Blink and you’ll miss it – ‘Champagne’ Charlie Manby and ‘Rapid’ Ricky Evans are set to light up Alexandra Palace on Monday afternoon when two of the fastest players on planet darts clash in a match you won’t want to miss!
Wonderkid Manby made an Alexandra Palace reception to remember after edging Cameron Menzies 3-2 to announce his arrival on the Worlds stage.
He followed it up with a 3-0 demolition job against American Adam Sevada with a 90.88 average, 47 per cent checkout with 114 and 100 checkouts.
Manby will pocket at least £35,000 from his appearance at the event, and could make even more if he can stun Evans in the next round.
He was the talk of darts when the Yorkshire slinger threw just 47 darts, racking up a staggering 130.70 average on the Winmau Development Tour in February.
It was the best in the tour’s history, obliterating reigning world champion and good friend Luke Littler’s record of 115.22, but fame quickly left the 20-year-old flummoxed.
“I think when you have that sort of stat to your name, you’ve got a bit of a target on your back and people have that extra fight in them when they’re playing you to do well and beat you,” admitted Manby, who warmed up for Alexandra Palace by winning the MODUS Super Series.
“I think my confidence dropped a bit after that so it was just finding your confidence where it needs to be and I think I managed to do that quite sharpish.
“People are playing their A-game against you all the time because they just want to beat you. It was just confidence, where I think it just dropped off a bit, but I built my way back up.
“Littler also has a target on his back, but he seems to relish it. People are different, aren’t they? Everyone’s different in darts. Nobody’s the same.”
Manby’s mettle did return as he emerged through a 278-player field – including Beau Greaves and Tour Card holder Owen Bates in a last-leg decider – to clinch his maiden Development Tour title in September.
A month later and Manby went toe-to-toe with Littler in arguably one of the greatest games in World Youth Championship history. He came within millimetres from stunning the Warrington teenager in a memorable encounter, missing two darts to win the match, including the bull on a 130 attempt.
Manby’s big breakthrough
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Cameron Menzies furiously smashed the water table with his fist after suffering a dramatic 3-2 defeat to Manby
He headed to north London and the bright lights of Ally Pally with his form, confidence and reputation on the rise as he prepared to face Scottish star Cameron Menzies in the opening round – not an easy contest in the race to three sets – but one Manby was relishing on the big stage.
Manby announced himself to the world by defeating Menzies in a five-set epic – battling from 1-0 and 2-1 down, averaging 90.62 with five 180s – after which he declared it was “the greatest thing I’ve ever done in darts!”
He later added: “It’s a bit overwhelming, but it felt amazing up there!”
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The end of James Wade’s dramatic clash with Ricky Evans at the Worlds
His victory against Arizonan Sevada was equally as impressive, and now Manby has to win two more games to earn a Tour Card without going to Q-School.
“I’m absolutely buzzing,” Manby said in his Sky Sports interview after beating Sevada. “It wasn’t the greatest, not my A-game, but it was good enough. I just want to play my own game and I think I did that pretty well, [but] I need to play my A-game against Ricky.”
Humble beginnings for young Manby
A bricklayer by trade, Manby works for a construction company in his native Huddersfield and is on the books of Zeal Sports. His talent was first spotted at his local working men’s club, with his first tournament coming at just 12 years of age as he began to lay down foundations for a future in the sport.
Manby went on to play for Bradford Darts Youth, beating fellow talent Maison Wilson, who became under-18s Yorkshire Youth Classic Champion at 12.
“Everyone sort of looked at me and said ‘I’ve never seen him, who’s he’? And that’s when I sort of realised, ‘yeah, I can play a bit’,” said Manby, who went on to play at the WDF Youth England Grand Prix before heading to the JDC circuit and then the Development Tour at the age of 16.
“The Dev Tour it’s definitely the place to be as you’re starting off as a young player because you find out where your level is at and then you just work on that and progress and progress.”
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Take a look at some of Evans’ best and funniest moments at the world championship
‘Consistency is the hardest part of the game’
Manby is full of admiration for world No 1 and reigning world champion Luke Littler
It was all about finding consistency with Manby, who planned on putting in the hard yards in order to take some of the limelight away from Littler at Alexandra Palace – he’s certainly done that!
“I think finding that level of consistency is the hardest part of getting there,” he said. “I think if Luke needs to hit a 12-darter to break through, he will hit a 12-darter – it’s as simple as that! He can just switch it on like that and just kill players off. There is a bit of natural ability but he’s done all the hard work.”
But can Manby reach the same heights as world No 1 Littler? “Luke [Littler] is number one in the world, I get that. People see him completely differently to how I see him.
“I’ve grown up with Luke; I played for England with him and going through all the JDC England events growing up as a really good mate.
“We have a good relationship and it does feel good because obviously he’s done what he’s done for the game, and I think it’s great.”
“It’s good knowing that he knows where I’m at and acknowledges it. And how good of a player I am.”
Manby goes by the moniker ‘Champagne Charlie’ but it’s not a salute to former Arsenal forward Charlie Nicholas. It is in fact the brainchild of Chris Coles – the manager at his local football club.
“He said, ‘Oh, Champagne Charlie sounds mint. Walk on to ‘Champagne Supernova’ and everything! So it just sort of started from there really.”
Kettering ace Evans will be a whole different animal with his Madonna’s “Like A Prayer” walk-on song back for what could be a helter-skelter ride of 180s and huge checkouts – a simply unmissable encounter!
Who will win the Paddy Power World Darts Championship? Watch every match exclusively live all the way through until January 3 on Sky Sports’ dedicated darts channel (Sky channel 407 from December 10). Stream darts and more top sport with NOW.
