Phil Taylor had no answer to the relentlessness of Rob Cross. Photo / Getty Images
Phil Taylor had no answer to the relentlessness of Rob Cross. Photo / Getty Images
To the sound of Coldplay's When I Ruled the World, Phil Taylor made an emotional final exit from darts with a characteristically blunt appraisal: "I used to rule the world - I don't any more."
In his last match as a professional, Taylor had just discovered what life has been like for his opponents the past 30 years.
The greatest darts player ever was not just beaten, he was bullied by a display of scoring in a world championship final from Rob Cross that has rarely been bettered.
It was not as if Taylor played poorly - his average would have won most of the other 20 finals he played - but he simply ran into an opponent who was inspired.
"He was like me 25 years ago," said Taylor. "He is dedicated, relentless and aggressive. You've got an animal on your hands. The grandkids have seen me get my backside smacked. I'd like to carry on but I'm nearly 58 and I just can't do it any more."
The match was summed up by the first leg of the fifth set. Taylor had briefly rallied. He had just won his first set to reduce the deficit to 3-1 and, against the throw, was close to achieving something that even he had never done at the world championships. The opening eight darts of the leg were perfect and, with a nine-darter in sight, he missed double 12 by the width of a wire. Taylor laughed but seemed to think that the fightback was about to begin. What happened? He missed three more darts at doubles and Cross mopped up.
Rob Cross claimed the world title at the first attempt. Photo / Getty Images
From there, there was barely any pause to an emphatic 7-2 demolition that carried remarkable symmetry with Taylor's own first world title in 1990, before Cross was even born. Then unknown, Taylor was also playing against the most iconic player of the time but, from odds of 125-1 at the start of the tournament, simply brushed Eric Bristow aside 6-1.
Cross, who was watching from the sofa and working as an electrician this time last year, had also been 125-1 to win this world championships at his first attempt.
What was most remarkable was how unfazed he seemed by Taylor. The former 16-times champion had kept Cross waiting as he paused for selfies and autographs during his last big walk-on to his I've Got The Power anthem. Taylor also tried to engage Cross in some on-stage chat.
Nothing, though, could disrupt one of the best performances in darts history. The statistics told the story. Cross' final average of 107.67 has been bettered only once by Taylor across all his other 20 world finals.
It was perhaps an anti-climatic note on which to end arguably the greatest individual career in British sport but Taylor was able to reflect positively. "Just reaching the final was like winning it for me," he said.
For the supporters, who were chanting, "There's only one Phil Taylor" outside Alexandra Palace from two hours before the first dart had been thrown until the moment he left the stage, there was also a message. Taylor picked up one of their signs and, in a permanent marker pen, wrote the words, 'Thank you. Thank you. Loved it'.
With tickets shifting among touts for as much as £3000, it had felt as much like an event as a darts match and Cross was magnanimous in the way he reacted to ending Taylor's career. He asked his opponent to also lift the trophy and, after inflicting only a 13th defeat on Taylor in 136 world championship matches, said he had beaten his hero.
"It's life-changing," said Cross. "It was my dream to play him - he's phenomenal. You will never see another sportsman like him."
