Luke Littler, 16, WINS his World Championship semi-final to move one victory from glory after beating 2018 champion Rob Cross 6-2 with an incredible display… as he guarantees himself a £200,000 payday!

Luke Littler, finalist of the World Darts Championship on his debut at the age of 16.

We are now firmly in fairytale territory and on Wednesday evening this Warrington phenomenon will look for the perfect ending to the sporting story that has captured the imagination across the country.

In the Great Hall of Alexandra Palace, the queue for the kebab van stretched further than any other. No surprise there. Such is the popularity of Littler – the teen prodigy fueled by fearlessness and döner meat – that the burger vans and burrito kiosks never had a chance.

Littler is now hungry for more than his signature festive takeaway. On Tuesday evening he secured a 6-2 victory over Rob Cross, the only former winner of this tournament to reach these all-English semi-finals.

With an average of 106, Littler is now one win away from immortalizing himself as the sport's youngest-ever world champion.

The 16-year-old overcame an early wobble to put in an incredible performance

Littler will play Scott Williams or Luke Humphries in tomorrow's final

One Sid Waddell Trophy win. One £500,000 win. One win of free kebab for life, as promised by the PR agency, which may regret that proposal.

One win to confirm himself as the front-runner for the BBC Sports Personality of the Year for 2024 and we're just a handful of days into January.

Littler already has a guaranteed £200,000, but he longs for more than just money. He wants to make history.

Phil Taylor was 29 years old when he won the first of his 16 world titles. Michael van Gerwen was 24. Raymond van Barneveld, 30. Eric Bristow, 22. Cross, nicknamed 'Voltage' in a nod to his former job as an electrician, was 27 when he triumphed at Ally Pally in 2018.

Whatever happened here, Littler had already exceeded expectations. You only had to study Sky Sports' ratings to understand his remarkable rise to fame.

An audience of 1.4 million tuned in to see him beat Brendan Dolan on New Year's Day – a figure surpassed only by the 1.7 million people who watched Gary Anderson beat Taylor in the 2015 final.

As Littler walked on stage to Greenlight by Pitbull – surrounded by thousands of well-wishers whose thirst was quenched by £29 four-pint jugs of Amstel – there was a hug for 'Wolfie'.

Not Martin Adams, the three-time world champion with that nickname, but the mascot of rugby league club Warrington Wolves who surprised him yesterday with a visit.

There was also a kiss for his mother, Lisa, who looked more nervous than her son as he called for noise from a 3,500-strong crowd sprinkled with nuns, lobsters and crayons. They responded with their usual repertoire of chants, including: “You have school tomorrow morning.”

Cross won the first set, but had no answer for the 16-year-old on Tuesday evening

Littler lost the first set and was on the verge of losing the second, but immediately recovered and showed the game management of a veteran

Littler's original goal was to win at least one match at this stage. Five wins later, including that humiliation of Van Barneveld, he was here as the bookmakers' favorite to reach the final.

Still, Cross could not be underestimated. He produced the comeback of comebacks to set up this showdown, beating Chris Dobey 5-4 after trailing 4-0 in his last outing.

His throw doesn't look as natural as Littler's, but he averaged over 100 against Dobey and had hit 49 percent of his doubles as one of the best players in this tournament.

Cross took the first set with an average of 109 and cast a few smug looks offstage.

The 33-year-old from Pembury was perhaps annoyed going into this semi-final for two reasons: first, that he was the former world champion who was announced as second favorite for a rookie, and second, that attention had been focused on Littler in the build-up instead of him.

Cross, the 2018 world champion, shared a word with Littler at the end of their match

Cross had the chance to secure the second set, but missed the bullseye when Littler leveled the score at 1-1. With a single throw on his favorite double 10, Littler took the third set for a 2-1 lead. Suddenly it was the teenager who was in charge of this clash.

At 2-2 in the fourth set, Cross produced six perfect darts, leaving him with a 141 finish. Yet there would be no nine-darter on this occasion. Instead, Littler took a 3-1 lead with an 11-darter.

There was frustration from Littler as Cross made it 3-2. Unlike others, Littler does not leave the Ally Pally stage during commercial breaks. He continues to practice on it and stormed to a 5-2 lead with an average of 105 when Cross returned.

When he knocked out 132 early in the eighth set, you suspected even Cross would have trouble coming back from this, as the crowd chanted, “There's only one Luke Littler.”

With a dart on double 10, Littler confirmed it: a finalist in his very first affair with Ally Pally. School in the morning? No chance. Bank, moreover, to cash his £500,000 check if he can win the final on Wednesday night.