Cross rated 50/1 shot to repeat world darts championship glory

The world number five from St Leonards will begin his bid for glory in the 2020/21 William Hill World Darts Championship at Alexandra Palace, London, next week. Cross, seeded fifth, will face Dirk van Duijvenbode or Bradley Brooks in the second round on Tuesday night (December 22).

The 30-year-old will hope to draw on the marvellous memories of being crowned champion on New Year's Day 2018 when he thrashed the great Phil Taylor in the final.

Remarkably, that was Cross's debut appearance in the World Championship and he'd previously overcome world number one Michael van Gerwen in an incredible semi-final. He went on to win the World Matchplay and European Championship, as well as reaching the UK Open and Premier League finals, in 2019.

This year has been tougher for Cross, with several early exits from televised tournaments, although he was a runner-up in the World Series of Darts Finals and the World Cup. As a result, he is a 50/1 shot for the title with the World Championship sponsors. Potential first opponent Van Duijvenbode, incidentally, is rated at 66/1.

The event - featuring 96 of the world's top players from a record 29 countries - got underway on Tuesday night and will continue through until January 3.

Up to 1,000 fans were set to be present for each session, but the action went behind closed doors from yesterday (Weds) due to London entering tier three Covid-19 restrictions.

With a £2.5 million prize fund and the coveted Sid Waddell Trophy up for grabs, the World Championship - televised live on the dedicated Sky Sports Darts channel - is the biggest tournament on the calendar.

And it also has a significant bearing on the composition of the field for another leading competition because the players involved in the Unibet Premier League are traditionally revealed at the end of the World Championship.

The top four on the Professional Darts Corporation (PDC) order of merit automatically qualify and the remaining five spots - assuming the format stays the same as this year - are filled by invited players. So to be sure of a place in the 17-night elite roadshow competition for the fourth consecutive year, Cross will need to rise a place in the rankings by the end of the World Championship.

Cross (£536,000) currently sits around £65,000 behind fourth-ranked Michael Smith (£601,750) and just over £3,000 ahead of sixth-placed Nathan Aspinall (£532,750). The rankings are based on prize money won over a rolling two-year period in ranking tournaments.

That means money earned in the World Championship two years ago will be wiped off at the conclusion of this year's event, which could well work in favour of Cross. Smith was the runner-up back then and Aspinall reached the semi-finals, while Cross, nicknamed Voltage, was knocked out in the last 16.

Smith and Aspinall therefore have more money to defend than Cross, although Cross will still need to perform strongly at this year's tournament to climb back into the top four. And there will be plenty of competition for the invited places, with Aspinall, James Wade (ranked 7), Dimitri Van den Bergh (9), Glen Durrant (12) and Jose de Sousa (14) all having won PDC events this year.

The 2021 Unibet Premier League will begin in Cardiff on Thursday February 4 and will continue at venues around the UK, Ireland and Holland, including The Brighton Centre, every Thursday night before concluding with the Play-Offs in Berlin on May 27.