them. It’s tough – you try to support them, but, if you get drawn against one of them, you have to be against them.
“I’ve played against Danielle a few times this year as she does the circuit and Lindsey decided to do one or two tournaments – so I’ve clashed with her.
“I won in the end, but it was close and I kept thinking, ‘I swear I’m going to ground you in a minute!’ But in the back of my mind I have to tell myself, ‘She’s your opponent, not your daughter’.
“When we come off stage, it’s back to mother and daughter... but, hopefully, they don’t ring Childline!”
Ashton’s match will be the third on stage tonight, by which time the fancydress legions will be well-irrigated by the first of the 1,000,000 pints of beer expected to be consumed over the 16 days of competition.
She added: “It’s scary, but exciting. When I saw the schedule for first night, I thought, ‘Why don’t you throw me to the lions?’ But let’s go for it – why not?
“It’s an honour to be one of two reigning world champions opening the tournament. If I can get my scoring and pegging out together, I’ll be really chuffed and I’d hope to get through.” DIFFERENT nations represented AGGREGATE crowd over 28 sessions RECORD number of 180 maximums at world championship (set two years ago) NINE-DART finishes at the world championship (seven different players)
ESTIMATED pints of lager/ bitter/cider consumed over the tournament
PLAYERS in main womendraw, including two PRIZE MONEY for winner from record £2.5m fund PLAYERS who have won the PDC world title since inception in 1994 MOST 180s in a match (Gary Anderson v Michael van Gerwen in 2017 final) BEER GOES! Sky’s Dave Clark tweeted a picture of theAlly Pally ‘supplies’ and (left) 2017 king Michael van Gerwen IT was a bigger shock than any electric current gave him as an electrician.But as Rob ‘Voltage’ Cross begins his defence of the PDC darts world title tonight, he is grateful his manager, Jon Archer, is still in his corner to offer support – after he nearly died from an insect bite.Cross hit the big time when he sent 16-time champion Phil ‘The Power’ Taylor into retirement with an astonishing 7-2 win in the final 12 months ago.But the Hastings marksman revealed his year as king of Ally Pally was almost ruined by his manager’s freak illness at a tournament in Vienna earlier this year.Cross said: “Jon is on the mend now, but it was A TEAM: Lisa Ashton celebrates with the BDO crown in 2014 (above) and (left) after winning the World Darts Trophy at Lakeside touch-and-go and a scary experience. He wasn’t well in Austria, running a fever for a couple of days.“It might well have been an insect bite on his foot. But it started in his toes and, when he got home, the infection was spreading up his leg.“His foot was so swollen, he couldn’t drive himself to the hospital. I’m relieved and really glad he’s all right. But maybe, 12 hours later, he wouldn’t have survived.”Cross (above) could face Jeffrey de Zwaan in the second round tonight and added: “That target is only on my back if I let opponents dictate.“In the last two months, I have played badly. But I’ve had plenty of time to get myself right.”