CROSS FACES MVG AFTER BIG SCARE

WORLD CHAMPION Rob Cross bids to make more darts history tonight – less than a week since a major health scare left him in hospital.

Cross (left) could become only the second player, after Phil “The Power” Taylor, to win both a world title and the Unibet Premier League play-offs on his first attempt at London’s O2 Arena. But he was only cleared to face hot favourite Michael van Gerwen (right) in the semi-finals after being diagnosed with costochondritis – chest wall pain caused by acute inflammation of cartilage connecting ribs to the sternum.

Cross admits he was “crippled” by the agony and said: “Doctors tell me the pain is equivalent to a heart attack in terms of intensity and, for a couple of days, it was awful. “I couldn’t lift my arms above my shoulder and I had to stay behind in Aberdeen last week, after the final round of Premier League fixtures, to get it checked out in hospital. “I had to go for further tests at the Conquest Hospital at home in Hastings before I was given the all-clear to take part in the play-offs. It’s not ideal to go into a big night like this after a health scare, but at least the problem is not too serious.”

Cross pipped Van Gerwen in a semi-final on the way to claiming his world championship crown at Alexandra Palace five months ago.

In the other semi-final, two-time world champ Gary Anderson meets his former protege Michael Smith.