Luke Littler and Luke Humphries will again team up to represent England at the upcoming World Cup of Darts, aiming to overcome the disappointment of last year when they were dumped out in the second round by Germany 8-4. The world number one and two were heavy favourites but fell to Martin Schindler and Ricardo Pietreczko in a seismic upset. This year, they remain the favourites, helped by uncertainties over other nations and weaker teams like Wales without Gerwyn Price.
According to Paul Nicholson, who represented Australia before the World Cup, he believes England will not be disposed of early this time. “I don't think they go out early like they did last year, but I don't think they win it at a canter,” he said on the Love The Darts podcast. “That fact is, this is a different discipline and I like that fact Littler hasn't won this because it reinforces the appetite to get something that he doesn't have.” Humphries clinched glory alongside Michael Smith in 2024, while Littler made his debut last year. The World Cup is one of the only major tournaments Littler has not won, along with the European Championship.
Nicholson added: “Humphries has already got it so he knows how to get it and until these two win this World Cup there are going to be people on their backs saying, 'you haven't won that, have you?' And that could be part of the banter in the practice room with Josh Rock and Daryl Gurney. 'We've won this and you haven't!' It will be an interesting backroom chat that they will be having against each other. The narrative coming into this tournament hasn't been about them. It's been about Wales not being at full strength and it's about other teams possibly going all the way. Twelve months on there are people out there who are not convinced that Luke and Luke are going to be a team that are going to dominate this thing.”
There was talk last year that the pair did not spend much time together away from the oche due to different routines, and they did not find the best form together. Chris Murphy believes there will be significant improvement this time. “Littler admitted they didn't bond on stage last year but I do think they've learnt from that,” he stated. “They're already talking about it, they're effectively becoming a team before the tournament starts is showing they've drawn on that experience. They won't want to go through that again and I think they will be much stronger.” He agreed with Nicholson: “I don't see them going out early this time. I don't think they'll suffer an early exit, but I don't think missing the two games in the group helps any of these seeds.”
