Luke Humphries and Michael Smith insist their BetVictor World Cup of Darts triumph ranks among their greatest achievements, after the pair celebrated success in Frankfurt on Sunday.<\/p>\n
Humphries and Smith steered England to a record-breaking fifth World Cup crown on a famous night at the Eissporthalle, defeating Austria 10-6 in a high-quality final.<\/p>\n
The pair produced a ton-topping average to deny Rowby-John Rodriguez and Mensur Suljovic in Sunday\u2019s showpiece, joining four-time winners Phil Taylor and Adrian Lewis on the roll of honour for Team England.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s hard to put it into words,\u201d admitted Smith, who was making his fifth World Cup of Darts appearance.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe just complemented each other so well, and to finally get my hands on that trophy, it\u2019s amazing.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt is not just Phil and Aidy, it\u2019s now Luke and Michael, and hopefully we get to come back and defend it [the title] next year.\u201d<\/p>\n
Humphries and Smith kicked off their campaign with a resounding 8-3 win over 2023 quarter-finalists France in Saturday\u2019s second round, before delivering a trio of dominant displays on Finals Day.<\/p>\n
The English duo converted 57% of their attempts at double in 8-4 victories against Northern Ireland and Scotland, before a mid-game fightback to deny Austria a maiden World Cup title.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt just clicked against Northern Ireland when we played Josh Rock and Brendan [Dolan],\u201d continued Smith, a World Cup runner-up with Rob Cross in 2020.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe played well against Scotland and in the final Luke was incredible. He just cleaned up everything.<\/p>\n
\u201cLuke kept telling me in the break, don\u2019t worry, it doesn\u2019t matter what you\u2019ve missed, you\u2019re going to get the winning shot, and he was right!<\/p>\n
\u201cI went to run off [in celebration] and then I saw Luke chasing me! I thought: \u2018What\u2019s going on?!\u2019<\/p>\n
\u201cI have never felt that before because I never thought someone would be running after me. It was a weird feeling, but it\u2019s one of the best feelings I\u2019ve ever had.\u201d<\/p>\n
Humphries, meanwhile, enjoyed a dream World Cup debut at the Eissporthalle, producing an individual average of 113 in the final to inspire the top seeds to the title.<\/p>\n
The world number one delivered a finishing masterclass in Sunday\u2019s finale, converting 112, 121, 130 and 151 checkouts, pinning eight of his nine attempts at double in the process.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is extra special,\u201d declared the 29-year-old, who adds World Cup glory to his World Grand Prix, Grand Slam, Players Championship Finals and World Championship wins over the last nine months.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is up there with my best achievements. My first major win was obviously the most incredible feeling, and when you win the World Championship, that feeling cannot be topped.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is up there for me though. That incredible feeling of emotion that I got running through my body when Michael hit that winning double \u2013 you know you\u2019ve done it, you\u2019re World Cup champions.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s not every day you get to play for your country, let alone win for your country, so I\u2019m super proud.\u201d<\/p>\n
Despite Humphries\u2019 status as world number one, Smith adopted the captain\u2019s role throughout the event by opening up each leg \u2013 a strategy which paid dividends.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is a different feeling. I\u2019m really proud of the way we both played in that final,\u201d added Humphries, who becomes the fourth player to win the World Cup of Darts on debut.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe played fantastically as a team and we didn\u2019t really let anybody get near us. We said if we played our own game there\u2019s nobody that can touch us, and that\u2019s what happened.<\/p>\n
\u201cI know my finishing was great, but Michael\u2019s first three darts each leg were fantastic most of the time, and that set the tone for the tournament.<\/p>\n
\u201cIn my opinion Michael is the best scorer in the world. That\u2019s the reason he went first, and that\u2019s why we made it so tough to play against us.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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