England 'buckled' in World Cup loss to Germany

Luke Littler, 18, was making his World Cup debut

England's Luke Humphries and Luke Littler are out of the World Cup of Darts after suffering a shock defeat by hosts Germany in the last 16.

The German pair of Martin Schindler and tournament debutant Ricardo Pietreczko took advantage of a string of missed doubles and some sloppy play by the top two players in the world to win 8-4 in Frankfurt.

"Luke and Luke, no doubt, were feeling the stresses and strains of being massive favourites," said Sky Sports pundit and four-time world championship semi-finalist Wayne Mardle.

"The pressure got to them at some point and they buckled. Their opponents didn't, and full credit to Martin and Ricardo there."

Humphries and Littler, who both became MBEs on Saturday in the King's Birthday Honours, were aiming to lead England to a record-extending sixth World Cup crown - with Humphries partnering Michael Smith to victory last year.

But playing together for the first time, the tournament favourites were booed onto the stage and looked far from comfortable from the start as Germany broke throw in the opening leg, cheered on by a home crowd.

The English pair recovered to level the match at 2-2, but it was then Germany who rose to the occasion with some brilliant play, winning the next five legs to leave them on the brink of a famous victory.

England pulled a couple of legs back to give them hope, but Pietreczko, nicknamed Pikachu, sealed a 62 checkout in the 12th leg to secure the win.

"We believed in ourselves and we put in a solid performance, and the double 16s that Ricardo threw were so important," said Schindler, the world number 18, praising his 28th-ranked partner.

"We are delighted to go through. German darts is in good shape right now and we will continue to push forward."

Former BDO world championship finalist Bobby George said the English duo had underperformed.

"When you play in pairs, it's a different sort of game - you're not used to the gap between throws," he said.

Three-time BDO world champion Glen Durrant told Sky: "The walk-on for England, you could barely hear yourself. It was intimidating, a partisan crowd, but surely the Lukes will learn lessons."

Schindler and Pietreczko will next meet Australia's Simon Whitlock and Damon Heta, the 2022 winners, after they defeated debutants Argentina 8-1.

Former World Championship finalist Whitlock said afterwards that England's defeat had not been a surprise to him.

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."

The Netherlands, represented by Danny Noppert and Gian van Veen, advanced with an 8-0 whitewash of Scotland's Gary Anderson and Peter Wright, while Wales' two-time winners Gerwyn Price and Jonny Clayton were 8-2 victors over the Philippines.

Northern Ireland's Josh Rock and Daryl Gurney, the fourth seeds, defeated South Africa 8-2 to set up a last-eight tie against 2019 runners-up Republic of Ireland, who are represented by William O'Connor and Keane Barry.

Quarter-final draw

Germany v Australia

Northern Ireland v Republic of Ireland

Wales v Hong Kong

Netherlands v Czech Republic