Luke Littler and Luke Humphries ‘buckled under the pressure’ in surprise World Cup loss | Other | Sport

Sky Sports pundit Wayne Mardle accused the England team of Luke Littler and Luke Humphries of failing to handle the pressure after they suffered a shock defeat at the World Cup of Darts. The pre-tournament favourites were stunned 8-4 by the Germany pairing of Martin Schindler and Ricardo Pietreczko after appearing rattled by a partisan home crowd.

The defeat could have been worse had the world’s two best players not won two legs from 7-4 down. Despite outscoring their opponents 5-1 in 180s, England’s finishing left much to be desired. Littler and Humphries achieved just a 36 per cent checkout ratio, while the hosts managed 62 per cent.

Afterwards, Mardle admitted he found the result “astonishing” and “astounding”. The pundit praised the displays of Schindler and Pietreczko, and claimed the weight of expectation got to both the reigning world and Premier League champions.

“They didn’t buckle (Germany), they didn’t wilt,” said Mardle. “Luke and Luke were no doubt feeling the stresses and strains of being massive favourites. To go on about how good Phil Taylor and Adrian Lewis were, they made it look easy.

“But that’s how difficult World Cup pairings can be. The pressure got to them at some point and they buckled. Their opponents didn’t. Full credit to Martin and Ricardo.”

‘Hawaii 501’ also said that both English players had struggled to adapt to not playing an individual format, despite ‘Cool Hand Luke’ winning the title in 2024. He added: “Playing for your country is different than playing for yourself. Playing with a team-mate is different to playing for yourself.

“The rhythm that you get in is different. Luke Humphries won it last year with Michael Smith I thought it would give him more confidence. But when you’re under pressure you’re under pressure, you can’t just think, ‘I’ve been here before, it’s fine.’ If you’re feeling it, you’re feeling it.”

Germany will now play Australia in the last eight on Sunday, and Mardle backed the home team to go all the way, adding:”If they do that again, they’re going to be tough to beat. What Ricardo and Martin have shown themselves, they can do it against the two best players in the world.”