Luke Littler v Rob Cross: PDC World Darts Championship semi-finals – live
Hello and welcome to live coverage of the World Darts Championship semi-finals at Alexandra Palace, Looooooondon. It was supposed to be Michael Smith v Gerwyn Price or Peter Wright and Michael van Gerwen v Luke Humphries, but the world rankings have taken one helluva beating in the past fortnight.
For the first time since 2010, when Simon Whitlock and Mark Webster reached the last four, there are two unseeded semi-finalists. In rankings terms, this is the semi-final line-up:
Luke Littler (164) v Rob Cross (8)
Scott Williams (52) v Luke Humphries (3)
Not even Quasimodo predicted that last four. It’s hard to know what else to say about Luke Littler, the multigenerational talent who hit his first filmed nine-darter at the age of 14. Two years on he is, by some distance, the youngest semi-finalist in PDC World Championship history. Everyone in darts suspected Littler would have a run like this in his teenage years. But not on his debut, not when he’s still – drink! – 16.
The three non-Littlers all have great stories of their own, yet they’ve been overshadowed by somebody who almost certainly won’t be old enough to vote in the next election.
In many ways Rob Cross, 33, is the worst possible opponent for Littler. In historical terms, he’s a perfect fit. Cross was the last person to win the worlds on debut, six years ago, when he survived match darts against Michael Smith and Michael van Gerwen before stomping all over Phil Taylor’s fairytale ending in the final.
Cross has been up and down since then, particularly at Ally Pally, but at his best he is a cold-eyed killer. Yesterday he became the first man in PDC history to win a quarter-final from 4-0 down, remorselessly aspyhxiating a previously rampant Chris Dobey, and he’ll have no compunction about making a 16-year-old cry in front of 3,200 and millions on TV.
I’m making Cross sound like a horrible piece of work, aren’t I? He’s not, not at all; he’s just a winner. And he is by far the toughest opponent Littler has faced in this competition.
Scott Williams, 33, made a bit of a splash in last year’s world before losing an excellent game against Cross in the last 32. He had a miserable year on the circuit, but few people are as invigorated by the big stage and, even in a sport that isn’t renowned for shy, retiring types, Williams has stood out in the past fortnight.
His extroversion might look cheap had he not backed it up by beating four seeds: Danny Noppert, Martin Schindler, Damon Heat and, almost unbelievably, Michael van Gerwen. Williams remains the rank outsider of the last four, but his confidence and sense of theatre make him dangerous.
Even against a man who has won his last 17 games. Luke Humphries, 28, was the best player in the world in 2023, finally ending his hunt for a major by winning three in a row before the World Championship. Like Littler and Williams, this is his first semi-final, though he did reach the quarters in 2019, 2020 and 2022.
For much of that time Humphries, a natural 180 hitter with a beautifully rhythmic throw, struggled with anxiety on stage, but he lost three or four stone during the various Covid lockdowns and started to fulfil his abundant potential.
The pressure of being favourite – and the consequent unthinkability of defeat - seemed to affect him at the start of the tournament. He played poorly in his first game, even though he won comfortably, and was perilously close to going out to Ricardo Pietreczko in the last 32.
He was even closer to losing in the last 16, when Joe Cullen missed two match darts, though Humphries contributed fully to a classic match. His best performance came last night, an emphatic 5-1 win over Dave Chisnall in the quarter-finals, and he should beat Williams. Then again, ‘should’ hasn’t been much use to anyone in this World Championship.
Humphries v Williams is the second match tonight, with Littler and Cross expected on the oche at 7.45pm. He’s 16, you know.