While England have coasted into the quarter-finals of the World Cup, James Maddison and fans of the playmaker will have been left disappointed by his lack of minutes.
The Leicester City man hasn’t figured in a single game in Qatar so far. To the disappointment of many, Maddison wasn’t even given a run-out towards the end of the Three Lions’ 3-0 romp against Senegal, despite the game being sewn up by early in the second half.
With Saturday’s huge showdown against France looming, Maddison’s role of bystander looks unlikely to change, with Gareth Southgate tipped to stick with his tried and tested tournament players.
READ MORE: Leicester City ace James Maddison pretends to be Gerwyn Price during darts challenge
On the plus side, Maddison will have more time to brush up on his darts game, which arguably needs some work judging by video which has just been released by the Professional Darts Corporation (PDC).
Back in October, during the World Grand Prix, which was held in Leicester, PDC stars Gerwyn Price and Joe Cullen visited the Foxes’ training ground to play darts with Maddison and teammate Luke Thomas.
As part of the visit, the quartet took part in a round of Forfeit Darts, where the spin of a wheel determined a quirky way in which the darts would be thrown.
(Image: PDC/YouTube)
In the video, the players first had to throw three darts while sat down, with Maddison managing 15, the fewest of the quartet. As world number one Price took the chair, Maddison chirped: “Don’t start showing off now and whacking 140.” The Iceman managed 42, just two more than Thomas. Cullen won the round with 54.
Next up, the players had to swap darts, with Maddison borrowing Price’s set, and he fared better, hitting 52 compared to Thomas’s 26. Meanwhile, Price defied his unfamiliar arrows by nailing 140 while Cullen hit 135.
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(Image: PDC/YouTube)
The final round saw the players throw with their wrong hand. Maddison, throwing left-handed, looked in disbelief as his first dart bounced out before eventually mustering 21 from the visit.
Thomas got the better of his teammate again, hitting 25 left-handed. Cullen won the challenge with an overall score of 217 ahead of Price on 210, with Thomas (90) just getting the better of Maddison (88).
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