ST HELENS will have two representatives in the Ladbrokes World Darts Championships which starts on Friday night and runs through to New Year’s Day.

October's World Grand Prix runner-up Dave Chisnall takes on Scotland's John Henderson on Sunday December 15.

Chisnall is seventh seed for the tournament and 33-1 to win it.

He plays the same day that five-time World Champion Raymond van Barneveld faces Jamie Lewis, with Brendan Dolan also on stage before Jamie Caven meets ex-Lakeside Champion Jelle Klaasen.

St Helens’ other darter World Youth Champion Michael Smith, who is the 32 seed, opens on Wednesday December 18 against either Japan's Morihiro Hashimoto or Singapore's Paul Lim.

Lim is appearing in his 20th World Championship.

Phil Taylor will be in action on the opening night of this year's tournament on Friday December 13 after the schedule of play for the £1 million event was confirmed.

Taylor, who won his 16th World Championship title on New Year's Day when he came from 4-2 down to claim a famous 7-4 victory against Michael van Gerwen, will open his bid to retain the Sid Waddell Trophy against either New Zealand's Rob Szabo or PDPA Qualifier Ian Moss.

The opening night will also feature three-time World Champion John Part - the first Alexandra Palace winner in 2008 - up against Holland's Mareno Michels, the 1995 Lakeside Champion Richie Burnett up against Dean Winstanley and Peter Wright's clash with Joe Cullen.

The World Championship's first round is split across eight sessions in the opening seven days, with one preliminary round contest accompanied by four games from the first round at the north London venue, live on Sky Sports.