Darts player Carl Wilkinson earned the biggest win of his PDC career yesterday. 

The 35-year-old, who is number 89 in the world, won his group in the PDC Home Tour from his house in Darfield. Top players such as Peter Wright and Gerwyn Price have failed to win their groups.  The event was broadcast live on the PDC website and Sky Sports app with Carl and his opponents using Skype to film dartboards in their houses.  It is one of the only live sport events to have taken place during the lockdown.

Carl said: “It’s definitely my best achievement since winning a PDC Tour card last year. I am pleased to have won but I am even more happy that I showed how well I can play. I averaged 96 throughout the night which is up there with the best players in the world. It was very strange playing at home.”

Carl began with a 5-0 success over Matthew Edgar as he averaged 101.6 in what was described by Sky as ‘one of the best performances seen in the PDC’s Home Tour’.  Carl said: “Matt Edgar had been giving me a bit of stick on Twitter, saying he was going to beat me, so it was nice to get that result.” 

Wilkinson and Callan Rydz were then locked at 3-3 but a 160 checkout helped him to a 5-3 victory in his second game.  He completed a clean sweep with a 5-2 victory over Steve Beaton, the world number 13 and former world champion.