Now it's all about the Worlds for Kettering's Evans

It's full steam ahead to the Alexandra Palace for Ricky Evans as he gears up for another appearance at the PDC William Hill World Championship.
Ricky Evans in action during his 10-5 defeat to Jonny Clayton in the Ladbrokes Players Championship Finals. Picture courtesy of Lawrence Lustig/PDCRicky Evans in action during his 10-5 defeat to Jonny Clayton in the Ladbrokes Players Championship Finals. Picture courtesy of Lawrence Lustig/PDC
Ricky Evans in action during his 10-5 defeat to Jonny Clayton in the Ladbrokes Players Championship Finals. Picture courtesy of Lawrence Lustig/PDC

The Kettering darts star was handed a tie against Rowby-John Rodriguez in the first round of the competition, which gets under way on December 13.

The winner of that match will then go on to take on number 31 seed Cristo Reyes in the second round.

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Evans has enjoyed one of his best-ever years on the PDC ProTour, a point emphasised by a fine showing in his first-ever appearance at the Ladbrokes Players Championship Finals last weekend.

‘Rapid’ got up and running with a 6-3 victory over Jan Dekker in the first round to set up a clash with Jeffrey de Zwaan.

And Evans produced his best performance of the weekend at Butlins Minehead Resort as he averaged 99 and was 60 per cent on his doubles in a 6-2 victory.

He wrapped it up with a fine 151 checkout, which was his third ton-plus finish of the match.

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However, Evans’ hopes were ended in the last 16 as he was beaten 10-5 by Jonny Clayton.

But Evans’ focus is now the World Championship.

He is currently ranked number 42 in the world and finished an impressive 26th on the ProTour Order of Merit, which earned him automatic qualification.

The tournament will be screened in full on Sky Sports and there will be a total prize pot of £2.5m.

Rushden’s James Richardson, meanwhile, missed out on a return to the Alexandra Palace.

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‘Ruthless’ competed in the last-chance Tour Card Holders Qualifier in Milton Keynes earlier this week.

Things started well for Richardson as he claimed a 6-3 victory over Robert

Owen but his hopes were ended in the next stage as he went down 6-1 to Jimmy Hendriks.