MARDLE BELIEVES LETHAL LUKES BUCKLED UNDER PRESSURE
14/06/2025 By Aaron Nijjar
WAYNE MARDLE reckons Luke Littler and Luke Humphries “buckled” under the pressure as England were sent crashing out of the World Cup of Darts by hosts Germany.
The tournament favourites were stunned 8-4 by a brilliant Martin Schindler and Ricardo Pietreczko at the last 16 in Frankfurt.
German duo Schindler and Pietreckzo were simply superb as they nailed eight of 13 doubles and smashed two stellar ton plus checkouts.
World No.1 Humphries and Littler hit just 36 percent of their doubles and never found any rhythm.
Former world championship semi-finalist Mardle suggested the lethal Lukes crumbled under the weight of expectation.
He said: “Luke and Luke were no doubt feeling the stresses and strains of being favourites — like massive favourites.
“To go on about how good Phil Taylor and Adrian Lewis were — they made it look easy.
“That is how difficult World Cup pairings can be.
“Pressure got to them at some point, Luke and Luke. They buckled — and their opponents didn’t.”
Mardle praised Germany’s composed and confident performance from the very first dart.
He added: “Full credit to Martin and Ricardo there.
“It was just very good from Germany from leg one. When they had their chances, they took them.
“The Germans had much better finishing at the right time. It was just a really good performance.
“Ricardo and Martin showed they can do it against the two best players in the world.
“England were outplayed. It was very efficient from Germany.”
Germany will now play Australia in the quarter-final tomorrow.
