England were crowned as World Cup of Darts winners yesterday, with the duo of Michael Smith and Luke Humphries leading the country to their first triumph in this competition since 2016.
While England have consistently had the top players in the world available to them, they have often failed to gel in the team format. The likes of Wales, Scotland, and the Netherlands have dominated the competition over the last number of years.
However, Smith and Humphries had no such issues on this occasion. They were relatively comfortable throughout the tournament, defeating Scotland in the semi-final before finishing off Austria in the decider.
ENGLAND WIN WORLD CUP OF DARTS 🏴
Michael Smith wins it for England, ending an eight-year drought 🏆 pic.twitter.com/2Opgp6FhXf— Sky Sports Darts (@SkySportsDarts) June 30, 2024
While this was a big victory for England, Michael Smith was still in a foul mood after the game due comments from some of his rivals earlier in the event.
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Michael Smith aims Peter Wright dig after World Cup of Darts win
The Scottish duo of Gary Anderson and Peter Wright have been one of the most consistent in this darts format for a number of years, winning the title in 2019 (with Wright also winning the event alongside John Henderson in 2021).
While neither of those players are now at their peak, they still fancied their chances on this occasion. In fact, Wright would admit that he was looking forward to taking down England.
Fighting talk from Peter Wright ⚔️👀 pic.twitter.com/K6rvCeLzeR
— Sky Sports Darts (@SkySportsDarts) June 30, 2024
Unfortunately for the Scots, they would not get the job done.
England would overcome them on a relatively comfortable 8-4 scoreline in the semi-final.
ENGLAND SWEEP SCOTLAND ASIDE! 🏴
Luke Humphries & Michael Smith are one game away from World Cup glory!
The top seeds put in another impressive display to beat Scottish stars Peter Wright and Gary Anderson 8-4!
📺 https://t.co/nh8y246ePn#WorldCupofDarts | SF2 pic.twitter.com/dcLeE4ETbV— PDC Darts (@OfficialPDC) June 30, 2024
England may have gone on to then win the darts competition, but one of their players was quick to reference the Scotland game soon after.
During their post-tournament press conference, Michael Smith would go in on Peter Wright for some of the comments he had made about the English during the tournament.
Michael Smith just bodied Peter Wright
“The guy's just averaged 78 and he's tried giving me shit, what are you doing?” 💀💀💀💀 pic.twitter.com/3WvgdC6lLm— DartsAnonymous (@anonymous_darts) June 30, 2024
When we won the quarters, Peter Wright walked past and asked Luke 'how are your shoulders' (referencing pressure).
The guy has just averaged 78 and he's giving me s**t? I was like what are you doing?
Then we had an argument, well not an argument, but he was trying to give a bit of banter behind the scenes. But Peter, you're not good enough mate.
It's just the same as everything else. That guy should have some strong shoulders, because he's been holding the Premier League up for two years.
He annoyed me today and I think that spurred me on in the semi-final. I had never given it that large, ever.
A two-time World Championship winner, Peter Wright has certainly been well short of his best for the last couple of years. He finished bottom of the Premier League in each of the last two editions, winning just two of his 18 darts games in the 2024 campaign.
It seems that Michael Smith was quick to remind him of that fact yesterday.
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