Luke Littler and Luke Humphries crashed out of the World Cup of Darts after being thrashed by Germany in front of a partisan crowd in Frankfurt.
The pre-tournament favourites, who had both been awarded MBEs in the King’s Birthday Honours less than 24 hours before, were shellshocked as Martin Schindler and Ricardo Pietreczko cruised to an emphatic 8-4 victory.
The two Brits were notably below par in a hostile atmosphere and found themselves with a mountain to climb after sheepishly trailing 5-2 at the break.
Despite England threatening a brief resurgence when they reduced the deficit to 7-4, Pietreczko took out the decisive 62 finish with his last dart to send the crowd into raptures – and Littler and Humphries packing at only the first hurdle.
More to follow.
