Ranking the best players after the first half of the PDC darts season; Leading pundit Paul Nicholson selects his top five

LUKE LITTLER

• 6 titles, including the Premier League
• 98.55 seasonal average

Luke Littler has undoubtedly stolen the show in his debut season by winning a title in each of the first six months of the season. It’s quite simply the best start to a career ever and we’ll probably never see an opening first six months like this ever again! Every time the hype lowers ever so slightly, he then produces something else magical.

If you think about what he's achieved in 6 months, he’s eclipsed what some great players do in decades. He may not have a world championship title at the top level yet but you could say he’s got a Hall of Fame career already at the age of 17! As well as winning the Premier League, a couple of World Series titles and a Players Championship he’s also won on the European Tour twice which is the same amount James Wade has managed in his entire career!

He's shown more than enough evidence over six months that this won’t be just a ‘flash in the pan’ career – it’s almost inevitable that he will be around for a long time. Even if he only plays on for 10 years before deciding he’s earned enough money and wants to do something else, I’m sure it’ll be a decade of brilliance.

Darts professionals are starting a lot younger these days so we shouldn’t really expect them to go on and play until they’re in their 50s. It's more of a football model where maybe they’ll have the opportunity and enough money in the bank to retire much earlier and pursue other ventures and spend time with their families.

LUKE HUMPHRIES

• 1 title
• 99.46 seasonal average

I think the way Luke has consolidated his position as world number one has been exceptional. I know he didn't win the Premier League or the UK Open but he did make the final in both and that can’t be overlooked.

We can’t forget his dominance in Munich when he won the German Darts Grand Prix with a brutal 8-1 demolition of Michael van Gerwen in the final. His performance all weekend was right up there with the levels we’ve only seen from MVG at his peak on the European Tour. Overall he’s had a very solid start to 2024 as world champion and also carrying the burden of being world number one.

I am of the opinion that the best of Humphries will come in the second half of the season like it did last year, and I think a slightly lighter schedule in the summer and autumn will be to his benefit.

ROB CROSS

• 2 titles
• 97.11 seasonal average

I know Rob didn't make the Premier League playoffs but his overall season and the levels he’s produced have been superb this year and deserves a top three spot. For too long he’s been floating under the radar in everyone’s thoughts as the likes of MVG, Gary Anderson, Gerwyn Price, Michael Smith, Peter Wright and many others have taken much of the limelight. Not to mention Littler and Humphries very recently.

Every so often - since winning the world title - he does something that says, “Remember me!”. But now he’s showing the kind of form and consistency that could see him become a regular winner of titles for a sustained period. He's got a great work ethic and I think that the move to Lincolnshire from East Sussex has been an inspired one. He’s now seeing the fruits of his labour.

Although many people will say his best year is still his first – for obvious reasons - if you compare the levels he was attainting back then, he’s actually better now. The only problem is, so is everyone else. However he’s maintaining a level of competitiveness with everyone on tour and he’s picked up titles on the World Series and European Tour this season. There could be plenty more to come.

GARY ANDERSON

• 2 titles
• 100.05 seasonal average

Gary Anderson is top of the averages and to maintain 100+ for the first six months of the season can’t be ignored. He won on the European Tour for the first time in a decade and also picked up a floor title after a blistering start to the season. He’s statistically better than anybody else and that is quite the thing to do over a period of half a year when you consider the quality everyone is producing right now.

I think the way he's managed his career over the last couple of years has been genius because he understands how much practice time he can devote to being sharp enough to be the best version he can be right now. He knows at his age that practice has got to be engineered perfectly to make sure that he's got the right amount of energy to be competitive in tournaments, and to have the right amount of energy to win them. I think he's getting it spot on at the minute, and he can't be discounted for a second World Matchplay this summer.

The question mark will always be whether he can sustain his levels over the long formats of big majors. At Gary's age he's not a spring chicken anymore, so has he got the energy levels and the staying power to rival Littler, Humphries, Cross and Price etc if he faces them in the semi-finals in Blackpool and then in a final a day later?

I'd like to say that maybe he's got two more major wins in him and hopefully he picks up titles he’s never managed before such as the Grand Slam, World Grand Prix and the European Championship. There are plenty of opportunities for the rest of the year for him to get something new on his already glittering CV.

MARTIN SCHINDLER

• 1 title
• 96.34 seasonal average

This may surprise a few but I think his levels have consistently risen over the last few seasons to the point where he has become a European Tour champion this year.

He’s at a higher level than any German who has ever thrown a dart and can now be regarded as the best player they’ve ever produced. He's achieving those big averages on a more regular basis and is more likely to kick on and to be a possible major champion or a multiple European Tour champion unlike others before him.

I like the way he thinks about the game and the way he prepares. He's an incredibly smart individual and he's impressed me immensely this year.

The way he beat ‘Mr Riesa’ Gerwyn Price in the final of the International Darts Open was impressive but he didn’t stop there – the following week he produced a number of even better performances even though he was unable to pick up another title. That tells you something about his ambitions moving forward. I think he's a fabulous player.

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