​World cup whitewash for Scotland darts pair Gary Anderson and Peter Wright

​Anderson, formerly of Eyemouth but now living in Somerset, and West Lothian-born Wright were representing Scotland and hoping to repeat their tournament win of 2019, repeated by Wright, 55, with John Henderson alongside him two years later.

The pair, both former world champions, went into the Professional Darts Corporation competition in Frankfurt ranked third and seeded alongside England, Wales and Northern Ireland but weren’t able to make it past opening opponents Danny Noppert and Gian van Veen, representing the fifth-ranked Netherlands, in round two.

Noppert and van Veen, respectively ranked 16th and 23rd in the world, set up that meeting by whitewashing Italy and then Hungary 4-0 in last Thuirsday and Friday’s group stages.

They then went on to beat 13th-ranked Anderson, 54, and Anderson, one place below him in the PDC’s order of merit, by 8-0, but were knocked out 8-5 by Wales’s Jonny Clayton and Gerwyn Price in Sunday’s semi-finals.

The Dutch pair averaged scores of 100.2 to the Scots’ 79.37.

Noppert, 34, was shocked to have got past Anderson and Wright without dropping a single leg, telling Sky Sports afterwards: “I didn’t expect this before the game.”

His partner, 23, was equally surprised, saying: “Even though they didn’t play well, it was still Scotland. It was still Peter Wright and Gary Anderson.

“Even though they didn’t play phenomenal, it was still two legends of the game.

“I had never beaten Peter or Gary – they are two legends of the game – so to do the double and beat them both is amazing.”

Anderson’s early exit at the weekend followed his 30th career ranking title win in March, also in Germany, at the Players Championship Seven in Hildesheim after beating Hampshire’s Adam Lipscombe 8-3 in that contest’s final to end an eight-month wait to add to his silverware collection.