Darts ace Rob Cross has hit out at Wayne Mardle, calling the pundit "irrelevant" and telling him to "pay my bills".

Sky Sports pundit Mardle has been critical of Cross throughout this week's matches in the Premier League, laying into Voltage for pausing before throwing for a double.

Cross, who burst onto the scene by beating Phil Taylor in the 2018 World Championship final, has always played with a pause in his game and hit back at Mardle after Thursday's ties.

He said: "Wayne gave me a bit of stick tonight? It wouldn't be unusual. At the end of the day, I stand up there as a darts player and be professional and it's fine – no problem.

"I stand up there and to be honest with you, the things that I do, I come off there [the stage] and always take 100% responsibility for whatever happens.

"If I want to pause, if I don't want to throw for the bullseye, I won't.

"To be honest with you, I pay my own bills, I feed my kids, so no-one else can tell me how they think I should play the game because I pay my own bills.

"If Wayne wants to have that much of an opinion, tell him to pay my bills. Tell him to pay my bills and I will throw the way he wants.

"In all honesty, I've got no problem with that, but when he starts feeding my kids' mouths, he can do that. If he's not doing that, he's irrelevant."

Despite Mardle's criticism, Cross has enjoyed a relatively successful week so far, winning two of his first four matches in Milton Keynes.

The 30-year-old drew 6-6 with Jose de Sousa on the opening night before beating James Wade and Jonny Clayton. His only defeat so far came against Michael van Gerwen on night three.

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