The line-up is almost complete for the 2024/25 Paddy Power World Darts Championship at the Alexandra Palace, with coverage of the draw for this year’s contest live on Sky Sports.

Luke Humphries will return as defending champion after last year’s victory over teenage sensation Luke Littler, while former world champions Michael van Gerwen and Gary Anderson are among the others looking to impress.

Mike De Decker and Ritchie Edhouse have both enjoyed TV victories in recent weeks and will be part of the biggest event in the darting calendar, where 96 players will battle it out for the Sid Waddell Trophy and a total £2.5m prize fund.

The top 32 players on the PDC Order of Merit will go straight through to the second round. The first round sees 32 ProTour Order of Merit Qualifiers, who earned their spots through European Tour and Players Championship events on the PDC circuit during 2024, playing one of the International Qualifiers.

How can I watch the draw?

The draw will be made on Monday November 25 at 4.30pm from the launch event in London and will be shown live on Sky Sports News.

Coverage will also be streamed live on the Sky Sports Darts YouTube channel, along with the Sky Sports website or by downloading the Sky Sports app.

When will the World Darts Championship take place?

The tournament gets under way at the Alexandra Palace on Sunday December 15, with three first-round matches and one second-round match on the opening evening.

There will be live darts over each of the following eight days, including seven afternoon sessions, with the usual three-day break from Christmas Eve to Boxing Day before returning with the third round and a double session on December 27.

The third and fourth rounds will be completed by December 30 before a night off on New Year’s Eve, with the quarter-finals held across two sessions on New Year’s Day ahead of the semi-finals on January 2 and the final on Friday January 3.

The full day-by-day schedule for this year’s tournament can be found here.

Who has qualified via the PDC Order of Merit?

The top 32 seeds for the World Championship were confirmed following the Players Championship in Minehead with the following players all straight through to the second round.

Luke Humphries (1), Michael Smith (2), Michael van Gerwen (3), Luke Littler (4), Rob Cross (5), Dave Chisnall (6), Jonny Clayton (7), Stephen Bunting (8), Damon Heta (9), Gerwyn Price (10), Dimitri Van den Bergh (11), Nathan Aspinall (12), Danny Noppert (13), Gary Anderson (14), Chris Dobey (15), James Wade (16), Peter Wright (17), Josh Rock (18), Ross Smith (19), Ryan Searle (20), Andrew Gilding (21), Martin Schindler (22), Joe Cullen (23), Mike De Decker (24), Dirk van Duijvenbode 25), Daryl Gurney (26), Gabriel Clemens (27), Gian van Veen (28), Ritchie Edhouse (29), Brendan Dolan (30), Krzysztof Ratajski (31), Raymond van Barneveld (32)

Who are the ProTour Order of Merit Qualifiers?

The top 32 not-yet qualified players from the Pro Tour Order of Merit go straight into the first round.

Last week it was announced that the Darts Regulation Authority has suspended Dom Taylor following the failure of a drugs test and he misses out. Robert Owen replaces him in the field.

Cameron Menzies, Wessel Nijman, Jermaine Wattimena, Ricardo Pietreczko, Luke Woodhouse, Ryan Joyce, Niels Zonneveld, Alan Soutar, Madars Razma, Callan Rydz, Wesley Plaisier, Martin Lukeman, Kevin Doets, Richard Veenstra, Scott Williams, Kim Huybrechts, William O’Connor, Karel Sedlacek, Stephen Burton, Thibault Tricole, Connor Scutt, Mensur Suljovic, Ian White, Jeffrey de Graaf, Jim Williams, Florian Hempel, Ryan Meikle, Chris Landman, Nick Kenny, James Hurrell, Mickey Mansell, Ricky Evans

Who are the international and other qualifiers?

A final International Qualifier was confirmed at the East Europe Qualifier in Slovakia on Sunday, which was won by Romeo Grbavac of Croatia, but the Winmau World Youth Championship final was won by Dutchman Gian van Veen, who had already qualified, as he edged out Jurjen van der Velde, who missed five match darts to win the trophy and book a ticket for Ally Pally.

As a result of Van Veen’s triumph, the PDPA Tour Card Holder Qualifier tournament, which will be held in Wigan on Monday, will now have four qualification places up for grabs.

PDC China Championship Winner – Xiaochen Zong

PDCNB ProTour Winner – Robert Owen (replaces Jeffrey de Graaf, who replaces Dom Taylor)

PDCNB ProTour Runner-Up – Darius Labanauskas

Steel Darts Japan Tour Winner – Tomoya Goto

DPA ProTour Champion – Joe Comito

CDC Main Tour Top American – Leonard Gates

CDC Main Tour Top Canadian – Jim Long

CDC Top-Ranked Non-Qualified Player – Stowe Buntz

African Darts Group Qualifier – Cameron Carolissen

PDC Asian Tour OOM 1 – Alexis Toylo

PDC Asian Tour OOM 2 – Lourence Ilagan

PDC Asian Tour OOM 3 – Paolo Nebrida

PDC Asian Tour OOM 4 – Ryusei Azemoto

DPNZ Qualifier Winner – Ben Robb

CLDC Tour OOM Winner – Rashad Sweeting

Winmau Development Tour Qualifier 1 – Niko Springer

Winmau Development Tour Qualifier 2 – Keane Barry

PDC Asian Championship Runner-Up Sandro Eric Sosing

PDC Asian Championship Qualifier – Lok Yin Lee

DPA Oceanic Masters Winner – Gordon Mathers

Women’s Series Qualifier 1 – Noa-Lynn van Leuven

Women’s Series Qualifier 2 – Fallon Sherrock

Indian Qualifier – Nitin Kumar

Winmau Challenge Tour Qualifier 1 – Christian Kist

Winmau Challenge Tour Qualifier 2 – Alexander Merkx

PDC Europe Super League Champion – Kai Gotthardt

West Europe Qualifier – Stefan Bellmont

World Youth Champion – Gian van Veen (already qualified)

East Europe Qualifier – Romeo Grbavac

Tour Card Holder Qualifier 1 – November 25

Tour Card Holder Qualifier 2 – November 25

Tour Card Holder Qualifier 3 – November 25

Tour Card Holder Qualifier 4 – November 25

Who will win the Paddy Power World Darts Championship? Watch every match exclusively live from December 15-January 3 on Sky Sports’ dedicated darts channel. Stream darts and more top sport with NOW.

Brendon McCullum has warned Jofra Archer that he is not guaranteed to be picked for The Ashes next winter even if his body is in a position to cope with the rigours of Test cricket.

Injury has kept Archer out of the Test arena since 2021 – and the first-class game since later that year – with England easing him back into the international set-up through white-ball cricket.

Managing director of men’s cricket Rob Key previously said the plan was for the paceman to return to Tests in 2025 as England host Zimbabwe and India before touring Australia.

Archer was signed by Rajasthan Royals in the IPL auction on Sunday and is set to miss the early part of the County Championship season with Sussex, depriving him of valuable red-ball action.

Speaking ahead of England’s three-Test series in New Zealand, which starts on Thursday, head coach McCullum said of Archer: “He is all-in for playing for England and getting back to red-ball cricket but at the same time there are significant opportunities for him.

“We have to be fluid. He has to continue to feel right in his own body, sustain a decent workload and put his hand up from there. There is no guarantee [he will be selected for Test cricket].

“We have unearthed some incredible talent in the last 12 months. The stocks are looking pretty good. If he gets fit and ready and that is the skillset we are after, he puts himself in the frame.”

McCullum: Pope still a huge player for England

McCullum also gave his backing to Ollie Pope ahead of the New Zealand series, with the vice-captain and No 3 batter averaging just 11 across the 2-1 defeat in Pakistan in October.

Pope could have the added burden of wicketkeeping in the first Test against New Zealand in Christchurch after Jordan Cox was ruled out of the tour with a fractured thumb sustained in the nets.

England will call up a replacement for Cox but whoever that is would appear unlikely to arrive in time to play the series opener.

McCullum said of Pope: “Not too many English players have churned out long careers at No 3 and been successful.

“It’s been a big year for him. He took on the captaincy [when Ben Stokes was injured for four Tests].

“That makes you grow, whether instantly or in time. We think that experience will make him a better player. He’s still a huge player for us.

“Even Ricky Ponting was susceptible in his first 20, 30 balls and once he got going, he’d climb into you.

“I’m not saying Ollie Pope is Ricky Ponting but it’s not an easy place to bat because the ball is doing more.

“I think he’ll appreciate the conditions [in New Zealand]. If he does get in, these grounds with the extra bounce should suit his style.”

England’s Test tour of New Zealand

• First Test: November 28-December 2 (Christchurch)
• Second Test: December 6-10 (Wellington)
• Third Test: December 14-18 (Hamilton)

India beat Australia by 295 runs to win the first test in Perth.

The hosts were all out for 238 on Monday, allowing India to take a clear victory and an early lead in the five-test series.

“Fairly disappointing,” Australia’s captain Pat Cummins said afterwards. “It was just one of those games where not much went right. We didn’t really give ourselves a chance in a few different facets.

“There’s a few different areas we’ve got to clean up.”

Jasprit Bumrah and Mohammed Siraj took three wickets apiece and Harshit Rana wrapped up the fourth innings by clean-bowling keeper Alex Carey for 36.

With Virat Kohli and Yashasvi Jaiswal both clearing centuries India had set Australia a massive fourth-innings target of 534.

Resuming day four on 12-3, the hosts quickly lost Usman Khawaja for four after the opener sent a ball from Siraj (3-51) into the gloves of wicketkeeper Rishabh Pant.

Steve Smith was caught on 17. Travis Head landed plenty of boundaries on his way to his 89 but fell short of an eighth Test ton when he edged to Pant off Bumrah (3-42), who picked up eight wickets for the match.

Mitchell Marsh scored 47 before Nitish Kumar Reddy took his wicket.

Washington Sundar bowled Nathan Lyon out for a duck as India swept to victory, one which comes after they were humbled 3-0 at home by New Zealand earlier this month.

Bumrah took on the captaincy as Rohit Sharma missed the match due to the birth of his second child.

“Very happy with the beginning, we were put under pressure in the first innings but the way we responded after that, I’m really proud of the team,” said Bumrah, who was named player of the match.

“Obviously, this wicket was a little less spicy than the last one that I played here, but we were really well prepared.

“So I was just telling everyone to have faith in their process and ability, because over here at this moment, you have an opportunity to do something special.”

The remaining matches will take place in Adelaide, Brisbane, Melbourne and Sydney.

Australia have not beaten India in a test series since 2015. Now 1-0 down at the start of this series, Australia have left themselves an uphill task.

Luke Humphries retained his Players Championship Finals crown after beating Luke Littler 11-7, despite some massive checkouts from the 17-year-old.

The 29-year-old secured his seventh major title and retained the trophy he first won in 2023 after recovering from a shaky start at Butlin’s Minehead Resort in Somerset.

Littler, who won the Grand Slam of Darts last week, hit checkouts of 170, 164 and 136 as he threatened to overturn an early deficit, but Humphries held his nerve to win the last three legs.

Teenager Littler missed chances at double tops in the first and second legs and Humphries took control as he landed a 12-dart leg to make it 5-1.

Littler responded with his maximum 170 checkout and broke back to reduce the deficit further to 6-4.

But Humphries then took successive legs to edge closer to victory and, when Littler missed a dart at double 20, he nailed it to complete his strong finish and keep hold of the trophy.

Earlier, Littler had defeated Mike De Decker 10-3 in the quarter-finals and followed that up by beating Ross Smith in the semis 11-9, before facing Humphries, who had overcome Ryan Joyce 10-5 and Dirk van Duijvenbode 11-8 on his way to the final.

“I’m really, really proud of that one to be honest,” Humphries said.

“I didn’t feel myself this week playing-wise, I felt like I was a dart behind in a lot of the scenarios but there’s something that Luke does to you. He really drives me, makes me want to be a better player and I enjoy playing him.

“He let me in really early in that first session to go 4-1 up, I never looked back and I’m proud that I didn’t take my foot off the gas. These big games are what I live for.

“Luke is a special talent and he was right – I said to him I’ve got to get these [titles] early before he wins them all.

“I’d love to be up here and hitting 105 averages like Luke is all the time but he’s a different calibre, he’s probably the best player in the world right now but there’s something about me that never gives up.

“This is a great way to go into the Worlds.”

Littler, who lost the World Championship final to Humphries last year, said: “It was tough, missed a few doubles and if you don’t take chances early on, it’s a lot to come back.

“I hit the 170 and the 164 but just didn’t have enough in the end.

“It’s been a good past two weeks. I just can’t wait to go home, chill out, obviously practise at home for the Worlds. That’s it now, leading up to the big one.”

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