Cross enjoying fine Premier League form

The world number six from St Leonards defeated fellow former world champions Michael Smith and Michael van Gerwen before losing to league leader Luke Littler.

Cross came into night 13 of the elite weekly roadshow event on a seven-match Premier League losing run, but ended that sequence with a 6-4 quarter-final win over Smith.

The 33-year-old, nicknamed Voltage, averaged 102.42 and converted six of his nine attempts at a double to prevail in a high-quality encounter.

Cross then reeled off four successive legs to seal a 6-2 semi-final victory against Van Gerwen, landing a 121 checkout in the process.

His hopes of a first nightly win, however, were dashed by a 6-2 final loss against teenage sensation Littler even though Cross averaged 100.08.

Those results moved Cross above Gerwyn Price to sixth in the eight-man league table, with the top four players after night 16 qualifying for the Play-Offs at The O2 in London.

Cross, though, fell at the first hurdle in the NEO.bet Austrian Darts Open on Saturday, losing 6-4 to an on-song Daryl Gurney.

Fellow local player Ritchie Edhouse, meanwhile, continued his excellent form with another strong run in the same tournament.

Edhouse made it to the last 16 in Graz, meaning he has got to that stage or further in three successive European Tour events - despite having to come through the qualifiers.

After overcoming Arron Monk 6-4 in round one last Friday, Edhouse produced a 103.6 average to see off 15th-ranked Dirk van Duijvenbode 6-2 in round two on Saturday.

Edhouse, who also beat Van Duijvenbode in the previous weekend's European Darts Grand Prix, was eventually defeated 6-4 by the impressive Gian van Veen on Sunday.

The 41-year-old Edhouse is up to 50th on the Professional Darts Corporation (PDC) order of merit and 15th on the European Tour order of merit.