Rob Cross appears to make an obscene gesture midway through his World Darts Championship clash with Scott Williams at Ally Pally – before later going on to lose second-round tie

2018 champion Rob Cross has been knocked out of the World Darts Championship in the second round and he appeared to make an obscene gesture to the crowd during the defeat.

The fifth seed was beaten 3-1 by last year’s semi-finalist Scott Williams, who will now face Germany’s Ricardo Pietreczko in round three.

Cross joined a growing list of highly ranked players to make an early exit from this year’s tournament.

His defeat means a record-breaking 14 seeds have crashed out in the second round. 

And he was clearly far from happy as he made his way off the stage for a quick break following one of the sets. 

The 34-year-old seemingly imitated a sexual act before a wry smile appeared on his face. 

WARNING: RUDE CONTENT

Cross won the first set but then lost the following three to last year’s semi-finalist

Viewers watching at home were quick to post clips of the moment on social media with most seeing the funny side.

Cross took the first set against fellow Englishman Williams – a surprise participant in the last four 12 months ago – but ‘Voltage’ was low on power after that.

Williams rolled off the next three sets as a gruelling evening session finished less than 20 minutes before midnight.

Meanwhile, Ricky Evans survived a match dart against him to upset sixth seed Dave Chisnall in an epic second-round clash decided by a sudden death leg.

Jonny Clayton won a sudden-death leg in the deciding set to edge past Mickey Mansell and book his place in the third round. 

Clayton will meet Daryl Gurney next after the Northern Irishman came from behind to beat Florian Hempel 3-2 in a pulsating affair. Gurney, the number 26 seed levelled the match with a 156 checkout and recovered from being 2-1 adrift after Hempel had claimed a third-set whitewash.

Hempel’s fellow German Ricardo Pietreczko produced a clinical finishing display – hitting 56 per cent of his doubles – to beat 28th seed Gian van Veen 3-1.

PDC Asian Tour leader Alexis Toylo lost 3-1 to Krzysztof Ratajski and 18th seed Josh Rock coasted to a 3-0 victory over Welsh debutant Rhys Griffin.

Former UK Open champion Andrew Gilding threw six maximums as he beat Grand Slam of Darts runner-up Martin Lukeman 3-1 to reach the third round for the first time.