Luke Humphries left red-faced as ex-world darts champ demands major rule change
Darts legend John Part has called for a controversial rule change after two nine-darters in one Premier League night.
World No.1 Luke Humphries and Rob Cross both nailed perfect legs on night five in Brighton, only to then lose their respective matches. Humphries produced his moment of magic in leg two of his quarter-final against Cross.
However, the 2018 world champion won six of the next eight legs to prevail, averaging 111 and hitting seven 180s in a 6-4 victory. Cross landed his nine-darter in the sixth leg of his semi-final against Nathan Aspinall, only for the Asp to triumph 6-5 and reach the night’s final, where he lost to Luke Littler.
Humphries and Cross’ exploits earned the pair 18-carat gold darts worth £30,000, courtesy of tournament sponsors BetMGM. Humphries said: “I’ve hit about five or six nine-darters in my career,
“But it’s always a special feeling to do it on the big stage, and the crowd went wild which was amazing. Of course, I would have rather won the game, but it’s a really nice memento.”
The night continued the recent trend of players hitting nine-darters but then losing. Christian Kist and Damon Heta both nailed perfect legs at the last World Championship, only to then lose the same match.
And during commentary in Brighton, three-time world champion Part suggested that any player who hits a nine-darter automatically should win the game. After co-commentator Wayne Mardle laughed off the suggestion, Canadian Part added that such a rule change would only be feasible in short matches, like the best-of-11 format used in the Premier League.
The pair of nine-darters and Part’s wild suggestion were part of a chaotic night in Brighton, which saw Sky Sports ’ coverage disrupted by technical problems in the first half of the broadcast, leaving fans fuming. Fortunately, both nine-darters were broadcast without interruption.
After being made aware of the issues, Humphries said: “Did it get shown, maybe? Just about luckily enough. That would’ve been well disappointing, hit your first [televised] nine and they don’t even show it on TV!”
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