Luke Littler refuses to simply accept he is darts’ high canine regardless of Wayne Mardle reward
Luke Littler is refusing to accept the garland as darts’ No.1 player in the world – despite Wayne Mardle’s insistence that his “swagger” now sets him apart.
After booking his place at the BetMGM Premier League play-offs with a fortnight to spare, Luke the Nuke disputed Sky Sports commentator Mardle’s verdict that he was out on his own at 17 years old.
Littler’s fourth nightly win in the competition, which sent him eight points clear at the top of the table, included a 6-1 demolition of Michael Smith with a 110 average and 86 per cent strike rate on the doubles.
READ MORE: Luke Littler beats Rob Cross to secure back-to-back Premier League darts win in Aberdeen
READ MORE: Luke Littler beats Rob Cross to secure back-to-back Premier League darts win in Aberdeen
The Warrington boy wonder had earlier ‘shushed’ mouthy elements of the Aberdeen crowd in his narrow 6-5 win against stablemate Nathan Aspinall.
He claimed: “I don’t know who the best player in the world is right now, but it’s not me.” But Mardle, a four-time world championship semi-finalist in the era dominated by Phil ‘The Power’ Taylor, begged to differ.
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(Image: Getty Images)
He said: ”I do believe Luke’s playing like the best in the world – and he’s getting better. Right now he has this swagger – just imagine how good he will be in five years.
”There’s a definite comfort zone with him now, shushing the audience, having the guts to do it, having the composure to do it and not letting it bother him or put him off. He seems to have come out of his shell – there has been a change in him.
(Image: Mark Kerton/Every Second Media/REX/Shutterstock)
Luke Littler darts fans can back ‘The Nuke’ in Premier League with his playing shirt
Luke Littler fans can now buy the 17-year-old’s playing shirt to support him as he continues to demonstrate his talent in the Premier League.
The darts sensation was only 16 when he wowed Alexandra Palace at the World Darts Championship (WDC), despite a final loss to Luke Humphries.
The Nuke will continue playing against seven of the best dart players in the world — Humphries, Michael van Gerwen, Gerwyn Price, Michael Smith, Nathan Aspinall, Rob Cross and Peter Wright — in a mini-tournament in a different city every Thursday until the final in May.
”There’s a lot to like about his game, and let’s hope it stays that way for many a year, but that’s four wins in the Premier League now and he’s more or less wrapped up the league phase with two weeks to go.”
Mardle’s praise was earlier echoed by two-time world champion Peter ‘Snakebite’ Wright, who faces Littler in Leeds next week.
Wright believes the teenage sensation can go on to become the greatest player of all time, saying: “If he wants to do it, he could. But we don’t know what his plan is. He could play for another five years and say ‘that’s it, I have earned enough.’
(Image: PA)
“But he has shaken up the sport, for sure. You see him in the back room and his routine is about five minutes’ practice. Maybe that’s what we are all doing wrong – practising too much and wearing ourselves out.
“In the first or second week of the Premier League, I said to him, ‘If you start losing, you can come to me for advice – because you will start losing’ – but he hasn’t yet.
“His impact is what we needed. It is good for everyone else, to make us pull our fingers out and practise harder.”
