Was Luke Littler's nine-dart finish the most perfect leg of all time? 'No misses from either player'

Luke Littler's nine-darter against Josh Rock in the World Matchplay semifinals was considered by many to be the best perfect leg of all time, while some other followers and fans still like Michael Smith's nine-darter in the 2023 World Cup final against Michael van Gerwen better.

Paul Nicholson shares his opinion in his review of the tournament for SportingLife, analyzing not only the level of the leg, but also the impression this particular performance made on him.

"Obviously there’s been some debate about whether Luke Littler’s nine-darter against Josh Rock was ‘better’ than Michael Smith’s against Michael van Gerwen in the 2023 World Championship final," said Nicholson.

"There's an obsession at the minute with ranking everything but for me, the best leg is the Littler one because there were no misses from either player.

Still, Nicholson acknowledges that Smith's nine-darter against van Gerwen was the most dramatic. "However the most dramatic was Michael v Michael because it was on the biggest stage of them all and, of course, we had the miss at double 12 from MVG before Bully Boy showed him how it was done."

Nicholson, a commentator himself, was backstage during both moments of magic. "I was backstage for the Michael Smith’s one preparing for my stint on commentary with TalkSport and when he hit the double 12 I had my hands on my head in sheer disbelief.

Nicholson's subsequent reaction was beyond comprehension. "I was also sitting backstage for the Littler one and I just said to myself ‘that’s the greatest leg ever!’

"I then went into the press room and said to Mark Webster ‘what the f--- was that?!’ It’s so often said that sport can't be perfected, it can only be played. You can’t perfect darts but this was proof that two players can perfect a single leg!"

According to Nicholson, it is difficult to say which leg was the most fun now, as it is completely subjective. "Trying to decide which was more enjoyable is purely subjective but, as a fan of perfection, I think it’s objectively fair to say Littler’s was ‘best’."

While it is difficult to determine which nine-darter qualifies as the best, it is certain that Littler found his own unique way to take out 141: "Even if we can’t agree on which is best, at least we can say Littler has established his own unique route of taking out 141 by going treble 20, treble 17, double 15. It was only the second time in history that someone has gone that way, with Littler also being the player who did it first earlier this season."

Both nine-darters made headlines, but what could top Littler's perfect leg? "We could have one of those legs repeated in a sudden-death leg in a World Championship final but the chances of that are ridiculously low."

But what if for once we saw something more unusual? "We could have someone doing three 167s in a row (treble 20, treble 19, bullseye) but sadly I don’t believe it will ever happen. Certainly not on the big televised stages anyway."

Still, Nicholson is not completely abandoning hope. "If you’re lucky it might happen at an exhibition or potentially at the Modus Super Series where players are challenging themselves to do crazy feats. As they aren’t playing for the same kind of stakes as in the PDC and are occasionally involved in ‘dead rubbers’ with nothing put pride on the line, the conditions are riper for some maverick strategies."

Andreas Harrysson and Connor Scutt, for example, have already attempted a unique nine-darter. They already threw six perfect darts in a row by throwing a 180 score and a 177 score in the first two innings, and then tried to polish off the remaining 150 points via three bullseye. ''Now that would be fun and a lot more possible,'' Nicholson stated.

"We’ve seen Simon Whitlock go viral for winning a match with three bullseyes in 2022 so imagine finishing a nine-darter that way?! It’s still highly unlikely on the major stage but when you break it down like I’ve just done, you could potentially see it happening one day, especially with how inventive players have become."