Sherrock shattered a host of darting records in her run to the Grand Slam quarter-finals, prompting calls for 'The Queen of the Palace' to be included in next year's Premier League
Tuesday 23 November 2021 16:09, UK
Fallon Sherrock is the most prominent player in world darts right now according to former world No 1 Colin Lloyd, who admits he would like to see 'The Queen of the Palace' included in next year's Premier League.
Sherrock took the Grand Slam of Darts by storm on her Wolverhampton debut, writing another glittering chapter in her developing darting story by becoming the first woman to reach a major PDC ranking quarter-final.
She also recorded the highest televised average [101.55] by a female player in her 5-0 whitewash win over Mike De Decker, before converting a spectacular 170 checkout to topple Gabriel Clemens and advance from her group in fairytale fashion.
The 27-year-old claimed a second big-stage win over Mensur Suljovic in the last 16, before succumbing to Peter Wright 16-13 in an epic quarter-final tussle, despite averaging 98.9 and firing in eight 180s.
Wright claimed that Sherrock 'deserved' a place in the sport's biggest roadshow after prevailing in their last eight epic, and two-time PDC major winner Lloyd believes it would be a huge moment for the sport.
"There are always going to be people talking about her not having a Tour card, does she deserve a place in their Premier League," Lloyd told the Darts Show podcast.
"Let's get the facts right, the most talked about dart player on this planet at this moment in time…it's Fallon Sherrock.
"The darting fans aren't going to like this - it's not MVG; Gezzy is up there because he's actually won the event, but I think the most talked about player at this moment in time is Fallon.
"What people have got to understand is the Premier League is a show. It's a show that travels all around the United Kingdom; it goes to Dublin, it goes to Berlin and it goes to Rotterdam.
"It's not a ranked event, it's about showing the world, the game of darts. For me at this moment in time, why not put her in?
"That's my opinion. Now if anybody wants to come back at me with that, go right ahead with it. But it is a show."
The darting world were aware of the threat posed by Sherrock over the shorter distance, but her quarter-final showdown against Wright was unchartered territory over an elongated format.
"There's no argument against it in terms of the competition and the quality of matches. No one is going to do for the game what Fallon is doing right now, not even close. It is a hard decision sometimes to make the right decision, but it needs to be made."
However, Sherrock performed magnificently, averaging over 100 for large periods, and it took a superb performance from the world No 2 to progress.
"I know there's going to be a few players out there thinking on themselves and chucking their hat into the ring for this, but it's all about timing I think, and she played fantastically well," Lloyd added.
"One of the things we were worried about was going into a game that was best of 31 - we've seen her perform in a short distance. I said the longer format will be where Peter Wright comes into his own.
"He won the game, but he certainly didn't dominate the game. Fallon was throwing that well and consistently well throughout the whole match, she has proved that she can compete in a longer format, a short format.
"The PDC have set a precedent saying you need a Tour Card to go in the Premier League. Whether they go back on that, who knows? She's put herself in the mix. There's a World Championship to be played and that generally dictates the Premier League line-up, but a good tournament there and she's definitely in the equation.
"She just goes up and plays darts and when she's on, she is on. She was just a joy to watch.
"She is not fazed by anything. If she missed - it was a little bit of a smile, and then she'd tell herself off and it should come back and when she addressed the oche again, she was focused.
"I liked it and sure, why not give it a go in the Premier League? Why not?"
It's not long to wait until the darts returns to your screens and it's the World Darts Championship at Alexandra Palace - join us on Sky Sports for every arrow from every session across 16 days which gets under way on Wednesday, December 15.
