PDC Stats Analyst Christopher Kempf lists the top 30 players over their last 100 legs played...
After the events of last weekend, one could credibly claim that Rob Cross, Luke Humphries and Ryan Searle are the hottest players in darts at the moment, even though none of the three won a Players Championship in the second weekend of April.
Together with title winner Dirk van Duijvenbode, these players are the only ones to have averaged over 100 in their last 100 legs.
Peter Wright (97.79), Michael van Gerwen (97.92) and Gerwyn Price (92.44), the top three on the Order of Merit, trail well behind.
Searle leads the world in doubles accuracy, taking over from Damon Heta, who held that position for the past few weeks but whose recent losses to Searle, Wright, Gabriel Clemens and Andy Boulton saw him revert from 55% to 45% accuracy.
Searle also is one of five players with ten or more ton-plus checkouts in their last 100 legs.
In terms of efficiency (as measured by OChE), Humphries is the most likely player on current form to win on the ProTour - he has achieved the rare position of having attained an OChE rating of 67.68, meaning that he would win more than two out of every three legs played against the average ProTour player.
And it is Cross, the leading money earner of the ProTour this year among players who have not yet claimed a title, who currently leads the world with a 100.92 average - an increase of more than 6 points from one month ago.
Three German players are now inside the top 25 in terms of checkout efficiency, with Florian Hempel (24), Gabriel Clemens (14) and Martin Schindler (18) all increasingly making their mark on the ProTour.
Clemens' semi-final finish on Sunday contributed to his 96.67 average over his last 100 legs, putting him above 95 for the first time this year, and Schindler spent another week inside the top 16.
But it was Hempel with a breakthrough weekend, defeating both of his countrymen and showing the greatest improvement since last week - an increase in projected leg winning % of 18.3.
The Premier League players look increasingly vulnerable relative to the ProTour champions on their recent form; Jonny Clayton's OChE rating declined by 6.9 points, placing him 12th among Tour Card Holders; Price ranks 50th and Wright 8th, having suffered significant declines over the past week.
Only Michael Smith is showing an increasingly dangerous form, as evinced by his semifinal run this past weekend; his 47% accuracy on doubles now places him third among tour card holders. Cullen (2nd) and Wade (4th) also have put forward impressive finishing records, but have not translated them into legs won.
The return of the European Tour will make for a more limited update next week as most Tour Card Holders will be excluded; but it may settle the question of whether the Premier League stalwarts are really in decline when an important stage title is on the line.
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