Rushden's Richardson returns to the PDC ProTour

Richardson and his son Joshua, who won the BDO World Youth title last week, joined a big field of players at the Robin Park Tennis Centre this week in a bid to earn a Tour Card for the year.

Having previously been on the Tour between 2011 and 2014, Richardson senior will return after he won no fewer than six matches throughout the day.

Having received a first-round bye, James earned victories over Rhys Hayden (5-2), Damian Smith (5-1), Ross Smith (5-3) and Luke Woodhouse (5-4) to move into the last 16.

He edged out Steve Brown 5-4 and then, with Cards on offer to each of the four surviving players, James beat Yordi Meeuwisse 5-2 to book his place back on the Tour.

Like his dad, Joshua received a first-round bye and then saw off Robert Lightfoot 5-1 but was beaten 5-1 by Mike Symes in the last 128 to earn one point on the Q School Order of Merit.

The 17-year-old now has two more days to try to join his dad on the Tour.

On the first day of action, both players were beaten at the first hurdle with James losing 5-2 to Mark Barilli and Joshua going down by the same scoreline to Steven Smith.