'Luke Humphries could complete darts in less than two years' - Paul Nicholson hails the achievements of the world number one

By Paul Nicholson

16:57 · TUE July 30, 2024

Luke Humphries not only became the fourth player to hold both the World Championship and World Matchplay at the same time, but he also equalled a record only held by Phil Taylor.

Cool Hand emulated the Power, Michael van Gerwen and Peter Wright by completing a very rare double at The Winter Gardens earlier this month whilst he also averaged over 100 in all five of his matches.

The Power did it in three (2010, 2011, 2013) of his 16 title runs in Blackpool but nobody else until Humphries, who managed 108.8 v Ricardo Pietreczko, 102.3 v Stephen Bunting, 101.2 v Dimitri Van den Bergh, 100.6 v James Wade and 100.9 v van Gerwen.

MVG and Peter Wright both came agonisingly close to the latter feat but both had one match each when they averaged 99.

Both achievements are remarkable and you have to be truly special to attain such a standard so consistently.

He’s getting 100+ averages on tap and it's not just in that tournament, is it? He’s been doing it all season.

Luke Humphries is now the only player apart from Phil Taylor to average over 100 in all five games at a World Matchplay.

It's an astonishing feat and maybe in time he'll one day get close to those ridiculous tournament averages from the Power. pic.twitter.com/oTHMuRgf2a
— Chris Hammer (@ChrisHammer180) July 21, 2024

The way that Humphries is performing as world number one has now got us talking that he's going to break the £2million barrier on the Order of Merit for the first time.

That's something that neither Taylor nor van Gerwen managed to do.

MVG reached £1.83m at the end of the 2017 World Championship and Humphries could even better that before Ally Pally. That’s scary!

Completing darts

It's not about what he's won. It's now about what he hasn't won, because there's not many things he hasn't won!

The UK Open and the Premier League are two events that have eluded him but he’s reached the final in both, while the European Championship is also on his hit list of majors.

He could complete the game in less than two years!

And then it's about additional ambition and that’s a completely different challenge.

Michael Smith admitted he felt he’d ‘completed darts’ by winning the world title but then he found out that there's a lot more to do. Fair play to Michael for being honest about that.

The fact that Humphries doesn't think that way, and he's gone a lot further tells you how he thinks and that he's got big ambitions in this sport.

I think the way he approaches everything and makes improvements to different areas of his game is phenomenal.

If you look at his world championship debut, he looked uncomfortable and tired on stage.

Fast-forward all these years later and after a game of 30-odd legs, he looks like he could go again.

He is in his peak now, and he knows that he can make the most of it.

I think completing this double is more impressive than the average record because you’d much rather have the trophy – but both show how formidable he is right now.

Could Humphries break many of Phil Taylor’s statistical records?

Although Phil Taylor’s title records will always seem impossible to match, his catalogue of tournament and match average records could be at risk from Humphries in years to come.

I think even he knows that he still has room for improvement in all areas of the game. His double statistics in the World Matchplay final weren’t anywhere near as best.

That's the pertinent thing. His scoring ability and his ability to get 140s even when his first dart is in the small 20 just below the 60 blows people’s minds.

It’s mythical. Only he knows how to do that in my opinion. Phil Taylor, by comparison was very dependent on that first dart hitting the bottom of the treble.

With Humphries, I think we could be looking at someone who could average 108 for a tournament and it not feeling like a surprise. Whereas two years ago it would be a massive shock.

Trophies or column inches?

Dimitri Van den Bergh got a bit of stick for claiming Humphries was still in Luke Littler’s shadow.

Obviously it’s true that Littler gets the headlines, no matter where he goes and no matter what he does. But apart from the Premier League, it's Humphries who keeps picking up the big silverware, isn't it?

It might actually be a blessing for Humphries that Littler has almost taken some media pressure off him.

And this is what Dimitri perhaps doesn't understand. Less media pressure is a good thing, and that's what Humphries has got at the minute. But if he continues to play this way, he’ll get all the press!