"I wouldn’t dare play crap – I’d get a right bollocking": Adrian Lewis on how Littler & Humphries can follow in his and Phil Taylor’s World Cup footsteps

Adrian Lewis has offered a firm defence of England’s Luke Littler and Luke Humphries following their early World Cup of Darts exit — and says they’ll need time, and a little graft, to emulate the kind of team success he enjoyed alongside Phil Taylor.

“Sometimes I was rubbish in the pairs, and Phil would pull me through. Other times he wasn’t so good, and I pulled him through,” Lewis recalled to the Express via The Escapist. “That’s what you need to be a team. I wouldn’t dare play crap – otherwise I’d get a right bollocking!”

It’s a characteristically honest assessment from the two-time world champion, who knows the unique pressures of World Cup pairs better than most. Between 2012 and 2016, Lewis and Taylor formed the most successful partnership in the tournament’s history, winning four titles for England.

That legacy puts him in a prime position to assess England’s new-look duo — and he’s not rushing to judgement after their 8–4 first-round defeat to Germany’s Martin Schindler and Ricardo Pietreczko.

“They didn’t seem to click, did they?” Lewis said. “They didn’t seem to get into the right rhythm. But it was always going to be a tough ask against Germany, in Germany, with the crowd against them as well. Obviously it was Luke’s [Littler] first time there, and I think it was only the second time for Luke Humphries. They just haven’t got the experience yet in that field.”

The defeat cut short what had been an eagerly anticipated run for the English pair, who came into the event as many bookmakers’ favourites. Littler, just 17, is arguably the most exciting young talent in darts in decades, while world number one Humphries arrived off the back of a dominant stretch of form.

Even so, Lewis believes experience — rather than chemistry or attitude — is the key missing ingredient. “Next year, now they’ve had that experience together, it can only make them stronger,” he said. “They’ve got all the tools — it’s just about learning how to use them as a pair. You don’t win this thing on paper. You win it in the trenches, together.”

For England, the lessons are clear. Talent alone doesn’t secure trophies in the World Cup format — it’s about rhythm, trust, and the ability to dig deep when your partner needs you.

Lewis believes Littler and Humphries have the potential to get there — but warns that chemistry takes time to build. “Me and Phil didn’t just walk into it and click overnight. It took time. These two will get there — but they’ve got to learn how to carry each other through the rough patches. That’s what makes a winning team.”