England progressed to the quarter-finals of the World Cup of Darts with a comfortable 8-4 win against Latvia in Frankfurt.

The top-seed pairing of Michael Smith and Rob Cross are seeking to win a record fifth World Cup title for England and made light work of eliminating Madars Razma and Dmitriy Zhukov.

“We were trying too hard but every time I hit a bad shot, Rob stepped in and we worked as a team there,” the world number one Smith told Sky Sports.

“It wasn’t our greatest performance, but we needed a test and we know that if we play at our best we’ll win.”

England will face hosts Germany in the last eight after Gabriel Clemens and Martin Schindler beat Poland’s Krzysztof Ratajski and Krzysztof Kciuk 8-6 to a rapturous reception in Frankfurt.

Belgium also progressed with a brilliant sudden-death leg win over the Netherlands, whilst Wales beat Denmark 8-2 to ease through.

Earlier in the day, Scotland beat the Philippines 8-5 to book their quarter-final passage.

Australia, Sweden and France will complete the last-eight line-up.