"It's not about proving people wrong, it's about proving ourselves right": England pairing Humphries and Littler finally live up to World Cup favourite tag

Expectations were sky-high, the pressure immense. But whereas last year there were still doubts about their partnership, this weekend Luke Littler and Luke Humphries proved why they are currently the two best darts players in the world. With an impressive victory in the final of the World Cup of Darts, they secured England a record-breaking sixth world title in the nations’ tournament.

Afterwards, pride was the overriding emotion for both players. Not just because of the title, but above all because of the way it was achieved. Under immense pressure, following a nerve-wracking semi-final against Wales and a dominant final, Littler and Humphries showed that, as a team, they form an almost unbeatable combination at the World Cup.

"It feels amazing. Like Luke has said and I've said plenty of times, we've played together, we've won as a team, and we dug deep," said Littler after the final to DartsNews.com among others.

"Afternoon sessions are always the hardest, whether we're playing together or against each other. Wales played their part, but as soon as we got into the evening session, that's when we both played our best. That second session was unbelievable from both of us."

Averaging around 111 in that session, Humphries said that it wasn't shock that they averaged what they did, it was more thinking they could've done more and that he was proud of the fact that they proved the doubters wrong who said they couldn't do it as a team.

"To be honest, I don't think we played in a way that we're not capable of. We just played the standard we know we can play at. It was about getting through that first game yesterday because there was so much pressure on us. Last year we lost our first game and people were saying we couldn't play together, couldn't win together and weren't a team.

"It was hard because we are a team – we just had one bad game. We managed to get through a tough match yesterday and another tough game against Wales. Me and Luke keep saying we hate afternoon sessions. We get up late! We knew if we got through Wales, we'd come alive in the evening. We both do. I'm really proud of how we played against Scotland and Wales. Michael van Gerwen was in great form, hitting huge scores and putting us under pressure, but we didn't relent. We kept going, hit some big finishes and Luke produced some massive scores. When we put it all together, we're a difficult team to beat."

But while there is this touch of proving people wrong, Humphries said it wasn't at the forefront and that it was more proving to themselves what they knew about what they could achieve. "Not really. We're here for ourselves, we're here as a team, we're here to make our families proud and represent England. It's not about proving people wrong. It's about proving ourselves right. We know how good we are and how good we can be as a team.

"A lot of people doubted us, but we wanted to prove to ourselves that we could do what we believed we could do. Tonight we showed that with some great scoring and finishing. This was a special win. We really wanted this one."

Given the football World Cup is now on, Humphries was asked if they could do the double and he joked that he didn't think they would be the inspiration for it to happen. "I don't think they'll be watching us thinking we're the inspiration, to be fair! But if it gives them five per cent, happy days.

"They've got a great chance. England aren't favourites for the football World Cup, whereas we were favourites here and we did our job. It would be great to see England do the double. We've done our part and we'd love to see them do theirs. It'll be tough because there are so many great nations involved, but we'll be backing them all the way."

As someone who often doesn't appear in Germany due to crowd reaction towards him, Littler though is very much dedicated to returning and for the long haul too. "One hundred per cent. There's no point winning it and not coming back. I think that first game against Spain really nailed it for us. We know we can score, finish and win together. We'll be back next year and hopefully for the next ten years."

Humphries too but he is of his own admission that a year is a long time in darts and he never knows what the future holds. "We've said on stage that Phil Taylor and Adrian Lewis are two of the greatest English players ever.

"We'd be blessed and fortunate to follow in their footsteps and maybe match their four World Cup titles. There's no guarantee in darts that I'll be back every year because things can happen, but I hope I am for the next five to ten years. Hopefully we can win more than just one – hopefully we can win loads."

As both players who win many titles on their own, Littler honed in on what it means compared to other major titles. "The main thing is working together. Before the game against Spain, we talked about what doubles we fancied and how we wanted to set shots up.

"There were times when Luke didn't go for big checkouts like 167 or 164 because we'd left ourselves time and he trusted me to finish. That's why we're so good together. We don't always need to go for the big finish if we fancy our team-mate to hit the double. We put in some big performances throughout the tournament and I'm very happy."

While for Humphries, it is continued great form and while under his own admission that he could've won more, he admitted that it is the confidence booster he for sure needed.

"My brother texted me earlier and reminded me this was my eighth final in a row. With the Premier League nights, the Premier League final, Copenhagen, the World Cup and ProTour events, maybe I could have won more than I did.

"But it was important for me to come here and win on the big stage. I was disappointed with myself last week for not beating Michael van Gerwen, but I told myself it was up to me to push Luke, work hard and help us win this title.

"It's great for me personally, but this is a team event. It's not about me, it's about us. We're going to have some great battles over the next six months at the Matchplay, Grand Prix, European Championship and World Championship. We get on really well off stage, but we both want to win everything.

"Luke's winning a lot of it at the moment and I'm just trying to nick one here and there! We're pushing the standard of the game as high as we can and it's up to everyone else to try and catch us."

But asked if it's now a bad thing that he has been given the winning feeling again for their own personal ambitions, Littler said that it is a team effort and he doesn't think like that.

"It's good if he gets that winning feeling back, but from my side maybe not so good! But neither of us won this on our own. We won it as a team. We're going to be battling each other all year and for years to come. It's good for the sport. We've got two players who want to win everything, we push each other, and whoever wins, wins."