Corey Cadby has been drawn against James Richardson in the first round of Players Championship 9, as the former PDC world youth champion makes his return to action on the PDC circuit after a year-long absence.

The Australian’s last ranking-event appearance was a run to the final of the UK Open, back in March of 2018, and since then visa problems have kept Cadby away from the oche in the UK.

Raymond van Barneveld is also in the 128-player field at the Barnsley Metrodome today. The five-time world champion announced his immediate retirement in Rotterdam only nine days ago, before quickly reversing his decision.

Barney takes on Gary Eastwood, while a host of big names, including Michael van Gerwen, Gary Anderson, Gerwyn Price and Daryl Gurney are all missing this weekend.

Players Championship 9 first round draw
Ian White vs Brendan Dolan
Luke Humphries vs Alan Norris
Mickey Mansell vs Kevin Burness
Dimitri van den Bergh vs David Pallett
Mervyn King vs Ryan Harrington
Vincent van der Meer v Tytus Kanik
Stephen Bunting v Ryan Searle
Devon Petersen v Robert Thornton
Michael Smith vs Marko Kantele
Luke Woodhouse vs Dave Prins
Josh Payne vs Tony Newell
Jose Justicia vs Adrian Gray
Dave Chisnall vs Mike van Duivenbode
Harry Ward vs Davy van Baelen
Kyle Anderson vs Matt Clark
Matthew Edgar vs Christian Bunse
Peter Wright vs Jamie Hughes
Boris Koltsov vs Nathan Aspinall
Gabriel Clemens vs Geert Nentjes
Gary Eastwood vs Raymond van Barneveld
Ricky Evans vs Andy Boulton
Mark Dudbridge vs Eddie Dootson
Steve West vs Simon Stevenson
Mark McGeeney vs Adam Hunt
Mensur Suljovic vs Ross Smith
Ronny Huybrechts vs John Michael
Martin Schindler vs Robert Marijanovic
Niels Zonneveld vs Michael Barnard
Darren Webster vs Justin Pipe
Ryan Meikle vs Jelle Klaasen
Steve Beaton vs Madars Razma
Richard North vs Ryan Joyce
Adrian Lewis vs Nathan Rafferty
Jamie Bain vs Robert Owen
Keegan Brown vs Ted Evetts
Bradley Brooks vs Mark Wilson
Simon Whitlock vs Kirk Shepherd
Carl Wilkinson vs Conan Whitehead
Danny Noppert vs Maik Kuivenhoven
Chris Dobey vs Stephen Burton
James Wade vs Mark Webster
Vincent Kamphuis vs Christian Kist
Jeffrey de Zwaan vs Peter Hudson
Mario Robbe vs Jamie Lewis
Joe Cullen vs Darius Labanauskas
Zoran Lerchbacher vs Arron Monk
Steve Lennon vs Ritchie Edhouse
Ron Meulenkamp vs Yordi Meeuwisse
Jonny Clayton vs Scott Baker
Toni Alcinas vs Nathan Derry
John Henderson vs Willie O’Connor
Barrie Bates vs Wayne Jones
Max Hopp vs Jonathan Worsley
Gavin Carlin vs Dawson Murschell
Krzysztof Ratajski vs Glen Durrant
Joe Murnan vs Rowby-John Rodriguez
Rob Cross vs George Killington
Jose de Sousa vs Cristo Reyes
Vincent van der Voort vs Terry Temple
James Richardson vs Corey Cadby
Jermaine Wattimena vs Dirk van Duijvenbode
Benito van de Pas vs Alan Tabern
James Wilson vs Kim Huybrechts
Jan Dekker vs Reece Robinson

Listen to episode 99 of the Weekly Dartscast podcast with special guests Keegan Brown and Mac Elkin via the player below!