27/06/2024

Phil Taylor says Luke Littler's World Cup of Darts time will come after pick questioning despite clear qualification criteria

The World Cup of Darts will begin for another edition in Frankfurt this evening and Phil Taylor has marvelled at the lack of success for England as well as weighing in on Luke Littler not playing.

Luke Littler has been subject to a lot of clickbait articles and conjecture surrounding him not playing at the 2024 World Cup of Darts. This is despite Littler not being even close to qualifying. Been ranked inside the top 25, it is the top two of every country which qualify so he wouldn't have been in the reckoning no matter what.

But still being the hottest property in darts, it has led to many questioning why he is not there despite clear qualification criteria. A point no doubt which will come up again when the action begins on Thursday. The message is clear, his time will come.

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Luke Humphries and Michael Smith will anchor a strong England side this time around aiming to win the title for the first time since 2016 when Taylor and Adrian Lewis defeated Dutch pairing, Raymond van Barneveld and Michael van Gerwen for the title. The closest they got was a 3-0 rout against Wales in the 2020 final.

“I’m surprised we haven’t won it since Adrian and I were England’s double act," said Taylor as per The Mirror.

‌“I always loved playing at the World Cup because on the PDC circuit it’s every man for himself and last man standing takes home the loot. But this is a chance to represent your country, and a lot of people don’t realise how much it means to stand top there in an England shirt.‌

“It used to bring out the patriot in me and it was always great fun playing with Aidy. Maybe it was partly because we come from the same city, Stoke-on-Trent, that we got along so well, but in 2013 even we couldn’t match the Belgians for team spirit even if we beat them 3-1 in the final — because their team was from the same family, Kim and Ronny Huybrechts.

“But it’s a good format, singles and doubles, and I loved playing for England. Don’t worry about Luke - his time will come to play at the World Cup. People forget it’s only his first season as a professional.”