Former world champion Dennis Priestley has accused Luke Littler and Luke Humphries of ‘letting their country down’ during the World Cup of Darts.
Littler and Humphries, the current and former world champions, suffered a shock defeat to hosts Germany in the last-16 stage.
England were ‘massive favourites’ going into the tournament, with Littler and Humphries meeting in last month’s Premier League Darts final.
But they appeared to struggle to deal with a partisan crowd in Frankfurt and lost 8-4 to the German pair of Martin Schindler and Ricardo Pietreczko.
Priestley was hugely disappointed by England’s performance at the World Cup and ‘heard’ the pair were not practising together before the tournament.
‘Luke Littler and Luke Humphries let their country down at the World Cup of Darts,’ he told OLBG. ‘From what we’ve heard they weren’t sitting together or practising together.
‘When I was playing in pairs with Phil Taylor we practised together and sat together, we played all over the world and I only remember us getting beaten once.
‘If you go on and win the tournament without practising then it doesn’t matter, but when you go out without winning a game as the big favourites, it’s not a good look.
‘Having said that, I think they will learn from the experience and come back stronger. Don’t be surprised to see them lifting the trophy next year.’
Popular darts pundit Wayne Mardle felt Littler and Humphries ‘buckled under the pressure’ of being the overwhelming favourites for the World Cup of Darts.
‘Luke and Luke, no doubt, were feeling the stresses and strains of being massive favourites,’ the four-time world championship semi-finalist told Sky Sports.
‘The pressure got to them at some point and they buckled. Their opponents didn’t, and full credit to Martin and Ricardo there.’
Former World Cup of Darts winner Damon Heta added: ‘They probably relied on each other, thinking “Oh, he’ll do the business”.
‘But the conditions weren’t great. The crowd was all for Germany so it was probably brutal out there for them, but they will take it as another learning curve and probably get stronger – unfortunately for the rest of us.
‘Fair play to Germany, they played good darts, but we are just worried about us and what we have got to do.’
Darts stars Littler and Humphries given MBEs
Littler and Humphries poor display at the World Cup came less than 24 hours after both became MBEs in the King’s Birthday Honour.
‘This is an amazing and unexpected honour but one which I am very grateful for,’ said Littler, who became the youngest world darts champion in history at the start of 2025.
‘To receive a recognition like this is something I had never thought would be possible, and it is a proud moment.
‘It’s unbelievable what I’ve done for my sport; I’m happy, my family is happy and I can’t wait to receive it.’
Humphries, meanwhile, added: ‘Everyone’s talking about darts now, and I think that we’re two of the pioneering parts of that.
‘We’ve changed the face of darts over the last couple of years. It’s starting to become a younger man’s game. It’s nice to be at the forefront of that.’
Priestley believes it was ‘very early’ for Littler, 18, and Humphries, 30, to be handed the accolades.
‘To be brutally honest, I don’t think either Luke Littler or Luke Humphries have done enough to earn their MBEs just yet,’ the 74-year-old added.
‘I think in time they could’ve done enough to warrant it but it feels very early, they have both won one World Championship each and are still young in their careers.
‘Littler has been recognised for raising the popularity of darts which is great, but he can still do so much more.
‘If he is getting an MBE this soon then you’d have to think he is on the right path to a knighthood, nothing would surprise me now.’
England’s World Cup conquerors Germany beat Australia in the quarter-finals before losing 8-1 to Northern Ireland in a one-sided semi-final.
Northern Ireland clinch World Cup of Darts trophy
The Northern Irish team of Daryl Gurney and Josh Rock then beat two-time champions Gerwyn Price and Jonny Clayton of Wales 10-9 in a thrilling final.
‘Me and Daryl said when we team up for the World Cup, we’ll win it and we did,’ said Rock, 24. ‘We’ve won for our country, we’ve made history.’
Gurney, 39, added: ‘Josh’s power scoring was amazing and I was there to clean up the finishing. I’ve never been so proud of this man and myself.
The prize for winning the World Cup of Darts, which was established in 2010 and now happens annually, was £80,000.
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