'I watched Luke Littler and Luke Humphries closely - this is why they failed as teammates' - The Mirror

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Adrian Lewis believes a shortage of partnership experience proved costly for Luke Littler and Luke Humphries at this year's PDC World Cup of Darts. Despite Littler arriving as the reigning world champion and Humphries topping the PDC Order of Merit, darts supporters harboured no illusions that victory would come easily for the duo.

Yet few anticipated their first-round elimination following an 8-4 defeat to Martin Schindler and Ricardo Pietreczko, particularly considering Humphries' tournament pedigree after claiming last year's title alongside Michael Smith.

While numerous observers have offered explanations for the pair's early downfall, from the hostile home support jeering their entrance to the oche to a devastatingly on-form German partnership proving unstoppable, Gerwyn Price made the bold claim that Littler and Humphries lacked rapport.

Speaking to Darts Now, Price said: "When we all turned up - and I'm not just saying this because they lost - the only two players who didn't turn up together, didn't sit together, didn't play as a team...I'm not saying who they are, but they didn't win their first game. You need it.

"You need to turn up as a team, practice together, sit together, it's a team ethic and it didn't show with England and it showed on the board. They're great players individually, but you need to be a team. You need that team ethic, you need to be together as a team all the way though, but it didn't happen. I wanted them to do well but they didn't. I'm not just saying that, I wanted them to do well but they were rubbish."

Nevertheless, two-time PDC world champion Lewis rejects Price's viewpoint, highlighting how insufficient experience playing alongside each other contributed to Littler and Humphries' team disappointment this summer. Speaking to the Express via The Escapist, the 40-year-old said: "They didn't seem to click did they? They didn't seem to get into the right rhythm.

"But it was always going to be a tough ask against Germany, in Germany with the crowd against them as well. Obviously it was Luke's [Littler] first time there, and I think it was only the second time for Luke Humphries. They just haven't got the experience yet in that field."

Lewis also expressed confidence in the duo for 2026, suggesting they will benefit from their errors and get another opportunity at World Cup success, whilst reflecting on his own doubles experiences with Phil Taylor. He added: "But next year, now they've had that experience together, it can only make them stronger.

"Sometimes I was rubbish in the pairs, and Phil would pull me through, other times he wasn't so good, and I pulled him through. That's what you need to be a team. I wouldn't dare play crap, otherwise I'd get a right bo*****ing."

Playing alongside Taylor, Lewis managed to secure four World Cup victories during his career, claiming the trophy for England in 2012, 2013, 2015 and 2016. This year's tournament saw Northern Ireland's Josh Rock and Daryl Gurney emerge victorious, defeating South Africa's Cameron Carolissen and Devon Petersen in their opening match before overcoming Ireland's William O'Connor and Keane Barry in the quarter-finals.

The pair then delivered an 8-1 thrashing of Germany's Schindler and Pietreczko in the semi-finals, before Rock and Gurney secured a nail-biting 10-9 victory over Wales' Price and Jonny Clayton to clinch the title in the final.