PDC WORLD DARTS
IT WAS a bigger shock than any he ever got as an electrician.
But as Rob ‘Voltage’ Cross begins his defence of the PDC world title tonight, he’s grateful that 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 deadliest marksman to come out of Hastings since William the Conqueror’s archers in 1066 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 touch and go and a scary experience. He wasn’t well in Austria, running a fever for a couple of days, and he thought it was probably the flu, like everyone does.
“We’re not too sure how it happened, 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.
Survived
“His foot was so swollen he couldn’t drive to the hospital and his wife ordered a taxi.
“I’m relieved, and really glad, that he’s all right. But maybe 12 hours later he wouldn’t have survived. The message is to get yourself checked out – if you don’t, you can end up brown bread.
“Obviously if I had to pick between him and another world title, I’d choose Jon every time. He’s a great guy who can’t do enough for me.”
Cross ploughed the loot from his startling triumph last year into a Sussex country pile.
The lord of the manor only moved into his new house, with 6.5 acres of land, an outbuilding he will use as his practice studio and a garage converted into a gym, near Hastings a fortnight ago.
He could face Jeffrey de Zwaan, who knocked world No.1 Michael van Gerwen out of the World Matchplay in July, in the second round tonight, and he has found the going heavier than the drainage in the lower field of his estate.
Cross said: “It has obviously been different, this year. My expectations have changed – I want more, and I want it now.
“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.”