Barney: can he topple Taylor?

If the ghosts of Montgomery and Rommel are sat up in heaven watching this battle, they will be delighted at the tactics. It's like the Mardle's Howitzers against the Somme-like attrition of Priestley.

Sid Waddell
Quotes of the week

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We're having a ball over in Dublin.

The place has been full every night and some of the fancy dress is wonderful. I saw a bloke in a green silk jacket and red lapels over a vest, with long hair and a moustache; he was the spitting image of Jonny Depp playing Captain Jack Sparrow and he was going absolutely ballistic.

There was another guy dressed as an old leprechaun and had more hair than Yosemite Sam. In fact, all the hair started getting in his eyes and when he came to buy my book he ended up walking into a pillar. Only in Ireland...

One of my favourite quotes of the week came during Wayne Mardle's match with Dennis Priestley when their contrasting styles reminded me of classical military warfare.

I said: "If the ghosts of Montgomery and Rommel are sat up in heaven watching this battle, they will be delighted at the tactics. It's like the Mardle's Howitzers against the Somme-like attrition of Priestley."

I think that summed it up very nicely.

We've had loads of e-mails asking why Adrian Lewis turned up for his match against Barney with blood pouring from his chin.

The explanation is that his mum got rather excited just before the match and wanted to give him a kiss. Being shorter than him she had to jump up to plant a smacker on him, but instead of kissing his lips, she sank her teeth into his chin.

She drew blood and there was a trickle of claret coming down his chin throughout the first set, all because of a misguided kiss from his mother!

Her name is Eve (and she's married to Steve), but we were all calling her the vampire at breakfast on Thursday morning.

Better than ever

I said in my last column that this would be Phil Taylor's tournament because he's playing better than ever.

He usually has a cup of black tea after a match, but following round one against Ronnie Baxter I saw him in the bar with a pint of lager in one hand and he winked at me as he held up five fingers with the other.

That was his way of saying "These guys have no chance against me now it's the best-of-five sets."

Colin Lloyd told me a great story about Taylor the other week at one of the Championship League matches. Colin had been practising his guts out and was playing "solid" (which in darts players' shorthand means "brilliant").

But Taylor stepped up, smashed him 7-0 and then turned around and said: "Sorry about that Colin, I'm eager to get home and put my feet up,"

What can you do against a bloke who can raise his game like that to make sure he gets home in time for Coronation Street? He knows how good he is and it's almost comical the way he can switch that talent on.

It's as though playing darts at that level is as easy to him as wandering around the garden tending to some prize leeks.

I expect to see him winning sets over the course of this week with averages of between 100 and 115, even though it's a double to start. I thought he'd reached his peak five years ago, but I think he's 10 per cent better than that now. If there's a better British sportsman walking the planet right now I'd like to know his name.

Challengers

The question now is who can challenge him in Dublin this week?

Colin Lloyd - He's in the frame now he's in the last eight and having won this tournament before he knows exactly what he's up against. He tends to aim the darts at each other and his fatal flaw comes when hits the previous dart too hard and misses the second or third 60. As the games get longer and more demanding, you've got to fancy The Power against him.

Raymond van Barneveld - He's definitely in the frame and is using the darts particularly nicely around the 60. Interestingly, at one stage against Lewis he stopped going for double top, which he'd been hitting quite nicely, and went for double 16 instead - a sure sign of nerves. But then he hit the double 16 and then put his next two darts in the 60. From double top to 60 is about three inches, but double 16 to 60 is about 10 inches. He was doing the harder adjustment, but he was doing it very nicely.

Dennis Preistley - Myself and Dave Lanning were almost in tears when we saw the look on his face halfway through his match with Mardle. He's obviously just finished radiotherapy for prostate cancer and he was fighting so hard. The last time I saw a look like that on somebody's face was when my dad had just finished an exhausting eight-hour shift down a pit cutting coal. It was remarkable that he finished the match as strongly as he did, but I don't think he'd have the stamina to handle The Power.

Robert Thornton - He looks as though he really wants it. He's stated that he wants to be the first Scotsman in history to do a nine-darter live on television. Jocky Wilson enjoyed some great achievements in darts, but he never did that. Thornton looks really aggressive and I like the way he snarls and grimaces into the camera, but I still don't think he's got the consistency to beat Taylor.

John Part - He's not playing vintage darts at the moment and he will face a tough match on Thursday night against Jacko Barry who'll have 97 per cent of the crowd on his side.

Taylor's been on a diet recently, but if I were him I would throw aside the rabbit food and start eating steak and chips for breakfast because looking at the contenders, I think he'll be crowned champion at the end of the week.

He has Power tattooed on one arm, Glory on the other - and I think the Glory arm is going to be raised at the end of the week.

And finally..

I was chatting to Dennis and Jenny Priestley about the old times on Wednesday night.

They reminded me of the time I went over to their house for Dennis' 50th birthday and I landed them in trouble with my karaoke singing.

It was 10pm on a nice summer's evening and I'd been belting out 'You're Cheating Heart' (in the style of Hank Williams) and 'Ain't That A Shame' when the neighbours started banging pans and shouting for the caterwauling Geordie to shut up because they were trying to sleep.

Dennis' 50th birthday almost ended up in a fight because of me!