World champion and new world No 1 leads a top 16 which now contains just three players over the age of 40
There is a saying in Michael Smith’s home town that you should never write off a Saint, owing largely to the success of his beloved St Helens rugby league club. They are one of the sport’s most successful sides but the town has a new hero to celebrate after Smith’s success in the PDC World Darts Championship on Tuesday evening.
Smith’s triumph over Michael van Gerwen has countered those who had written him off. As recently as two months ago, the 32-year-old was seen as darts’ chief bridesmaid, having lost eight major finals in a row. But his victory in November’s Grand Slam of Darts shook not just a monkey off his back but, as the three-time world champion John Part pointed out, the gorilla that had hung over his career for so long.