STING IN THE TAYL
BY
PHIL TAYLOR’S bid for a Hollywood finale to his glittering career was shot down in a blaze of hot Cross bungs.
And as Rob Cross became the finest purveyor of arrows from Hastings since King Harold copped one in the eye from William the Conqueror in 1066, a shooting star was born on the oche at London’s Alexandra Palace.
In his 21st final, and last competitive match before he retires today at the age of 57, Taylor crashed 7-2 in the final of the William Hill PDC World Championship.
Cross inflicted the heaviest defeat in the final since Taylor thrashed Raymond van Barneveld 7-1 nine years ago. This was the first time Taylor had ever played Cross – and he will be grateful it was the last.
Taylor could only praise him afterwards. “He was like me 25 years ago, relentless,” said Taylor. “Darts has got another animal on its hands. Now all the other top players have a real problem.
From the outset, Cross wasn’t falling for any of Taylor’s mind games.
He refused to be intimidated by Taylor’s £7.3million career prize money, his 102 TV titles and his attempts to unsettle him with eye contact on stage.
Just as Taylor had ambushed his mentor Eric Bristow 6-1 in the final as a 125-1 outsider 28 years ago to win the first of his 16 world titles, Cross simply refused to curtsey to a legend.
When the raced into a three-set lead, taking out 167 and 153 as if he was peeling a tangerine, Taylor was staring at the unthinkable humiliation of bowing out with a 7-0 whitewash.
Although Taylor stopped the rot by taking the fourth set, the belief drained out of him like bathwater after pulling the plug in the very next leg. Instead of blowing the roof off Ally Pally with a sensational nine-darter, he wired double 12.
And as if to prove this was not to be the Power’s night, he scattered his next halfdozen arrows across the board like a bag of spanners falling out of the loft – and Cross stole the leg with exemplary ruthlessness.
History will not judge Taylor on an old stager’s last stand falling horribly flat.
Roger Federer can keep his 19 Grand Slam titles. Jack Nicklaus can keep his 18 Majors. Don Bradman can keep his Test batting average of 99.94.
The Power’s achievements, and especially his longevity, will stand the test of time.
But when Cross took out 140 on double 16, the electrician who caused a huge short-circuit on the Power’s grid became the new monarch in the town where King Harold snuffed it.
The king is dead, long live the king. SIX of last season’s Premier League darts elite have fallen by the wayside as Derry’s Daryl Gurney earns his first spot in the elite competition.
Professional Darts