ST HELENS darts aces Michael Smith, Stephen Bunting and Dave Chisnall now know who and when they will play in the second round of the William Hill World Darts Championship.

The schedule of play for the first and second rounds has now been confirmed.

The pre-Christmas period in the sport's biggest tournament seeing the first and second rounds played across nine days from December 15-23 as fans are welcomed back to London's Alexandra Palace.

Bunting is the first of the town's darters up when he will play the winner of the first round tie between Ross and Jeff Smith in the 19 December afternoon session.

On 21 December Chisnall and Smith are in second round action.

2018/19 runner up Smith will play the winner of the tie between Bolton's Lisa Ashton and Dutchman Ron Meulenkamp in the evening.

Earlier in the day Chisnall plays the victor from the Darius Labanauskas v Charles Losper round one match.

World number two Peter Wright will begin his quest for a second Ally Pally title in three years against either Ryan Meikle or 16-year-old German Fabian Schmutzler on Friday December 17, which will also see 67-year-old legend Paul Lim in action.

Saturday December 18 will see Michael van Gerwen open his challenge to lift the Sid Waddell Trophy for a fourth time against Chas Barstow or John Norman Jnr.

Fallon Sherrock will face Steve Beaton on Sunday December 19 as she returns to the stage where she famously became the first woman to win at the PDC's World Championship two years ago.

The second round will conclude across two sessions on Thursday December 23, when former champion Rob Cross and world number seven Jose de Sousa are among the stars in action.

Following a three-day Christmas break, the third and fourth rounds will be held from December 27-30, with the quarter-finals, semi-finals and final being held from January 1-3.

Tickets for some sessions remain available through SeeTickets. Hospitality Packages are available through this link, and Hotel & Ticket Breaks are available through Sportsbreaks.com.

The tournament will be broadcast live on Sky Sports in the UK, through the PDC's worldwide broadcast partners including DAZN and RTL7, and on PDCTV (excluding UK and Netherlands based subscribers).

2021/22 William Hill World Darts Championship

Schedule of Play

Wednesday December 15 (1900 GMT)

3x First Round, 1x Second Round

Ritchie Edhouse v Lihao Wen (R1)

Ricky Evans v Nitin Kumar (R1)

Adrian Lewis v Matt Campbell (R1)

Gerwyn Price v Edhouse/Wen (R2)

Thursday December 16

Afternoon Session (1230 GMT)

3x First Round, 1x Second Round

Steve Lennon v Madars Razma (R1)

Scott Mitchell v Chris Landman (R1)

Chas Barstow v John Norman Jnr (R1)

Daryl Gurney v Evans/Kumar (R2)

Evening Session (1900 GMT)

3x First Round, 1x Second Round

William O’Connor v Danny Lauby (R1)

Ryan Meikle v Fabian Schmutzler (R1)

Ron Meulenkamp v Lisa Ashton (R1)

Gary Anderson v Lewis/Campbell (R2)

Friday December 17

Afternoon Session (1230 GMT)

3x First Round, 1x Second Round

Ryan Joyce v Roman Benecky (R1)

Keane Barry v Royden Lam (R1)

Jermaine Wattimena v Boris Koltsov (R1)

Krzysztof Ratajski v Lennon/Razma (R2)

Evening Session (1900 GMT)

3x First Round, 1x Second Round

Joe Murnan v Paul Lim (R1)

William Borland v Bradley Brooks (R1)

Ross Smith v Jeff Smith (R1)

Peter Wright v Meikle/Schmutzler (R2)

Saturday December 18

Afternoon Session (1230 GMT)

3x First Round, 1x Second Round

Jamie Hughes v Raymond Smith (R1)

Callan Rydz v Yuki Yamada (R1)

Darius Labanauskas v Charles Losper (R1)

Ian White v Mitchell/Landman (R2)

Evening Session (1900 GMT)

3x First Round, 1x Second Round

Adam Hunt v Boris Krcmar (R1)

Ted Evetts v Jim Williams (R1)

Rowby-John Rodriguez v Nick Kenny (R1)

Michael van Gerwen v Barstow/Norman Jnr (R2)

Sunday December 19

Afternoon Session (1230 GMT)

3x First Round, 1x Second Round

Maik Kuivenhoven v Ky Smith (R1)

Jason Heaver v Juan Francisco Rodriguez (R1)

Alan Soutar v Diogo Portela (R1)

Stephen Bunting v Ross Smith/J Smith (R2)

Evening Session (1900 GMT)

3x First Round, 1x Second Round

Martijn Kleermaker v John Michael (R1)

Florian Hempel v Martin Schindler (R1)

Steve Beaton v Fallon Sherrock (R1)

Jonny Clayton v Barry/Lam (R2)

Monday December 20 (1900 GMT)

3x First Round, 1x Second Round

Luke Woodhouse v James Wilson (R1)

Rusty-Jake Rodriguez v Ben Robb (R1)

Raymond van Barneveld v Lourence Ilagan (R1)

James Wade v Kuivenhoven/K Smith (R2)

Tuesday December 21

Afternoon Session (1230 GMT)

2x First Round, 2x Second Round

Lewy Williams v Toyokazu Shibata (R1)

Jason Lowe v Daniel Larsson (R1)

Mervyn King v Joyce/Benecky (R2)

Dave Chisnall v Labanauskas/Losper (R2)

Evening Session (1900 GMT)

4x Second Round

Vincent van der Voort v Hunt/Krcmar (R2)

Michael Smith v Meulenkamp/Ashton (R2)

Dimitri Van den Bergh v Hempel/Schindler (R2)

Devon Petersen v Hughes/Raymond Smith (R2)

Wednesday December 22

Afternoon Session (1230 GMT)

4x Second Round

Ryan Searle v Borland/Brooks (R2)

Glen Durrant v O’Connor/Lauby (R2)

Luke Humphries v Rowby-John Rodriguez/Kenny (R2)

Joe Cullen v Evetts/J Williams (R2)

Evening Session (1900 GMT)

4x Second Round

Nathan Aspinall v Murnan/Lim (R2)

Dirk van Duijvenbode v Wattimena/Koltsov (R2)

Kim Huybrechts v Beaton/Sherrock (R2)

Simon Whitlock v Kleermaker/Michael (R2)

Thursday December 23

Afternoon Session (1230 GMT)

4x Second Round

Damon Heta v Woodhouse/Wilson (R2)

Brendan Dolan v Rydz/Yamada (R2)

Mensur Suljovic v Soutar/Portela (R2)

Jose de Sousa v Lowe/Larsson (R2)

Evening Session (1900 GMT)

4x Second Round

Danny Noppert v Heaver/Jose Francisco Rodriguez (R2)

Gabriel Clemens v L Williams/Shibata (R2)

Rob Cross v Van Barneveld/Ilagan (R2)

Chris Dobey v Rusty-Jake Rodriguez/Robb (R2)

Monday December 27

Afternoon Session (1230 GMT)

3x Third Round

Evening Session (1900 GMT)

3x Third Round

Tuesday December 28

Afternoon Session (1230 GMT)

3x Third Round

Evening Session (1900 GMT)

3x Third Round

Wednesday December 29

Afternoon Session (1230 GMT)

3x Third Round

Evening Session (1900 GMT)

1x Third Round, 2x Fourth Round

Thursday December 30

Afternoon Session (1230 GMT)

3x Fourth Round

Evening Session (1900 GMT)

3x Fourth Round

Saturday January 1

Afternoon Session (1230 GMT)

2x Quarter-Finals

Evening Session (1930 GMT)

2x Quarter-Finals

Sunday January 2 (1930 GMT)

2x Semi-Finals

Monday January 3 (2000 GMT)

Final