Wayne Jones warms up for PDC Grand Slam

Wolverhampton's Wayne Jones warmed up for he Grand Slam of Darts with a run to the third round on the PDC Pro Tour.

Jones won two games in the Players Championship at the K2 Centre in Crawley before his challenge was ended by Ian 'Diamond' White yesterday.

'The Wanderer' will be a part of the Grand Slam at Wolverhampton Civic Hall and is winning games again ahead of the tournament, live on Sky Sports.

The Black Country darter first stepped up to the oche in Crawley to be pitted against Steve Maish and only dropped a leg as he advanced by 6-1.

The 47-year-old returned to face Dutchman Roland Scholten, who he beat in the last World Championships, and repeated the trick to win 6-3.

But Jones couldn't keep up with the pace of White in his third game and dropped out of the running in a 6-3 defeat, but won £400 in the process.

Brierley Hill's Mark Jones joined his namesake in the third round but he was put out by tournament winner, the in-form Michael van Gerwen.

Jones beat Alan Tabern and Aaron Monk but Dutchman van Gerwen, the World Grand Prix champion, proved to be too much in Crawley.

Van Gerwen went on to win the tournament but Jones pushed him close and won four legs of his own before bowing out in a 6-4 defeat.

The Black Country darter contested a thrilling contest with Monk, the former world youth champion, first up that went the full 11 legs.

After that 6-5 win, the 42-year-old plasterer went up against the experienced Tabern and shone with a 6-2 victory in the second round.

Meanwhile, Stourbridge's Nick Fullwell went out in the first round after going up against Michael Barnard and he had his chances to win.

Fullwell dropped legs at crucial times and that left him chasing the game and he exited the competition after eventually losing 6-2.

Rugeley's Mark Hylton fared a little better but also left the competition at the first time of asking after a 6-4 defeat to Andy Jenkins.

Meanwhile, Wednesbury's Matthew Dicken missed out on an automatic spot in the PDC World Youth Championships after a first round defeat.

Dicken paid for going out at the first hurdle of the final PDC Youth Tour event of the season at the K2 Centre in Crawley on Saturday.

The youngster did take Steve Haggerty to the last leg before bowing out of the event by 4-3 in an event he needed to win prize money from.

The PDC Youth Order of Merit end-of-season standings were established today and Dicken was ranked joint 34th alongside two others.

Players in the top 32 qualify to compete in the last 64 of the World Youth Championships next spring and Dicken missed that by £25.