It seems every darts fan these days loves a good stat. Personally, I’m not too fussed and treat them with the same contempt I do an over-zealous traffic warden hovering around a car park.

Ever since travelling down to Wembley as a kid for the 1988 FA Cup Final and watching my team, Liverpool, lose to Wimbledon, I’ve looked at stats with a sort of it’s all about what happens on the day attitude. Quite frankly, stats are nothing more than a guide.

Now, don’t get me wrong. They’re a bloody good guide. If you have a fella who’s been banging in ton-plus averages all year, chances are he’s going to beat some dude averaging in the 70s. But you never know.

With the Players Championship events being the PDC’s bread and butter – and given the fact we are now over halfway through the campaign – it’s a good place to gauge who’s chucking well and who’s throwing like Pete from the local after a skinful of Stella and some boisterous rather wasted encouragement.

Wins are generally the best guide. Not purely the number of victories, but the percentage. Triumphing in ten matches might look good, but not if you’re comparing that to over a million games. Then it looks pretty crap. Round about where I tend to hover in that department.

Best player on the tour this season has unsurprisingly been Luke Littler. We are now in June and he’s yet to lose a single game. Of course, we all know he hasn’t played any. So you can see how bafflingly ridiculous certain stats can be if not put into the correct context. He hasn’t won any either, for precisely the same reason.

So jokes aside. No real shock to see Wessel Nijman boasting the highest winning percentage, coming out on top in 84.5% of his contests. Yes, he’s missed two meetings, but it’s a big enough yardstick to measure his performances by. World number two Luke Humphries is the only other person in the 80s, although Cool Hand has only been present at seven events. Still, impressive, but you’d expect nothing less from a fella who could make Robin Hood look like Liverpool striker Cody Gakpo when it comes to aiming at things.

Gerwyn Price and Michael van Gerwen come next on the list. But like Humphries, they have been absent more often than a kid with an ASBO skipping school.

So I’m looking at Chris Dobey and Kevin Doets, who are right up there in the high 70s. Hollywood has been at all but one event. Hawkeye, the lot. And then there is cult favourite Andrew Gilding – also an ever-present – sitting right behind the Dutchman. Goldfinger just quietly goes about his work with the casual attitude you’d expect from someone listening to reggae music and enjoying a roll-up.

Onto the maximum count now. Whilst these aren’t guaranteed to win you legs, the heavier the scoring, the more time you have to faff around at the end trying to hit your doubles. If you happen to be great on the outer ring, happy days. You’re probably picking up silverware more often than a butler at Buckingham Palace.

Once again, Mr Nijman tops this chart. At the time of writing, he had rattled in 255 of those bad boys. Basically hitting 180s at the same rate Keir Starmer manages to piss people off in Britain. And we already know that, generally speaking, venue management hand the keys over to Wessel to lock up on his way out. Needless to say, Nijman is usually there at the end of the afternoon destroying dreams.

Only two other players have registered more than 200 maximums, and they are two already mentioned in Dobey and Doets. Again, not surprising when you look at their floor record this season. Both are normally hanging around at the business end like pigeons hoping you drop your sandwich.

It’s the exact same trio when it comes to the most ton-plus displays. All three are the only players on the circuit with more than twenty to their name. Nijman leads the pack with 28. Then come Hollywood and Hawkeye with 25 and 24 respectively. Naturally, this stat will be higher if you’ve played pretty much every event – or indeed the full lot. But still, there are many established names yet to bag one, notably Nathan Aspinall.

Now, let’s have a look at those who have so far endured a campaign worse than any assassinated world leader.

At the bottom of the pile when it comes to converting matches into wins is poor Pero Ljubic. He’s had ten throws of the dice and none of them have landed on a number yet. Bless him. Lovely fella, but it kind of makes you feel Big Boris Krcmar is going to have the mother of all World Cups if Croatia are going to do any damage.

Next comes Matthias Ehlers, who has played thirteen and won just one. The German appears so perturbed by that record, he hasn’t been arsed to show up for the last half a dozen events, thinking it’s cheaper to stay home and watch Darts Connect. And he’d be right. Unless you claim a victory, you don’t get a penny – or in his case, a cent. So when you factor in flights, accommodation, a packed lunch and a few pints, he’s down on money. Staying at home at least breaks even, unless he has a missus with a fondness for designer shoes.

Stefaan Henderyck and Rusty-Jake Rodriguez have only been absent for one double-header each this year. But across their eighteen events, they have managed just two wins apiece. For the Austrian, Rusty is quite the apt name right now. There is no doubting his talent, it just isn’t clicking for him yet this season. Perhaps the World Cup can give him a kick up the backside. Playing alongside Mensur must surely have some comedy appeal.

Lastly, let’s look at the other end of the ladder for 180 hitting. Amongst the tour card holders, only Ljubic and Maximilian Czerwinski are still in single figures, with seven and nine respectively. And it’s not like they haven’t had enough chances, both having attended at least half the events. Hey, perhaps they are 140 merchants or really love switching to the 19s with the third dart – who knows? Them, I guess. But as we know, Pero is yet to win a single game and his expense sheet for the year is probably higher than a British MP’s.

Power scoring isn’t the be-all and end-all when it comes to darts. But if the Croat wants to pick up a few quid on the Pro Tour circuit, one would think he’d need to start banging in a few maximums. After all, it can’t hurt.

In summary, hats off to Dobes, Doets and Wes – particularly the latter, who has won enough already this year to cure world poverty if he wishes. An incredibly kind gesture should the Dutchman choose, but the real bonus would be rendering Lenny Henry surplus to requirements. Now isn’t that a delightful and welcoming thought?