Bunting wins as Humphries avoids Littler semi-final

Image source, Kieran Cleeves/PDC

• Published9 minutes ago

Stephen Bunting signed off his Premier League campaign in style as he overcame defending champion Luke Humphries 6-3 in Sheffield to claim his second nightly win of the year.

The Bullet was in fine form throughout the night and, roared on by a South Yorkshire crowd keen to see Leeds United fan Humphries beaten, raced to a dominant victory with seven 180s and a 106.37 average.

At 5-3 up, Bunting started with six perfect darts to raise hopes of a nine-darter to clinch it but had to settle for finishing off a fabulous display in 12.

Despite his defeat in Thursday's final, Humphries did enough on the night to move up to third overall in the season's standings and avoid a semi-final against world champion Luke Littler on finals night at London's O2 Arena next Thursday.

Instead, Humphries will take on Wales' Jonny Clayton, with the Ferret's compatriot Gerwyn Price facing Littler.

Victory moves Bunting above Gian van Veen and Michael van Gerwen to secure a fifth-place finish in the final standings.

Bunting won a superb quarter-final 6-3 against Clayton as both players averaged in excess of 100.

He then came from 2-0 down to beat Price in the semis, with a 161 checkout the first of three straight 100-plus finishes to clinch victory.

Despite coming up short in the final, Humphries had put in two superb performances to get there, averaging 105.24 to edge out Van Gerwen in a last-leg decider in the quarter-finals before thrashing Littler in the semis.

The world number two won six legs on the spin to win 6-1 and book his place in the final with another 100-plus average.

An out-of-sorts Littler had scraped past Josh Rock in the quarters despite an average of only 87.89 but missed the chance to break his own record points total and number of nightly wins in the Premier League.

Focus now turns to London next week with Littler aiming to win back the title he lost to Humphries last year.

But while a third straight final between the pair remains a possibility, Welsh duo Clayton and Price will have plenty to say about that.

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Premier League Darts table

Premier League Darts night 16 results

Quarter-finals

Jonny Clayton 3-6 Stephen Bunting

Gerwyn Price 6-2 Gian van Veen

Luke Littler 6-5 Josh Rock

Luke Humphries 6-5 Michael van Gerwen

Semi-finals

Stephen Bunting 6-3 Gerwyn Price

Luke Littler 1-6 Luke Humphries

Final

Stephen Bunting 6-3 Luke Humphries

Premier League Darts play-offs fixtures

Thursday, 28 May - London O2 Arena

Semi-finals

Luke Littler v Gerwyn Price

Jonny Clayton v Luke Humphries

Final

Littler/Price v Clayton/Humphries

Premier League Darts format and points system

Premier League Darts is played across 16 initial weeks in the league stage with quarter-finals, semi-finals and a final each night.

Each of the eight players is guaranteed to face the other seven in the quarter-finals in weeks one to seven and 9-15, with week eight and week 16 fixtures compiled according to the table.

Players earn two points per quarter-final win, an additional point if they win their semi-final, and five for winning the night.

The top four players after the group stage progress to the play-off night at London's O2 Arena on 28 May, with first facing fourth and second against third in a best-of-19-leg match. The final, which is the best of 21 legs, follows.

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