DURRANT BACKS HUMPHRIES FOR MATCHPLAY TITLE

LUKE LITTLER’S clean sweep of majors dream could be ended at the World Matchplay, according to Sky Sports pundit Glen Durrant.

The former world champ reckons that his arch rival Luke Humphries will take the glory at the Winter Gardens in Blackpool which starts on July 18.

Littler, 19, is chasing every big title in a year having already secured the World Championship, Masters UK Open, Premier League and World Cup.

He needs to retain the Matchplay, Grand Slam, Grand Prix, and Players Championship Finals plus win his first European Championship later this year for a clean sweep.

But Durrant reckons his hopes could end at the Winter Gardens later this month.

Speaking at the Operation Bullseye II Defence Darts event, he said: “I don’t think he wins the Matchplay. I’ve got nothing statistically to back that up. It’s just in the heart.

“I’m someone who says who wins ‘Luke Littler’. When Emma Paton even looks at me on Sky Sports on who’s going to win ‘Luke Littler’.

“I don’t think he wins the Matchplay. Is that implications for him? Does he go back on the floor and then go to Minehead for the Players Championship?

“I like the look of Luke Humphries at the moment. Just on the back of New York.

“From the day he played in the Premier League with a much slower throw. To see him where he is today, compared to then.

“I feared where he was going after that. When you start being process driven, when you start messing about with that throw, he’s all about rhythm. Since then his rhythm is great.”

Durrant also agrees with Joe Cullen’s hesitancy over whether coaching works in the sport.

He added: “I worked with Ryan Joyce when he had a great run at Ally Pally but my forte right now is not working with a professional player.

“What I love is grassroots coaching. That PFA coaching in football, that’s our blueprint.

“I thought Joe Cullen got it right. I think Joe Cullen said, ‘I don’t get this coaching’ and I can’t sit here and defend that right now.

“There’s not many coaches working with pro players. Everything that Luke Littler does, as a coach, I would tell him to do the opposite.

“The practising, the preparation, how he throws a dart, how he is on the oche. Everything I see as a visual throw of the dart, he does differently.

“But we’ve created 175 accredited coaches now working in academies or volunteers. If the PDPA has given me a bit of a legacy, it’ll be on the coaching side. We have got some fantastic coaches in the world.”

Words by Phil Lanning.

Images by TAYLOR LANNING.