Schedule Thursday afternoon at World Darts Championship including Rob Cross, Thibaut Tricole and Berry van Peer

We are nearing the end of the first round at the World Darts Championship. Thursday afternoon, the last two matches from the first round will be played. After that, only second-round matches are on the cards until Christmas.

The afternoon session kicks off with a matchup between Mickey Mansell and Xiaochen Zong. They will decide who will face Brendan Dolan in the second round. For Mansell, it will be his eighth participation at the Alexandra Palace. The previous two editions will give him confidence, as those were the only two years he actually managed to reach the second round. Opponent Zong is entering the World Darts Championship for the third time, but he has never won in Ally Pally.

Then the moment has come for Berry van Peer to make his debut at the World Darts Championship. The Dutchman will play Luke Woodhouse in the very last match of the first round. Woodhouse has shown some good form recently, notably reaching the quarter-finals at the Players Championship Finals.

Mike de Decker will be in action Thursday afternoon for his second-round match against Madars Razma. The Belgian earlier recorded a 3-0 victory over Dragutin Horvat and will try to force a clash with world champion Michael Smith in round 3.

At the end of the afternoon, former world champion Rob Cross starts his tournament. After a fine season, 'Voltage' can again be counted among the outsiders at this edition of the World Darts Championship. He won a Euro Tour and reached the final at the Masters and the Grand Slam of Darts. Cross will face Thibault Tricole, who became the first Frenchman ever to play at the World Darts Championship and was also the first French player to record a victory. Tricole will have to play a lot better against Cross to have any chance of pulling off another win however.

Mickey Mansell v Xiaochen Zong (R1)

Luke Woodhouse v Berry van Peer (R1)

Madars Razma v Mike De Decker (R2)

Rob Cross v Thibault Tricole (R2)