Rob Cross has expressed his surprise at the early exit of Luke Littler and Luke Humphries, the world's top two darts players, from the World Cup of Darts. The English duo suffered a shock defeat at the hands of German pair Martin Schindler and Ricardo Pietreczko in their opening match.

Cross, a former world champion and four-time England representative in the World Cup, told Action Network: "I've read a lot of stuff on social media saying that obviously the pressure got to them and other stuff but look, these boys are the two best players in the world. There are some things in life where things just don't happen (as you planned) and they were playing against home favourites and it can be tough sometimes. They will bounce back, and they'll be back to normal.

"I can't get my head around why it didn't work but as I say, we see these things happen in life. They're both amazing and will bounce back, whether they bottled it or not, I wouldn't say so."

Cross also highlighted the unique challenges of pairs darts, where chemistry between team-mates is crucial. He cited the example of Welsh duo Gerwyn Price and Jonny Clayton, who have a proven track record of success together: "It can be a hard situation to play in and with it being a pairs game, you have to rely on each other.

"And if you look at Wales with Gerwyn Price and Jonny Clayton, they have played with each other before and they've got the chemistry, so it works for them and makes sense. They will know what they need to work on together if they both play with each again next time."

Cross commented on Littler and Humphries possibly leaning too much on one another following poor throws. He explained: "I seem to find from what I know about darts is that you have got to rely on yourself because it's the only person that gets you out of trouble.

"It's a different game, it's a totally different game, they have to slow down for more than 20 seconds, people go in front of them again or three people throw after you so there's the gaps there and there's different stuff in the game and what makes the game different is the game being in pairs."

Sharing his personal experience with team events, Cross said: "For me, I love representing the country, but I struggle playing in pairs legitimately, and I'll be open to say that when I go up there, I want to get on with the game and sometimes I have to wait a minute instead of 15 seconds.

"So, for me, I've struggled here and there. I'm not so surprised if they did have a bit of a bit of a meltdown or got hung up out there."

Reflecting on the huge expectations on Littler and Humphries, he noted: "They're number one and number two in the world for a reason. I think the pressure of going into that tournament as favourites, and everyone thinking they were going to win it, including myself, has jumped on that bandwagon.

"This is the great thing about sport and darts in general, no matter what happens, people should win but you'll get hit in the backside, including myself. When I think I'm really up for this one and should win this, someone comes in and puts the performance of their life in."