s (21), 100+ finishes (5), huge celebrations and great sportsmanship. It really was the ultimate darts match. If it was a World Championship match it would have gone down as one of the best of all time - that's how good it was. The fact Dirk was able to break the tournament average record in the process With 112+ speaks volumes of what he's capable of.

My second game is MICHAEL VAN GERWEN v JOE CULLEN in the Premier League final back in May. Everyone thought Michael was going to win the tournament when it reached the play-offs even though Jonny Clayton had topped the regular season table but after reaching the final on debut, Joe gave him an almighty scare and narrowly missed double 16 for the title. Tournaments that go to the wire like that deserve finals like this and although Joe had his heart broken, it was a fantastic game to watch and a big German crowd made it that extra bit special.

Obviously Dirk van Duijvenbode's World Championship victory over Ross Smith deserves a big mention as it went right to the wire, saw a record number of 180s for a best-of-seven match and also had the drama of 5 missed match darts. We also have to nod to Michael van Gerwen v Rob Cross in the climax of the Players Championship Final which saw MVG hit a nine-darter en route to glory.

But I'm going for MICHAEL SMITH v JOE CULLEN in the semi-finals of the Grand Slam of Darts because I simply couldn't take my eyes off it. I was working on the Modus Super Series that night and thankfully it finished 30 seconds before I was due on air! It was an immense match of 31 legs which also featured a late comeback from Bully Boy to get the job done.

Favourite tournament

This year we've seen Michael van Gerwen getting back to major-winning ways in style and maiden titles for the likes of Michael Smith, Joe Cullen, Ross Smith and Danny Noppert but on a personal level I'm going with Australia lifting the World Cup of Darts.

As a tournament it produced amazing drama and for Australian darts it was so important to finally get that win 10 years on from the heartache I suffered alongside Simon Whitlock against England. The joy I saw from Simon and Damon Heta was enormous for me and that's why it's my favourite.

The World Cup as a whole is only going to get more competitive and exciting when you look at all the different nations developing incredibly talented players climbing the rankings and going on big runs in majors.

ALSO READ: PAUL NICHOLSON ON THE PREMIER LEAGUE DEBATE

The Asset also adds his thoughts into the debate about who will squeeze into the Premier League line-up and whether Josh Rock has done enough to earn a debut spot. Click on the image below to read his thoughts.

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