World Number Four Cross prepares for opening clash of the 2020 darts season

Rob Cross will face Adrian Lewis in the opening round of the Ladbrokes Masters on Friday. Picture by Lawrence Lustig

The world number four from St Leonards will line up in the Ladbrokes Masters at the Marshall Arena in Milton Keynes this weekend.

Cross will take on 13th-ranked Adrian Lewis in round one tonight (Friday), with the winner to face Michael Smith or Mensur Suljovic in the quarter-finals on Sunday afternoon. The semi-finals and final will be played on Sunday evening.

Televised live on ITV4, the Ladbrokes Masters brings together the top 16 players on the Professional Darts Corporation (PDC) order of merit.

And Cross will be eager to show an improvement in form after his disappointing second round exit from the William Hill World Championship before Christmas, which caused him to drop two places in the rankings.

After the Masters, Cross will turn his attention to the start of the Unibet Premier League - a hotly-anticipated roadshow event played at packed venues around the UK and Europe every week through until the finals at The 02 in London in May.

The opening night of the Sky Sports-televised competition will take place at P&J Live in Aberdeen on Thursday, when Cross will be up against world number three Gerwyn Price.

The star-studded Premier League line-up also includes world number one Michael van Gerwen, new world champion Peter Wright, Smith, Gary Anderson, Daryl Gurney, Nathan Aspinall and three-time BDO world champion Glen Durrant.

Cross - the 2018 world champion - reached the final of the Premier League last year, as well as winning the World Matchplay and European Championship titles.