by In the middle of the afternoon, with excitement building up ahead of the darts match that was expected in at least one of the contestants’ lives in the final, Luke Humphries, the newly crowned world No.
“The sport deserves what’s happening,” he said, “and if I win tonight it’s great for the sport because you have a world number 1 who deserves it.” Yes, try it my friend. Humphries may have been the sport’s top performer in recent months, but no one was looking at him as the savior of the sport. He was just the man who had to answer questions about Luke Littler. And, a little later, it was the man who answered Luke Littler’s question.
Related: Luke Humphries ends Luke Littler’s fairytale in an epic PDC world darts final
In the middle of the afternoon Sky Sports News interrupted their normal broadcast to bring their viewers live footage of Littler arriving at Alexandra Palace. And so the audience watched the young blacksmith, after he got out of his car, putting on his coat as he faced the other direction. No detail of Littler’s journey was small enough to ignore.
From mid-afternoon a reporter was stationed at St Helens Darts Academy, where Littler honed his skills as a younger child. He would occasionally take it upon himself to ask one of his obscure fellow finalists how excited they were. “For us here, it’s huge because he’s one of our own,” said someone identified as Matty. “I’m not surprised but I am at the same time.”
There’s no point playing it cool. In the last two weeks we have seen something unprecedented, something joyous and ridiculous, something unexpected and unimaginable. Littler was the child who made us all children, who made us all dream. On Tuesday the viewing figures for his semi-final match were better than the figures for the night’s single game in the Premier League, making it not the most exciting example of its kind. You don’t get a draw without a target in darts. But when the attention really increased, a few more hugs arose for the final. “He does what he wants to do! Freedom! He already has freedom of mind! In a world final! At 16 years old!” roared Wayne Mardle and Littler tried and completely fluffed a double-bull top finish during the first series in which he played like a well-lubricated punter in a very good outfit Luke Littler.
But the speed of success in this sport is encouraging, and in no time Littler was leading 4-2. “Here we go!” Mardle yelled. “I said it’s going to be a bumpy ride. Drop in!” Humphries lost the sixth set in such abject fashion that Mardle scolded him for his unredeemable displeasure and determination – “You’ve got to be more determined than that, Luke. WOW. You could see literally he wasn’t throwing properly”. About 45 seconds later he nailed a glorious finish of 170, from which he barely missed.
Still there were minor swings, bumps in the road, and in that same series, the seventh, Littler’s check of 122 felt briefly decisive. “That could be the one that breaks No. 1’s heart. Look at his face. That was spiteful, it was bad, it was dirty,” we were told. About two minutes later Humphries had won the series and Littler was the face we were looking at. “That could be the moment we look back on in this game,” said Sky commentator Dan Dawson.
When the really important moments came they were completely clear. Littler’s two doubles that could have been 5-2 up were evidently on one, which Humphries later identified as a “huge cough point”. But we knew the battle was over when Littler was 2-1 up in the legs midway through the 11th set and they had to win that and all the others to clinch the title, 58 , 58, 45 and 60 later. Against a player averaging 103.67, that sort of thing simply won’t do. A few seconds later it was over.
After his win, Abi Davies interviewed Humphries on stage, then interviewed Littler, then interviewed Humphries again. “All day I was thinking: ‘Get this one now because it’s going to dominate world darts very soon’,” joked the champion as he continued to answer Littler’s questions. But for all the multiple interviews Davies ended the night with a few seemingly unanswered questions, chief among them whether he should be called “Luke Humphries’ Cool Hand” or “Luke ‘Cool Hand’ Humphries” .
Meanwhile in his world final the referee, nominally decisive Russ Bray, savored each 180 call, each one rolling around his mouth like the smoke of a fine cigar, as if desperate not to stop exhaling. And they had plenty, more than any other final.
Bray, who is fully half a century Littler’s age, has such a raspy voice that it makes a positive sound for Sean Dyche, and he drilled his way through 36 maximum calls in the evening. We will remember this tournament for the youngster who found an unforgettable way to announce himself, and perhaps also for the veteran who had an unforgettable way to announce himself.
