East Sussex darts pair go for televised glory

Ritchie Edhouse | Picture: Lawrence Lustig

Two Hastings darts stars are all set to line up in another televised tournament.

Rob Cross and Ritchie Edhouse will be part of the 64-strong field for the Cazoo Players Championship Finals in Minehead.

Cross, in fact, will feature in the opening first-round match on the main stage at 10.30am on Friday (Nov 25) when he takes on Dutch thrower Kevin Doets.

Edhouse will come up against world number four Michael Smith in the tenth match on the main stage on Friday afternoon.

Televised live on ITV4, the Players Championship Finals will continue with rounds two and three on Saturday before the quarter-finals, semi-finals and final take place on Sunday.

Cross's progress in last week's Cazoo Grand Slam of Darts, meanwhile, was halted by a 10-8 defeat to eventual champion Smith in the last 16.

The 32-year-old rallied from 4-1 and 8-5 behind to level at 8-8 only for World Championship finalist Smith to clinch the subsequent two legs in Wolverhampton last Wednesday night.

After a slow start, Cross ended the match with a 97.02 average having hit eight 180s, two 100-plus checkouts and been successful with 50 percent of his attempts at a double.

Former world champion Cross, a winner of two Players Championship events this year, stays seventh on the Professional Darts Corporation (PDC) order of merit, with Edhouse up to 51st.