In the latest edition of his 'Stat of the Week' column, PDC Stats Analyst Christopher Kempf focuses on the percentage of legs won in 18 darts or fewer on the PDC Women's Series.
The stat: Percentage of legs won in 18 darts or fewer.
The parameters: 2023 and 2024 Women's Series events.
The caveats: Percentage is calculated against the total number of legs in which a player could actually have thrown an 18-darter; e.g. if the player's opponent wins a leg in 12 darts, we can't know if the player would have finished after 18 darts, and so it doesn't count against her.
Who is the best female player in world darts? That question is more difficult to answer than the past record of titles won on the Women's Series might indicate, and could be changing significantly in 2024.
Doubles, 180s and averages are all compelling information in their own right and, like seeing individual facets of a crystal, reveal important information about a player's skill, but they don't necessarily reveal anything about a player's ability to win legs against opponents.
To get a full three-dimensional picture of a player, we need to consider whether that player can get a leg won before control of the board turns over to her opponent.
In the women's game, the most important determinant of success is whether a player can finish by the end of her sixth visit - it correlates more strongly with winning matches than any other statistic in popular circulation.
Across 28 Women's Series events from 2023 to the present, only two players win legs in 18 darts more than 50% of the time - Beau Greaves and Fallon Sherrock.
It is no surprise that these two women are responsible for winning 19 of the 28 titles on offer. In fact, 20% of all legs won in 18 darts or fewer were won by one of these two - a level of dominance unknown in any other PDC tour.
With Greaves on 60% and Sherrock on 58%, it's a close call as to who is the leading player in women's darts, with former Women's World Champions Lisa Ashton and Mikuru Suzuki some distance behind.
What of the direct head-to-head record between these two dominant forces? In 2023, Greaves won seven of 10 meetings, and in those seven wins won 74% of her legs in 18 darts or fewer.
However, that tide appears to have turned in 2024, as Sherrock has bested Greaves twice in the first brace of Women's Series events.
Sherrock's 66% rate of legs won by the end of the sixth visit now surpasses Greaves' 55% for the four events held in 2024. So it seems that Greaves will have one substantial obstacle in her way if she is hoping to extend her 2023 dominance this year.
In third place for 2024 is rising star Noa-Lynn van Leuven, who in 2024 has won 45% of her legs in 18 darts or fewer - this now exceeds the percentages recorded by veteran female players Ashton, Suzuki, Deta Hedman and her fellow Dutchwoman Aileen de Graaf.
With a Challenge Tour title in her trophy cabinet and stats in her favour for any tie with any player on the tour (bar two), the Greaves-Sherrock rivalry may soon have to make way for another marquee match-up.
Follow Christopher on Twitter @ochepedia