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Taylor: in sensational form

The fog on the Tyne is McDine McDine

Sid Waddell
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There's only one Phantom at this Opera and he comes from Stoke-on-Trent!

Phil Taylor was in unbelievable form once again at the World Matchplay in Blackpool as he destroyed Colin Osborne 13-5.

'The Power' raced into a 10-0 lead against his opponent with an astonishing average of over 114 in those ten legs, before a brief fight back from Osborne saw Taylor finish with an impressive 109 average.

Taylor is the greatest darts player to ever walk this earth, but since he got his new darts on March 1st it is my absolutely rock solid informed opinion - after being connected with darts for over 30 years - that he has somehow managed to get even better!

Over the last four months The Power has thrown at an average of 107 for fun and 111 when he gets mean! It's quite phenomenal.

He has had a habit, particularly in Premier League Darts, to go out and try to whitewash people and to beat them 8-0, 10-0 or 12-0 in an attempt to absolutely demoralise the rest of the players.

And on Tuesday night at about 8.15pm he decided to put the frighteners on the entire field by attempting to break his own PDC world record for an end average, which he set at Bolton earlier this year.

He said afterwards that he wasn't thinking about averages and he probably wasn't but he went out there aiming for another whitewash, not because he wanted to humiliate Osborne but because he just wanted everyone to be worried by his form.

The other news from the Winter Gardens is that I've turned into a bit of a betting guru over night with my predictions for the matches being shown on the telly!

Like most things it has its pro and cons and while some punters have been offering me bottles of Champagne there's a few out there who just want to give me a punch!

I said before the tournament that I thought that it would probably be a Phil Taylor v James Wade final and at this point I don't really see anyone standing a chance against 'The Power'.

But being a slightly zany betting guru I feel like I should mention a couple of names that could possibly beat him and when I say the fog on the Tyne is McDine McDine, I'm of course talking about Kevin McDine.

I've come up with three nicknames for him; McDynamo, The Toon Terror, and Super McDine, but I'd like to challenge anyone out there who thinks they can think of something better to leave their suggestions in the comments box at the bottom of the page and I'll choose my favourites.

The young Geordie has been absolutely rocking here at the Winter Gardens and he will now face Taylor in the quarter-finals and I wouldn't expect The Power to hammer him.

I honestly think McDine has the quality to beat Taylor, but then he is only 23 so who knows. One thing for certain though is that this kid has a lot of potential and will no doubt get better as time goes on.

Before we get into the quarter-finals there are still some outstanding second round matches to be played and I can see a few upsets.

Reigning world champion John Part faces an extremely solid looking Alan Tabern from Lancashire and his performances over the last few days have made me believe he will beat Part.

I can also see the young Dutch star Michael Van Gerwen beating Wayne Mardle. He sometimes throws like an octopus dancing on a hot tray but boy has he got talent!

I've described him as the Lionel Messi of darts before and he really is something special. I would go as far as to say that he is the most naturally gifted darts player since Chris Mason.

Defending champion James Wade was my tip to make the final before the tournament started, but if I'm honest I haven't been very impressed with the way he has been playing.

He has been missing a lot of doubles and it wouldn't surprise me if Ronnie Baxter edged him out in a tight encounter.

It also wouldn't surprise me to see Raymond van Barneveld exit before the quarter-finals because he is another top player who has not been at his best, despite working very hard before the tournament to get fit.

Tony Eccles is the man who will be attempting to plot Barney's downfall and the teetotaller from Hartlepool is more than capable of getting through to the next round.