England claimed the 2024 World Cup of Darts title on Sunday night in Frankfurt, Germany. Although Michael Smith and Luke Humphries saw off the challenge of Austria in the final, it was their semi-final opponents who'd clearly been on BullyBoy's mind.
Ahead of the England vs Scotland semi-final, a confident Peter Wright proclaimed that he and Gary Anderson were "gonna smash up England!" Sadly for the Scots, that wasn't quite how things panned out, as Smith and Humphries ran out relatively comfortable 8-4 winners to reach the final, before then dispatching Austrian duo Rowby-John Rodriguez and Mensur Suljovic to take the title.
These on stage words from Wright weren't the only piece of attempted mind games either. "Before the semi-final, when was it? The quarters. Peter Wright walks past, asking Luke how his shoulder was," Smith recalls in England's victorious post-tournament press conference. "The guy's just averaged 78 and he's tried giving me shit?!"
"I was like 'what are you doing?' and then had an argument, or not an argument, but a bit of banter back stage," the former world champion and world number one continues with a gleeful smile. "That guy should have some strong shoulders because he's been holding the Premier League up for two years."
In fact, rather than putting off the English duo, Wright's words inspired Smith to perform out of his skin. "He annoyed me today and I think that spurred me on in that semi-final," Smith explains, keen to make Wright pay for his mind game attempts. "I've never gave it that large ever. I needed to get that out because it really annoyed me!"
In taking the World Cup of Darts title, Smith and Humphries joined the illustrious company of Phil Taylor and Adrian Lewis and English World Cup of Darts winners, ending a long wait for more English glory at the event.
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