STOURPORT darts star Cayden Smith has been selected to represent England at this year's Junior Darts World Cup in Gibraltar.

The 16-year-old will team up with Ryan Branley, Jenson Walker and Jayden Harper as they go head-to-head with 20 other countries to be crowned the world's best in the under-18s category.

In the recent qualifying event for the championships in Coventry, Cayden actually missed out on selection for the team, but after a late drop-out, he was called up to England's B team squad to make the trip to Gibraltar in December.

But, for someone who only started playing darts as a way of passing the time in lockdown back in 2020, he is taking competing for his country in his stride.

"I played darts through lockdown when I was bored," he admitted. "I started practicing and throwing some more darts around and then you realise that you're getting better and you enjoy it more.

"So I just wanted to go out there and play and I have been doing it ever since."

Cayden trains and plays out of the West Midlands Junior Darts Academy in Tipton and is frequently involved in county games at weekends, where he competes with other boys much older than himself.

He has been involved in the England set-up for a couple of years and was vice-captain of the England B team in last year's competition.

His darts career has not been a long one but at 16, he is showing plenty of promise and this World Cup event in December will be another chance for him to impress against the best in the world.

"Everyone turns up there," added Cayden. "The best U18s in the world are there and playing for my country as well, that will be pretty special.

As for any nerves: "To be fair, I don't tend to get nervous. As soon as it's game on, I am in the zone so I just throw and hope for the best really.

"It's better if you let them flow, if you try to hard that's when it goes wrong so I try and just let them flow."