Luke Humphries arrives in Nottingham on March thirteen with the darting equivalent of a heatwave swirling around his flights. The reigning world number one has reached three nightly finals in the last month winning in Liverpool and Rotterdam to climb into second place on twenty six points. Another strong run at the Motorpoint Arena would all but cement his play off spot and keep the pressure on runaway leader Luke Littler.citeturn1news10
Humphries opens Night Six against Gerwyn Price in a clash of the power scorers. Their head to head this season stands at two wins each and both meetings have averaged over one hundred which suggests fans are in for a classic opener. Humphries excelled in this venue twelve months ago hitting a one hundred and fifteen average in the semi finals before narrowly losing to Littler in a last leg decider. He cites the low stage and close knit crowd as an atmosphere that “makes you feel every cheer in your ch…
Statistically Humphries sits top of the first nine average chart at one hundred and eight point three and leads the tournament for legs won against throw, a marker of his growing steely edge. He has also been practising a new covert double top checkout using only twenty segments, an innovation he says could shave vital seconds in tight matches.
Nottingham will also mark the debut of a special one off walk on track recorded with local indie band The Sherwoods to raise funds for a youth darts academy. The city famous for Robin Hood loves an underdog story, but with Humphries hitting targets at will the biggest steal of the night might be the two league points he intends to add to his bulging tally.
