Rob Cross vows not to lick Luke Humphries during Premier League clash: 'James Wade is a great guy and usually he wouldn’t do stuff like that'

Luke Humphries' exit in the quarter-finals of the 2025 UK Open last weekend was marred by controversy after images emerged of James Wade licking the neck of the world number one in what was seemingly an attempt at mind games. Ahead of their meeting in the quarter-finals of Night Five of the Premier League Darts later tonight, Rob Cross has vowed not to resort to similar tactics against Humphries.

Because Wade is lower in the world rankings, he was allowed to take the stage first. When Humphries then entered the stage, the two greeted each other with a hug. During this embrace 'The Machine' suddenly licked his compatriot's neck. 'Cool Hand Luke' did not seem to notice at the time, but later took to social media to vent his frustrations.

"I wasn’t going to give someone who didn’t deserve my respect after what he was doing through the game a hug and be all happy about it that’s just my honesty,” wrote Humphries in a now-deleted post to his X (Twitter) account.

“I definitely won’t lick him," Cross has now vowed in quotes collected by Oche180 ahead if a meeting with Humphries in the quarterfinals of Night Five of the 2025 Premier League Darts in Brighton. "Luke always likes to give me a kiss. Me and him have quite a decent relationship, a good bond. We are good friends. Luke is a fantastic fellow. Hopefully there will be no licking involved!"

On the topic of the actual lick itself though, Cross is certain there must be some form of misunderstanding somewhere. “I know James and don’t want to go too much into it. It wouldn’t be fair either," he explains. “I think it was very misunderstood. Whatever has happened there, whether it was a mistake or done as a joke, we can see past it. James is a great guy and usually he wouldn’t do stuff like that. It’s one of those things, we need to see past it and move on.”