The Form Guide: De Decker on the rise following breakthrough title

Mike De Decker (Jonas Hunold/PDC Europe)

PDC Stats Analyst Christopher Kempf assesses the top ten PDC stars - based on their last 200 legs played following last week's Players Championship treble-header in Milton Keynes.

#1 Averages - Luke Humphries
#1 OChE - Luke Humphries
#1 Doubles - Stephen Bunting
#1 171-180 - Gary Anderson
#1 99, 101+ Checkout - Krzysztof Ratajski

PDC Form Guide

Further improvements to Luke Humphries' averages and winning efficiency have pushed him over a 100 average and an OChE rating of 65, but this did not result in a title for the world number one during last week's ProTour treble-header.

By a wide margin, Humphries is the most effective player in completing legs in five visits or fewer - no other player does so a majority of the time. 

However, the World Champion remains outside the top ten in doubles percentage; the occasional inaccuracy costs him a chance for another title, as it did last Thursday when 'Cool Hand' bust his score of 20 in the last leg of his semi-final against Ricky Evans. 

With such high overall statistics, Humphries remains the favourite against all PDC opponents, although he could yet become an even more intimidating opponent with just a few extra checkouts.

The best doubles hitter of the past 200 legs is Stephen Bunting - although even that achievement, coupled with top-ten ranks in averages and leg-winning efficiency - was not enough for Bunting to end his three-year ranking title drought in Milton Keynes.

An increase of 1.21 since the World Matchplay gives him an average of 97.17, ahead of former World Champions Rob Cross and Michael van Gerwen, and his 47% doubles accuracy is one of the highest yet seen in the Form Guide. 

Yet Bunting has a low OChE (ranked tenth) relative to his averages (sixth), suggesting that the Masters champion is struggling to translate those doubles into matches won.

Wessel Nijman - unlike Bunting - appeared in a final this past week, and has a very high OChE (third) relative to his averages (tenth) after a near seven-point increase relative to his last 200 legs after Players Championship 14. 

The Dutchman was more likely to throw a 100+ average in his 13 matches of the past week than not, and is the only player in the PDC to have won 100% of his last 200 legs in 21 darts or fewer (when given the opportunity to do so). 

Of the 128 Tour Card Holders, only Humphries and Ross Smith are playing at a pace that would win more legs against the average ProTour opponent. 

If you were to discount Luke Littler, Nijman's top-ten finish in this week's Form Guide would be the highest ranking for any player born in the 2000s.

Elsewhere, with a Players Championship title now on his CV, Mike De Decker has made his biggest move yet into the elite darting ranks.

Surpassing both members of the Belgian World Cup team, the 28-year-old from Mechelen is now the #4 form player in darts after an extraordinary week which saw him win 13 matches, each one with an average of at least 92. 

With a 97.62 average over his last 200 legs, De Decker is now a bigger favourite to win on the ProTour than Premier League champion Littler, in spite of the teenager winning his second Players Championship title on Wednesday.

De Decker - also a quarter-finalist in Players Championship 15 on Wednesday - is winning more than 60% of his legs against the average PDC opponent.

*OChE (Ordinal Checkout Efficiency) explained:
OChE is a metric designed to evaluate the efficiency at which players convert their averages into legs won.
The statistic is the % of legs a player would expect to win on the ProTour, calculated from a weighted average of 4,5, 6 & 7 visit checkout rates.

Follow Christopher on Twitter @ochepedia