Often with England since the heady days of Phil Taylor and Adrian Lewis, the problem has been that teams have been merely singles stars rather than a duo that can gel in pairs at the World Cup of Darts. But it seems like they may finally have that with Luke Humphries and Michael Smith.
The pairing really clicked into gear during an emphatic win over Northern Ireland duo Josh Rock and Brendan Dolan on Sunday afternoon 8-4 to reach the semi-finals where they will play one final match before a potential title showdown. The favourites for the title and top seeds, will the barren run since Taylor and Lewis finally end.
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It was a high quality start to the tie in Frankfurt. Smith converted a 68 checkout on double 20 to give the side an early 2-1 advantage against the fired up Northern Irish pairing.
Before VAR in darts made an appearance to see whether Humphries' dart actually went into the board and it didn't with an 80 score. But that didn't dampen their spirits as Humphries and Smith were egging on the crowd and pointing at their England badges with pride. Sat at 3-2, Humphries started to lead from the front.
The World No.1 and World Champion pinned 130 to go 4-2 up after a Smith maximum. Also after a Rock maximum which saw the debutant do the Brendan Dolan helicopter celebration, only to get a huge roar from 'Cool Hand Luke' as he fired his country further into the lead. He added to that again with a beautiful 140 gambit to go 5-2 up with a 98 average. Where they stayed also for the rest of the tie. Rock used a double double 91 to make it 6-3. But their race was soon run after a superb display of finishing from England.
Smith missed 101 for the match on double 16, but Humphries was back to seal the win and send them through. A team really hitting top form on the final day.
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