"People out there who are not convinced that Luke and Luke are going to dominate" - England pairing again under scrutiny as pressure ramps up

Luke Littler and Luke Humphries will again team up to represent England at the upcoming World Cup of Darts. The duo are looking to overcome the sheer disappointment of last year as they hope to secure another World Cup title for England.

The world number one and two came into the tournament last year under all sorts of pressure to deliver. They were by far and away the best two players in the world and touted by many to breeze over the finishing line.

That would not happen. In the second round, Germany caused a seismic upset as they dumped put the favourites 8-4, with Martin Schindler and Ricardo Pietreczko giving the home crowd something to cheer about.

This year is no different. Still the favourites with a lot of expectation, they are helped with uncertainties over other nations as well as weaker teams like Wales with no Gerwyn Price. They have their eyes on the prize and will be determined to this time get over the line in Frankfurt.

According to Paul Nicholson, who represented Australia before the World Cup, he believes that England will not be disposed of at an early stage this time around. "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 Love The Darts podcast. "That fact is, this is a different discipline and I like that fact Litter hasn't won this because it reinforces the appetite to get something that he doesn't have."

Humphries clinched glory alongside Michael Smith back in 2024 whereas Littler made his debut last year. It is one of the only major tournaments he has not won yet along with the European Championship, something that he is determined to correct.

"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?'," Nicholson continued. "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 a lot of talk from other players how the pair did not spend much time together away from the oche. This was due to their different routines with Humphries more than happy to let the world number one do his thing.

This continued on the oche with the pair not finding the best form together. Whether that is something which has changed or not is yet to be seen, albeit Chris Murphy believes there will be significant improvement.

"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 his colleague. "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."