Premier League Darts Cardiff LIVE RESULTS: Michael Smith batters home hero Price in final after beating Luke Littler
MICHAEL SMITH thrashed home hero Gerwyn Price 6-2 to win the first night of the Premier League Darts in Cardiff.
Smith narrowly got past teen sensation Luke Littler in the semi-final, beating the 17-year-old 6-5.
Though wonderkid Littler did batter World No 1 Luke Humphries 6-2 in the quarter-final to put two points on the board.
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Second semi
It's Littler vs Smith in the next semi final clash...
It's the first meeting between these two!
Littler averaged over 100 and hit 60% of his doubles against Humphries.
View of SunSport's Rob Maul inside Cardiff's Utilita Arena
Gerwyn Price won in Cardiff last year and he will look to back that up again tonight.
The Iceman is looking cool and composed. That 87 on the bullseye summed up how well he is playing.
The Welshman will face either Michael Smith or Luke Littler in the final.
Rob Cross was confronted by whistles at key moments in the encounter.
Security personnel really need to sort it out and find the culprit or culprits. It is not on.
Rob Cross 2-6 Gerwyn Price
Four legs on the spin to finish that match from Price there!
It's the second consecutive year he's reached the final of this tournament in Cardiff.
He does it in style, taking out the bullseye to finish the final leg.
Rob Cross 2-6 Gerwyn Price
GAME SHOT AND THE MATCH - GERWYN PRICE!
Rob Cross 2-5 Gerwyn Price
Three legs on the spin for Price, who nearly busts himself on 134 when looking for a single!
But he leaves 40 and Cross is some way behind on 148 - but he leaves himself on 16!
Cross just needs one dart to finish the D20 and move a leg away from the final.
Rob Cross 2-4 Gerwyn Price
BREAK OF THROW!
And the Cardiff crowd go wild!
Cross is on 32 and has three darts to level it up. His first dart covers the bed and his second is even worse.
He's left contemplating his next shot and takes a good 15 seconds of deliberation as the crowd goads him.
He misses and Price moves in to take out 78 with a two-dart combo!
Rob Cross 2-3 Gerwyn Price
One-way traffic in that leg as the Welshman holds.
Price with a peach of a 174 leaves him on 20 - great scoring.
His finishing hasn't been great - but he makes no mistake in the next visit, taking it out in one.
Rob Cross 2-2 Gerwyn Price
Four holds now after scrappy finishing from both!
Cross can't take out 16 with three darts, failing twice at D4.
Price is on 40 to break the throw but can't capitalise!
Cross clears up on the next visit.
Rob Cross 1-2 Gerwyn Price
Five perfect darts in a row from Price to start the leg and the fans aren't happy when the next misses!
He leaves 40 after nine darts, tremendous darts.
Cross is above 200 so he has time to take it out but misses with all three darts - the last one hitting 20.
Cross then leaves 112 so puts the pressure on Price, who misses D10 twice and gets it with the last.
Rob Cross 1-1 Gerwyn Price
The whistler remains - putting Cross off when aiming for D16 to level it up.
He misses and allows Price to put the pressure on from some way behind.
Cross composes himself and takes out 32 in one dart in the next visit.
Rob Cross 0-1 Gerwyn Price
"Gerwyn, Gerwyn Price", is the chant from the home supporters.
Price with a big 137 in the middle of the leg with neither player scoring.
He takes out 117 with Cross coming back to put a little bit of pressure on.
Rob Cross 0-0 Gerwyn Price
Price has the darts in this one!
He opens with a 95, Cross replies with a 99...
Semi time!
We're into the last four now and the first of our semi finals is coming up shortly.
Rob Cross is welcomed onstage and surprisingly it doesn't seem there are too many boos.
Surprising, as home favourite Gerwyn Price is his opponent.
He's cheered to the hilt as he makes his way onto the stage again.
Quarter finals - A recap
Luke Littler opened his Premier League campaign by eliminating the reigning world champion Luke Humphries – all thanks to a Welsh whistler.
On his debut appearance, Luke The Nuke prevailed 6-2 in the quarter-finals of the tournament on Night One in Cardiff.
The 17-year-old – who was supported by girlfriend Eloise – may have lost to Humphries in the World final on January 3, missing out on the £500,000 jackpot.
But he has been able to gain revenge twice in six days, following the success at the Dutch Darts Masters last Saturday.
However, Humphries, 28, was frustrated when he was throwing for double eight in leg four, attempting to make 2-2.
Someone in the crowd put off Cool Hand Luke with an audible whistle and the Berkshire Battler looked round to see if he could identify the culprit.
Littler took advantage with a break of throw and from 3-1 up he did not look back as he moved into the semi-finals where he will face Michael Smith.
There was also another whistle in the final leg when Humphries was throwing to try and avoid defeat and he walked off the stage in a right old hump.
The crowd were loving the rookie star and they started to sing: ‘There’s only one Luke Littler.’
The opening match of the night at the Utilita Arena was shockingly bad.
Rob Cross and Peter Wright missed 19 double attempts between them as Voltage prevailed 6-3 in the first quarter-final of the 20 staging of the Prem.
For Snakebite, who had the Dragon on the front of his darts shirt, an average of 85 represents one of his worst-ever displays in this competition.
If he and wife Jo want to get on the road to Milton Keynes now, rather than stay another night in the Welsh capital, they could easily get away without too much traffic.
The 24-man Masters start at the Marshall Arena on Friday evening and Wright will face either Jonny Clayton or Krzysztof Ratajski on Saturday.
Gerwyn Price is not taking part in the Masters as he has pulled out for unspecified “family reasons”.
Michael van Gerwen, who won the Dutch Darts Masters last weekend, has won the Prem a record seven times but he opened his campaign by losing 6-5 to Smith.
View of SunSport's Rob Maul inside Cardiff's Utilita Arena
Luke Littler has beaten Luke Humphries twice in six days now.
It follows his victory at the Dutch Darts Masters last weekend.
However Humphries had the right old hump there.
As he was throwing for double eight in leg four, attempting to make it 2-2, someone in the crowd whistled. And this clearly put off the world No.1.
Humphries looked around and tried to ID the culprit but couldn’t work out who it was.
There was another whistle that put him off in the final leg as he was throwing to stay in the contest.
Cool Hand Luke lost his cool and appeared visibly angry as he walked off stage.
Luke Littler 6-2 Luke Humphries
GAME SHOT AND THE MATCH - LITTLER!
Convincing performance and result!
Humphries storms off stage on his Premier League debut - a whistler in the crowd putting him off his final dart on his last two visits there.
He wasn't happy. Littler through to face Smith!
Luke Littler 5-2 Luke Humphries
Another solid hold, with Littler on 20 while Humphries is on 270.
Humphries hits a 180 to put some pressure on, but Littler takes it out for a 5-2 lead.
Luke Littler 4-2 Luke Humphries
Humphries scrambling but good scoring has him comfortably clear in the leg.
He again misses two darts at a finish before clearing up on D3.
Littler wasn't close enough to challenge him there and knows he just needs to hold throw twice for victory.
Luke Littler 4-1 Luke Humphries
Five perfect darts from his first six for Littler.
13-dart leg consolidates the throw and he's rocking along now.
Luke Littler 3-1 Luke Humphries
BREAK OF THROW!
The pair are both on 170 and Humphries is up first - missing the bullseye for the big fish to leave 25.
Littler leaves himself 36 but Humphries is up first to take the advantage - but misses!
Littler splits the 36 by going 16, D10 and it pays off!
Luke Littler 2-1 Luke Humphries
Humphries again has a dart for the break but misses the bullseye on a 127 finish.
Littler on 145 prior manages to hit two big doubles to leave his own 20.
Littler hits 10 with his first dart but hits D5 with his final dart.
Shake of the head from The Nuke.
Luke Littler 1-1 Luke Humphries
He missed two at D16 in the first leg but not this time.
108 Humphries leaves and hits T19, 19 to leave 32 again and takes it out.
Littler was a little bit behind so he did have a bit of breathing room.
Luke Littler 1-0 Luke Humphries
A 5 with his first throw, Littler. But it's followed up with two T19s.
Humphries takes control of the opening leg and has 51 left with Littler stuck on 142.
Humphries has two darts at D16 but can't convert. Littler takes 80 out with T20, D10.
Here they come
Both players here making their Premier League debuts - which is incredible given they've dominated the headlines in recent months!
Littler with a huge ovation and gets the crowd bouncing on stage with an "oi, oi oi" to his walk-on song.
No signs of nerves as he smiles and takes it all in.
Not such a kind welcome for Humphries as loud boos ring out for the world number one.
Luke vs Luke
This pair know each other a Littler.
The Nuke stole the hearts of the country during that dramatic run to the Worlds final last month before the loss to World No1 Humphries.
But he got slight revenge when beating Humphries in the Dutch Masters.
This would be a bit more revenge, though...
