Havenga, a 41-year-old finance manager from Cape Town, had shown himself to be a character in his opening victory over Steve Maish on Monday, celebrating extravagantly when he hit a maximum score of 180 or won a leg.

That sort of behaviour was never likely to go down well with Manley, who also clearly took exception to the Springbok’s tendency to take his time retrieving his darts from the board.

On one such occasion the 44-year-old Cumbria-based player could be seen telling his opponent to “get out of the way” as he was ready to throw, with Havenga dawdling back from the board.

Then the world number seven decided to give Havenga a taste of his own medicine, pulling out his darts one by one in order to delay the turn of the South African Masters champion.

It revived memories of when Manley became embroiled in a war of words with Adrian Lewis at the Circus Tavern last year, with Phil Taylor’s protégé temporarily walking off stage in protest.

Manley also refused to shake Taylor’s hand after losing 7-0 to the 13-time champion in the 2002 final.

But it was a sign of how Havenga’s good play had disturbed ‘One Dart’, who lost the first three sets before pulling back to 3-3 as the needle between the duo seemed to inspire him.

Havenga would not be ruffled though, and regained his poise just when it appeared Manley was set to complete the best comeback of the tournament as he ousted the highest seed to fall so far.

“When I was 3-0 up I thought I was going to kick his butt,” said Havenga, who will meet Adrian Gray or Darren Webster in the third round next week.

“He came back strongly but I still knew I could take him. My mindset was right.”

Earlier, Lewis also thwarted a superb fightback, from Wayne Jones, to win another exhilarating second round match.

The 21-year-old from Stoke produced a performance of which his mentor Taylor would surely have been proud as he triumphed 4-3 with the help of 13 maximum scores of 180.

Next opponent for Lewis on December 28 will be either Andy Jenkins or Andy ‘Pieman’ Smith, and the youngster feels he can improve despite the devastating standard he achieved at times today.

“My 180 scoring was good but my scoring generally was a bit patchy – they were all on the wires and not in the trebles,” said Lewis. “But I can rectify that by getting back on the practice board.”

Terry Jenkins resisted a comeback from Steve Beaton to prevail 4-3 in what was almost a replica of the Lewis-Jones match but without the fireworks.

“I went 2-0 up but then the doubles just wouldn’t go in for me,” said sixth seed Jenkins, runner-up in the last televised tournament, the Skybet World Grand Prix in Dublin.

“I lost my way a bit and let it get to me, but I held my own in the end.

“I knew I had to play well because Steve has been coming back to his old form and his finishing is brilliant.”

Rico Vonck, a 19-year-old from Holland, set up a possible third round clash with compatriot Raymond van Barneveld courtesy of a 4-2 victory against Cnadian champion Brian Cyr.