Premier League darts fans in Brighton were treated to a historic night as both Luke Humphries and Rob Cross hit nine-darters on Thursday evening.
The pair achieved the sport’s perfect leg in the same night, marking the 17th and 18th nine-darters in Premier League history.
World No.1 Humphries pinned his perfect leg against Cross to send the crowd at the Brighton Centre into a frenzy.
Cross then followed suit with his own nine-darter in his semi-final clash with Nathan Aspinall, sparking wild scenes inside the venue.
Luke Humphries and Rob Cross both scored nine-darters on Thursday night
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Humphries’ perfect leg came amid technical difficulties for Sky Sports, whose coverage was regularly interrupted by a loss of pictures.
Presenter Emma Paton was forced to apologise as messages flashed up on screen insisting the broadcaster was “working hard to resolve the issues”.
Fortunately for darts fans, there were no problems as Humphries hit six 180s, followed by treble 20, treble 19 and double 12.
“I really hope you all saw that,” Paton joked on X.
Despite his nine-darter, Humphries was unable to secure victory as he succumbed to a 6-4 defeat by former world champion Cross.
Cross, who hails from the local area, made history by hitting the second nine-darter of the night in his semi-final against Nathan Aspinall.
The achievement came after Cross had gone 0-2 down in the match.
His perfect leg put him in the darts history books as the player responsible for the 18th nine-darter in Premier League history.
Luke Humphries and Rob Cross might have landed perfect legs but ended up on the losing side
PA
The jubilant crowd inside the Brighton Centre erupted as Cross completed the feat.
It capped a thrilling night of darts action that saw two nine-darters thrown in the same evening for the first time in Premier League history.
Both players have now earned a special prize from tournament sponsor BetMGM – 18ct solid gold darts worth £30,000 each.
The unique reward was announced ahead of the season, with every player who throws a nine-darter receiving a set of gold darts.
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Nathan Aspinall put on a fine display to beat Rob Cross and set up a Premier League Night 5 final against Luke Littler
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“This is a great initiative by BetMGM which adds even more interest to what is already a fantastically entertaining tournament,” said PDC Head of Media, Dave Allen.
UK Director at BetMGM, Sam Behar, added: “For every perfect leg hit in this year’s tournament we’ll be giving a player a set of 18ct solid gold darts, worth £30,000, as our way of congratulating them.”
There is no limit to the number of gold dart sets that can be won throughout the season.