Rob Cross, Dimitri van den Bergh and Jamie Lewis to make World Series of Darts debuts

Rob Cross, Dimitri van den Bergh and Jamie Lewis will step on to the global stage in the World Series later this year, as Brisbane and Vienna prepare to host World Series events for the first time in 2018.

The ongoing global expansion of the sport will see six events held throughout the year, followed by the end-of-season finals, which will take place in Austria in November.

The world's current top four - Michael van Gerwen, Peter Wright, Rob Cross and Gary Anderson - will compete in all six World Series events this year, and the action begins with the second staging of the German Darts Masters in May.

They will be joined by Austria's Mensur Suljovic, the reigning Champions League of Darts winner, five-time world champion Raymond van Barneveld, reigning World Youth champion Dimitri van den Bergh and World Championship semi-finalist Jamie Lewis.

The event will take place across one spectacular day of action at the Veltins Arena in Gelsenkirchen on Friday May 25, with the 16-man field also comprised of the top two German players on the PDC Order of Merit, along with six players from the German Superleague.

The PDC then returns to Las Vegas for the second staging of the US Masters from July 5-7, with World Grand Prix champion Daryl Gurney and Premier League star Gerwyn Price joining the quartet of Van Gerwen, Wright, Cross and Anderson.

The final two PDC players will be confirmed in due course and the tournament will also feature eight players from the USA or Canada who qualify to compete in the 2018 North American Championship, which precedes the US Masters on July 3-4.

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Just one week later, the third staging of the Shanghai Darts Masters begins, with Van Gerwen, Wright, Cross, Anderson, Gurney and Price once again in action.

The other two PDC participants are yet to be confirmed, but they will be accompanied by eight regional representatives, including the top three players from the inaugural PDC Asian Tour.

The action then heads Down Under for a treble-header in August, which gets underway with the Auckland Darts Masters.

August's three events will see Van Gerwen, Wright, Cross and Anderson compete alongside the Australian trio of Simon Whitlock, Kyle Anderson- the reigning Auckland Darts Masters champion, and recent UK Open finalist Corey Cadby, plus one additional player.

The Auckland Darts Masters will be held from August 2-4, followed by the Melbourne Darts Masters on August 10-12.

The inaugural Brisbane Darts Masters takes place from August 17-19 and a series of qualifying events will be held in July for regional representatives to win spots in the three 16-player events.

The Multiversum Schwechat in Vienna then plays host to the World Series of Darts Finals from November 2-4, as the top eight players on the World Series Order of Merit will be joined by 16 invited players and qualifiers.

The 2018 Premier League heads to the First Direct Arena in Leeds on Thursday with coverage underway from 7pm on Sky Sports Action & Sky Sports Main Event from 9.45pm. Ten weeks of tungsten action will then continue through to the season's conclusion with the Play-Offs on May 17 at The O2 in London.

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