'Luke Littler might be better than Phil Taylor' - Former pro adds to frequent debate surrounding 'The Nuke' v 'The Power'

Luke Littler won his sixth major title in just 15 months last July. The current world number two impressively defeated James Wade 18-15 in the final of the World Matchplay at the Winter Gardens.

'The Nuke' achieved the fifth highest tournament average in Matchplay history with 105.12. However, Phil 'The Power' Taylor still retains the four highest averages ever thrown at Blackpool, with 106.31 being the highest in 2010.

Former pro darter Andy Cornwall made a bold statement during a discussion of the 18-year-old's meteoric rise. The Englishman believes that the darter from Warrington can start dominating all major tournaments in the coming months. In the Mission Darts Podcast he said, “I think Luke Littler might be better than Phil Taylor. I think he’ll win the Grand Slam. I think he’ll win the Worlds. But the dodgy ones are the Players Championship Finals and European Championship because they are short format. He’s not the best at short format.”

Ex-pro and darts analyst Matthew Edgar added: "You mentioned there about him being better than Phil Taylor. Luke’s tournament average at the World Matchplay was 105. So that puts him in the top five of all time for tournament averages. However, until then, there was all Phil Taylor, the top five.

“And of which Phil Taylor, despite the fact we’re saying Luke Littler’s potentially better, Phil Taylor has four averages better than Phil Taylor in 2001, 2009, 2013 and 2010. In 2010 he won the tournament averaging 106.31.”

Cornwall was therefore quick to put his comments into perspective. In doing so, he noted that the 16-time world champion Taylor has dominated the sport for more than two decades, while Littler is still in his breakthrough phase.

“We’re basing that on Phil Taylor’s 25 years in the sport. We’ve only got 18 months of Luke Littler," he said. Edgar pointed out that Taylor achieved remarkable averages in an era with lesser resources. “But we’re basing that as well on substandard equipment, where now the equipment’s a lot better, the trebles are bigger. It’s a known fact. The trebles are bigger because the wires are smaller. “There’s less reduces of bounce outs because there’s no staples. So would that 106.31 in 2010 actually be more like 107, 108?”