Michael Smith has revealed Peter Wright’s comments ‘spurred him on’ to assist England win the World Cup of Darts in Frankfurt.
England secured the country’s record-breaking fifth World Cup of Darts title on Sunday, their first since 2016, with a 10-6 victory over Austria.
Luke Humphries and Smith saw off Scotland 8-3 within the semi-final within the construct as much as their tournament win.
But Smith has now revealed he had some extra motivation due to his Scottish counterpart, Wright, as he gave him a chunk of his mind.
When asked about critiques claiming he and 2023 world champion Humphries would not gel after the win, he said: “Even higher, after which before the semi-final, when was it? The quarters.
“Peter Wright walks past, asking Luke how his shoulder was.
“The guy’s just averaged 78 and he’s tried giving me s***.
“I used to be like ‘what are you doing?’ after which had an argument, or not an argument, but a little bit of banter back stage.”
He continued: “That guy must have some strong shoulders because he’s been holding the Premier League up for 2 years.
“He annoyed me today and I believe that spurred me on in that semi-final. I’ve never gave it that giant ever.
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“I needed to get that out since it really annoyed me!”
Phil Taylor and Adrian Lewis were the one players to have lifted the World Cup title for England for the reason that tournament’s inception in 2010 before Sunday’s final.
“I felt the largest buzz since winning the Worlds. We actually wanted this. We actually believed we could win it and after that first game we played, we clicked,” Humphries told Sky Sports.
“You have got a cheat code, the world primary and number three against the sphere, it’s quite tough for everybody else but after that first game we played and we clicked. We were only apprehensive about ourselves. We knew if we played our greatest, we could do it and we did.
“I just hope we get to come back back next 12 months and defend it together as champions.”
