Luke Littler and Luke Humphries suspicions raised after strong Gerwyn Price comments | Wales Online

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Former darts world champion Adrian Lewis believes a lack of experience proved costly for Luke Littler and Luke Humphries at this year's PDC World Cup of Darts after the English pair suffered an early exit in their opening match.

Despite Littler arriving as the reigning world champion and Humphries topping the PDC Order of Merit, darts fans weren't expecting an easy ride for the duo. However, few anticipated their shock first-round exit and an 8-4 defeat to Martin Schindler and Ricardo Pietreczko, particularly given that Humphries had claimed last year's title alongside experienced campaigner Michael Smith.

Various theories have since emerged regarding their early downfall, from the hostile home support jeering their entrance to the oche to a devastatingly sharp German partnership proving too formidable. Gerwyn Price made the bold claim that Littler and Humphries were short of team chemistry.

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."

Responding to Price's comments, Humphries has since insisted that he and Littler did have a team mindset. However, two-time PDC World Champion Lewis has his own suspicions and shares a different view from Price and Humphries, highlighting how a lack of experience playing alongside each other contributed to Littler and Humphries' team disappointment this summer.

Speaking exclusively to the Express via The Escapist, the 40-year-old explained: "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."

Nevertheless, Lewis expressed confidence in the duo for 2026 and suggested they will benefit from their errors and get another opportunity at World Cup success, while reflecting on his own doubles experiences with Phil Taylor.

"But next year, now they've had that experience together, it can only make them stronger," Lewis added. "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."

Working alongside Taylor, Lewis clinched four World Cup victories during his career, claiming the trophy for England in 2012, 2013, 2015 and 2016.

Northern Ireland duo Josh Rock and Daryl Gurney emerged victorious at this year's competition, overcoming South Africa's Cameron Carolissen and Devon Petersen in their opening match before seeing off Ireland's William O'Connor and Keane Barry in the last eight.

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