Taylor next for Brown

American Steve Brown secured a second-round clash with 10-times world champion Phil Taylor after a thrilling victory against wild card entrant David Platt in the opening match of the PDC Ladbrokes.com World Championship at Purfleet’s Circus Tavern this afternoon.

Platt, a Staffordshire county player who only qualified for this tournament by winning a competition organised by The People newspaper, made Brown work surprisingly hard to earn his tie with Taylor.