Taylor: celebrates his win

Half-way through a match a quilt fell off the wall onto Dave Lanning. It got into his mouth and he ended up chewing it. Phil Taylor saw him and said he looked like an old Indian chief.

Sid Waddell
Quotes of the week

WORLD MATCHPLAY DARTS
Starts Sunday July 20
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Phil Taylor emerged as the champion after a thrilling Las Vegas classic, but it was the losing finalist James Wade that caught Sid Waddell's eye.

Sid's latest skysports.com column also reflects on the highlights of his trip to Las Vegas as well as looking forward to the World Matchplay, which starts next week live on Sky Sports.

Axis powers

The Las Vegas Classic confirmed that the axis of darts at the highest level will now be between Phil Taylor and James Wade.

The fact that Wade has won three majors in the last year proves he's no mug and this competition saw him demonstrate his status as Taylor's main rival, ahead of Raymond van Barneveld.

I predicted in this column before the competition that Taylor and Wade would dominate the tournament and that's exactly what we saw.

Taylor was an impressive champion and I'd say he's now fitter than he's ever been. In the past he's lost weight far too quickly on crash diets, but I was chatting to his wife and she told me how he has lost three-and-a-half stone in a controlled fashion over seven months.

He's going to the gym regularly, he's eating properly and that contributed to his win in Las Vegas. The temperatures hit 114 degrees out there and it's a tough environment to play darts in, so you need to be fit to deal with that.

Wade is also a fit young man and knows how to get through a game, as he showed in his semi final against Peter Manley, which was one of the most amazing matches of the weekend.

Manley tried every trick in the book in that game, short of hitting James with a brick. He slowed him down, stood in the middle and played like a clever centre-half trying to cope with a quicker centre-forward.

James admitted afterwards that he was exhausted and I think he did well to make a game of it in the final against Taylor.

Wade doesn't need to practise as much as Taylor because he's taller and has a more natural throw and he's probably got a better eye because his darts don't touch each other like Taylor's do.

You need dexterity to be a top darts player - we don't see many chartered accountants coming into the game. James used to be a motor mechanic and if he took the engine out of a BMW he needed to be able to put it back in exactly the right place.

Similarly, Taylor used to earn his living making toilet chain handles and that required great precision as well. They're both extremely skilled precision engineers and that is why they are at the top of the game.

There's no doubt that these two are the hungriest players on the planet right now. I think Barney has always had a weaker will to win than Taylor (who has been known to practise for 27 hours a day) and I think he's starting feel a bit jaded by the pace of the international circuit, which is why Wade has usurped him as Taylor's main rival.

Box not so clever

Other memories from the tournament included Andy Hamilton, who looked like a challenger to Taylor early on with a 105 average against Shawn Breneman.

And Mervyn King produced one of the best displays of scoring we've ever seen against Darin Young. In three legs he averaged 153, 125 and 153 with three 100-plus finishes to turn the match on its head. It was incredible to watch and it was the talk of the place.

We've been waiting for him to do something special since he came over from the BDO and I think we saw the real Mervyn King on that night.

My daftest line of the tournament was based on the famous old song and went: 'We're down the road at the Mandalay, where the flying tungstens play.' I also liked Dave Lanning's concept of a 'chip-pan sunset'.

It was probably the best Las Vegas Classic ever, but it certainly wasn't the best commentary box. When we got there on the first day, it was basically some plywood boxes which were stuffy to say the least.

Worst of all it hadn't been soundproofed, so when I was going bonkers during Taylor's first-round match, he started looking up at us and wagging his finger at me.

To try to solve the problem, somebody turned up with a load of carpets, blankets and egg boxes and taped them to the walls.

There was a quilt taped to the wall on the right-hand side and half-way through a match it fell on Dave Lanning. It got into his mouth and he ended up chewing it. Phil Taylor saw him and said he looked like an old Indian chief.

Let me entertain you

I'm back in the UK now, although Taylor told me that he and his wife were off to chill at Robbie Williams' house for a few days.

When Taylor was a young man, Robbie used to sing in the youth clubs in Stoke where they both grew up and apparently he's invited them over to visit. Mind you, Taylor doesn't always tell me the whole truth.

Hopefully he'll get a better night's sleep than he did before the final when he was woken up at 5am by a guy whooping and doing cartwheels in the corridor outside his hotel room.

It turns out that the guy had won $20,000 on one of the machines in the casino and was celebrating wildly - although I think his mood might have been soured when a bleary-eyed Taylor opened his door and fired a few choice Stoke-isms in his direction!

Next stop, Blackpool

Myself and Rod Harrington did the draw for the World Matchplay and there's plenty to look forward to in the first round.

Kevin Painter, who averaged 104 against Taylor and still lost, should have a hell of a match against Tony Eccles and Colin Osborne v Mervyn King will be worth watching as well.

I'd also pick out the match between the 2005 champion Colin Lloyd and Mark Walsh, which is the very first match of the tournament.

You might not remember Walsh, but he starred at the UK Open three years ago before getting Dartitis. He's the only guy I've ever seen come back to the top level after recovering from that condition.

So it will be interesting right from 7pm on the very first night and I'll be bringing you a full preview next week.