England win record fifth World Cup title with victory over Austria in final
.
Your support helps us to tell the story
From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.
At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.
The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.
Your support makes all the difference.Top seeds England won a record fifth World Cup title with a 10-6 victory over Austria in the final in Frankfurt.
World champion Luke Humphries hit four 100+ finishes as he and Michael Smith gave England a first win since Phil Taylor and Adrian Lewis won the pairs event for the fourth time in 2016.
The title favourites raced into a 5-1 lead over 2021 runners-up Rowby-John Rodriguez and Mensur Suljovic, Humphries taking out 151 in the sixth leg and 121 in the next before Austria hit back to reduce their deficit to 6-4.
A 180 from Humphries then set up Smith, who had struggled with his doubles early on, to take out double 15 before finishes of 130 and 112 from Humphries took England to the brink of victory.
Suljovic took out 98 to keep the match alive but Smith sealed the win on double eight in the next leg.
“I felt the biggest buzz I’ve had since the Worlds,” Humphries told Sky Sports. “We really wanted this, we really believed we could win it.
“You’ve got a cheat code, the world number one and number three against the field, it’s quite tough for everyone else but after that first game we played and we clicked.”
We really wanted this, we really believed we could win it
Smith was full of praise for team-mate Humphries, adding: “How good was this man in the final? He hit everything.
“My [double] tops was non-existent and every single shot I left him, bang, bang, bang…. thank you so much mate, you’ve just got me the gold medal.”
England had earlier beaten Northern Ireland 8-4 in the quarter-finals and Scotland by the same score in the last four, while Austria edged past Croatia 8-7 in the quarter-finals before an 8-3 win over Belgium in the semis.