John Higgins and Joe Perry won their groups yesterday to complete the last 8 line-up. The tournament is played to a finish today.

Here is WST report on yesterday’s action:

Thursday 29 Oct 2020 10:23PM

John Higgins and Joe Perry have completed the line-up for Finals Day at BetVictor Championship League Snooker, which takes place at Stadium MK on Friday, live at Matchroom.Live.

Higgins won his final match 3-0 over Tom Ford to top Group G, after Martin Gould had drawn 2-2 with Jamie Clarke despite being on the brink of a victory which would have seen him through at Higgins’ expense.

The Wizard of Wishaw opened the day’s play with a 3-0 win over Clarke, before Ford had consecutive 2-2 draws, first against Gould and then against Clarke. But when Gould beat Higgins 3-0, the group was blown wide open.

European Masters finalist Gould then drew 2-2 with Clarke, despite looking on the verge of progression at 2-1 up with 48 points on the board in the fourth and final frame.

That left the door open for both Ford and Higgins. Ford would need to win 3-0 with a high break of 70 or better, while any win would suffice for four-time World Champion Higgins, and it was the Scot who got what he needed, winning 3-0 in 45 minutes.

“Martin will be kicking himself,” admitted Higgins. “He was 2-1 in front and on a good break and if he wins that frame he is through, so Jamie did me and Tom a big favour coming back to win that frame.

“I went and played ok, missed a couple, but I am over the moon to get through. Once I lost 3-0 to Martin I was thinking that would be me out, so I am happy to be through.

“Tomorrow will be a tough group but we are through to the final day and any eight of us could win it. It would be lovely to get my third Championship League Snooker title.”

On table two, Mark Davis and Li Hang played out a 2-2 draw in the first match of Group H. Joe Perry then won back-to-back matches, first beating Tian Pengfei 3-1 and then overcoming Li 3-0.

The first match of the evening session saw Davis and Tian share the spoils, meaning Perry was assured of top spot in the group. The group concluded with Perry and Davis drawing 2-2 before Tian and Li had the same result.

“I felt better today and played some decent stuff,” said Perry. “All the groups are tough in this format. It doesn’t really matter who you are playing, it helps if you are playing somebody inexperienced but with Ken Doherty, Kyren Wilson and John Higgins you can’t much more experience that than, so it is going to be tough tomorrow.

“It is hard to be too confident in this short format but I feel that I am playing alright so if I can stay focused and concentrate well then I give myself a chance.”

Finals Day begins at 12:30pm on Friday, with Judd Trump, Mark Selby, Zhou Yuelong and Zhao Xintong in Group 1, and Higgins, Perry, Wilson and Doherty in Group 2. The two group winners will then play a best-of-five final to be crowned BetVictor Championship League Snooker champion.

FINAL GROUP STANDINGS

GROUP G

	P	W	D	L	FW	FL	+/-	PTS
John Higgins	3	2	0	1	6	3	3	6
Martin Gould	3	1	2	0	7	4	3	5
Tom Ford	3	0	2	1	4	7	-3	2
Jamie Clarke	3	0	2	1	4	7	-3	2

GROUP H

	P	W	D	L	FW	FL	+/-	PTS
Joe Perry	3	2	1	0	8	3	5	7
Mark Davis	3	0	3	0	6	6	0	3
Tian Pengfei	3	0	2	1	5	7	-2	2
Li Hang	3	0	2	1	4	7	-3	2

I didn’t see much of the action yesterday as life came in the way of snooker in the form of a sick kitten requiring a dash to the vet…  but what I saw did annoy me a bit. Jamie Clarke has so much ability and so often ruins his own chances by making questionable shot choices. Ken Doherty was in the commentary box and reflecting on what he was seeing. He said that Jamie should watch his own matches, in the aftermath of the event, and listen to the commentary because he could learn from it. This wasn’t a smear at Jamie, but rather the thoughts of a very experienced professional and lover of his sport, in the autumn of his own career, watching a very talented young player not making the most his huge ability.

Today’s action involves a quality line-up. We have four players belonging to the top 8, two very talented youngsters, and two vastly experienced “veterans”, one only just out of the top 16 and the other one, a former World Champion who at 51, and 30+ years a pro, is shrewd as ever. This line-up was produced by an alleged “lottery” format … hum?

The wildcards have been announced by WST for the 2020 Northern Ireland Open:

Patrick Wallace and Declan Lavery have been awarded spots in next month’s Northern Ireland Open.

The two amateurs received nominations from the Northern Ireland Billiards and Snooker Association and they will be in the 128-man draw for the world ranking event which runs from November 16 to 22 in Milton Keynes.

Wallace, age 51 from Dungannon, reached the quarter-finals of the World Championship back in 2001. He retired from the pro game in 2011 but remains a regular competitor on the amateur circuit and finished last season as the top player on the national Northern Ireland rankings.

Lavery, age 36 from Antrim, successfully defended the Northern Ireland Championship title this year, beating Robbie McGuigan 10-9 in the final.

The draw will be made after the seeding cut-off, which falls at the end of this week’s BetVictor Championship League.

The Northern Ireland Open will be the second Home Nations event of the season, televised around the world by broadcasters including Eurosport and Matchroom.Live.

I find it a bit strange that WST doesn’t mention that Patrick is also a regular competitor on the World Seniors Snooker tour … Good luck to Patrick and Declan.

And this article about Willie Craig is really fantastic news 

Craig Set For Emotional Refereeing Return

Snooker referee Willie Craig will make his return to the professional circuit at the upcoming Northern Ireland Open, for the first time since suffering brain injuries after a car accident in 2018.

It’s been a long road to recovery for Glaswegian Craig, who feared his refereeing days were over after the incident took place. Since then, he has had to undergo extensive therapy to build back his cognitive functions.

Craig, 52, has two sons named Anthony and Dylan. Both are keen snooker players and Dylan is a former European Under-18 Champion.

Popular official Craig had spent several years on the circuit, working at events such as the Welsh Open and English Open, as well as World Championship qualifying. That culminated in the honour of taking charge of the semi-final between Cao Yupeng and Judd Trump at his home event, the Scottish Open, in 2017.

Craig said: “That was my biggest match and it happened just before my accident. It was the last match that I took charge of before it happened, just a few months later. That was in Glasgow, so it made it a little bit more special. Unfortunately, one of the impacts is on my memory. I don’t remember much about it, which is a shame as it was a special match to be a part of.”

Craig worked as a nurse in an operating theatre in Glasgow away from snooker and was on his way home from a shift when the incident happened. He was hit by a car which disregarded a red light outside the hospital.

Craig explained: “I had just left the building and was crossing the main road when this guy decided to jump the traffic lights while I was halfway across the road. Fortunately for me I don’t remember anything about the impact. Some people have said my head went through the windscreen and some have said it hit the curb when I landed. You can understand the extent of the injuries when you hear that, because my head took the full force of it.

“Initially I came around pretty quickly. I think I was unconscious for about 45 minutes, by which time the doctors had already done all of the scans and come across all of the injuries. I had bleeding in two places in my brain, as well as the shock of the trauma to my brain. Everyone in rehabilitation was in the same boat, but the majority of the others were in comas for months. I was lucky that way, that I came out pretty quickly. When I worked as a nurse I was in the operating theatres. It was often road traffic accidents and things like what I’d been through. I just never thought I would be one of those people on the table.

“The effects after the accident were very frightening. My biggest problem has been understanding why these things were happening. For a good year and a half, the hardest thing was that my head was in what they call a dream like state. I was confused and had some memory loss. They call it brain fog and that was my daily living. It was difficult, but the therapists were really good at explaining things. The brain is basically a very complex computer. If you think of all the nerves like streets on Google Maps, if some become damaged then they find new routes. I would often know what I wanted to say, but not be able to say it. I would do things like replace the word sunny with elephant, because my brain was finding new routes and going past the part where the word elephant was stored.”

It has been a difficult and laborious path back to normality for Craig. However, with the help of therapists from the Community Treatment Centre for Brain Injury in Glasgow, he has worked hard to regain his ability to undertake day-to-day activities and communicate as usual. Early on, they identified Craig’s love of snooker as an important part of the recovery process.

“They worked on all sorts of practical things with me at first. I started with using technology and setting reminders for things on my phone. We also did tasks and mental challenges,” said the Glaswegian. “At the beginning it was very simple things like putting shapes through the correct holes. It was a very frustrating process, but we slowly built it up to the more complex things.

“From the outset the therapists zoomed in on my refereeing as something to focus on. They felt that would explain a lot of what was going on with my head. They would always work with me on snooker things. They’d get me to set up a table with paper cups and put the balls where they should go. In the end I think they all became snooker fanatics. Before that none of them were into it, but I needed to keep explaining stuff to them and the importance of certain things.”

Despite encouragement from the therapists to keep a return to refereeing as a long term goal, Craig admits he had doubted whether it would be possible. He kept in touch with friends on the tour, but looking back concedes that seeing his old workplace was an emotional experience.

Craig with 2019 Crucible final referee and compatriot Leo Scullion.

“Right from the start World Snooker were amazing. I remember them sending me two big hampers and wishing me well after the accident. Every week back in the beginning and even up until now, there would be phone calls or messages from other referees to see how I was getting on. When they came to Glasgow for the Scottish Open, some of them would come and stay overnight before the tournament started. That meant a lot and I was so grateful for it.

“I went down to Sheffield to see Leo Scullion referee the world final in 2019. That was fantastic and I was so pleased for Leo, he really deserved it. I know Sheffield really well from going down to watch and refereeing at the world qualifiers. I did find going back down there very hard. I actually felt while I was watching Leo that it might be the last time I would ever be in Sheffield. It was great seeing everybody, from the security guys to Pat in the office. Just being around about everyone again was nice. However, deep down I did find it really upsetting and feared it was the last time I would see everyone. I was focussing more on the negatives rather than the positives. That was exactly what the brain girls had told me not to do.”

Craig continued to progress with his recovery and as his functions came back, thoughts of getting back to the baize resurfaced as a possibility. Having taken charge of some matches at Scottish amateur events, the opportunity presented itself to be a part of Q School in August. At that point Craig seized his chance and got to work getting himself into the best possible position to fulfil his refereeing duties.

“When I told the brain therapy girls that I was doing Q School, they said to prioritise it and that became the thing I was working on. I was watching YouTube videos and explaining to them what the referee would be thinking. I found that dead easy. I could talk through what the referee should be doing. We went through the sort of problems which could come up and what to do in the event of those problems. Everything to do with getting back to the table was down to them and the amazing support of my family. It was their persistency that kept me going.”

Following a successful run at Q School, Craig is now all set to once again take charge of matches in the professional arena. He says that Q School itself was an amazing experience and he is now counting down the days until the upcoming Northern Ireland Open, which kicks off on 16^th November.

“The only way I can describe Q School is that it was wonderful. It was such a huge relief to me to be back working with everyone again and see all of my friends. It was so pleasing to be there. It proved to me that I can still do it and it was a massive turning point. I was managing to stay a step ahead of everything and it all clicked into gear. That was down to the brain nurses drumming it into me.

“When I got up every morning I just couldn’t wait to get to the venue. To be there with them and to be at the table was wonderful. It was something that I thought was gone. I get a tingle thinking about the Northern Ireland Open. It will be wonderful and I can’t wait. To see everyone again and be working alongside them all will be incredible.”

I have known Willie for many years, he’s a gentle warm person. When the accident happened I felt very sorry, not just for him, but also for his close family. I know, through social media contact, how hard it has been for them all. The road to recovery has been long and difficult, for Willie and those around him. I’m  very happy to see him back at the table.

The article also gives a good insight in the work involved when a damaged brain needs to be “rewired” in order to function properly again.

Good luck Willie, and congratulations, to you and yours. This is a fight you have won together. 

Kyren Wilson and Ken Doherty were the winners yesterday.

Here is how it unfolded (report by WST):

Doherty and Wilson Reach Finals Day

Ken Doherty and Kyren Wilson are through to Finals Day of BetVictor Championship League Snooker after topping their Winners’ Week groups on Wednesday, Doherty doing it in dramatic fashion with a break of 139 to advance at Stadium MK, live on Matchroom.Live.

The Darling of Dublin knew he had to beat Jordan Brown in the final match of Group E, or better Thepchaiya Un-Nooh’s high break of 135 in the event of a draw. At 1-1, Doherty made sure the final frame would be redundant as he made a brilliant 139 to ensure top spot, before Brown fought back to see the match end 2-2.

Doherty had earlier drawn with Un-Nooh and beaten Xiao Guodong 3-1 to move to four points on the league standings prior to his decisive match against Brown. Un-Nooh had beaten Brown and drawn with Xiao to end the day on five points.

“It was incredible,” said Doherty. “I knew if I got a 2-2 draw I had to beat the 135 high break, so when I was on the break I was doing the maths. The pink ended up on the brown spot but I wanted it back on its own spot. I got it back on its own spot and managed to hold myself together. It was exciting.

“I joked before the match that the high break wasn’t going to happen; the last time I got a 135 was a bus! But I got the 139 so I was happy.”

Wilson opened the day’s play in Group F on Table 1 with a 3-0 win over Mark King, before Scott Donaldson achieved the same result against David Gilbert. The Tamworth potter responded immediately, beating King 3-1 to remain in contention.

The evening session opened with a 2-2 draw between Wilson and Donaldson, but when the Scottish former Championship League winner lost 3-1 to King, he was out.

That left the final match as a straight shoot-out between Wilson and Gilbert, with World Championship finalist Wilson being the man who would progress in the event of a draw. But Gilbert was struggling where Wilson wasn’t, and the Kettering potter took the first two frames to ensure progression, before completing a 3-0 win.

“I’m really pleased, I think I have been pretty solid throughout,” said Wilson. “I have scored well and taken my chances when they presented themselves. It isn’t easy going into the last game knowing you need to get a result; it puts a bit of pressure on you and I’m pleased with how I dealt with that.

“I have been really consistent so far this season, and I suppose you can call it another quarter-final as there will be eight players on Finals Day.”

Wilson and Doherty will now enter Group 2 on Finals Day, where they will be joined by the winners of tomorrow’s groups. John Higgins, Tom Ford, Martin Gould and Jamie Clarke make up Group G on Table 1, while Table 2 hosts Group H with Joe Perry, Mark Davis, Li Hang and Tian Pengfei.

FINAL GROUP STANDINGS

GROUP E

	P	W	D	L	FW	FL	+/-	PTS
Ken Doherty	3	1	2	0	7	5	2	5
T. Un-Nooh	3	1	2	0	7	5	2	5
Xiao Guodong	3	1	1	1	6	6	0	4
Jordan Brown	3	0	1	2	4	8	-4	1

GROUP F

	P	W	D	L	FW	FL	+/-	PTS
Kyren Wilson	3	2	1	0	8	2	6	7
Scott Donaldson	3	1	1	1	6	5	1	4
Mark King	3	1	0	2	4	7	-3	3
David Gilbert	3	1	0	2	3	7	-4	3

Ken Doherty once again proved that he can still compete and is shrewd as ever. He played well for what i saw yesterday (I was only able to watch the afternoon session). Thepchaiya Un-nooh was in one of these days … he potted a lot of brilliant balls and missed a lot of seemingly easier ones. Xiao Guodong lookded rusty. Jordan Brown was unable to close frames in one visit, or even two.

I saw nothing from the other table.

At  the end of the afternoon session, the play on table one had ended, and a lot of background noise and conversations were audible on the table two stream. I hope that they weren’t audible to the players, because, if they were it must have been quite upsetting.

Mark Selby and Zhou Yuelong  booked their place into the Finals day of the tournament.  They both played well. The highlight of the day was this…

Has anyone before won a best of 4 or best of 5 by 3-0, with three centuries, nevermind three break over 120? Snooker anoraks please,  look-up you archives and almanachs.

Here is the report by WST:

Selby And Zhou Go Through

Mark Selby and Zhou Yuelong will join Judd Trump and Zhao Xintong in Group 1 on Finals Day of BetVictor Championship League Snooker after topping their respective Stage Two groups at Stadium MK on Tuesday, live at Matchroom.Live.

Having already beaten both Rory McLeod and Jamie O’Neill 3-0 in Group D, Selby knew a point would be enough against Graeme Dott. The Scottish potter had also defeated O’Neill 3-0, but drew 2-2 with Rory McLeod, meaning he’d have to beat Selby to progress.

Dott opened the deciding match with a break of 84, but Selby levelled with a 128, his fourth century of the day. The Leicester man then took the second frame with a 69 to ensure at least a point, which meant he progressed despite Dott levelling the match at 2-2 in the last.

“I feel like I played well all day,” said Selby. “The first frame against Graeme for me was huge and he made a great break to put me on the back foot. The second frame became even bigger because if he had won it, I’d need to win the last two so to win one of the first two was key for me and I managed to make a good break myself in the second.

“I got a little bit fortunate in the third and managed to win the frame after a fluke; sometimes it goes for you, sometimes it goes against you.

“This format, every group is tough. Playing four frames you can lose to anyone, and on Friday everyone will be a great player.”

Zhou was in equally good break-building form in Group B, beating Matthew Selt 3-0 before making three centuries in defeating Dominic Dale by the same scoreline.

Shaun Murphy had suffered a 3-1 reversal against Dale in the group opener, but a 3-1 win over Selt meant the group was taken to its final match. Murphy, however, would have to beat Zhou 3-0 to prevent the Chinese player from topping the group. The Magician made a 102 in the opening frame, but Zhou hit back with a 114 to ensure he would top the group, before the match eventually ended 2-2.

BetVictor Championship League Snooker Winners’ Week continues on Wednesday with Groups E and F. Group E features Thepchaiya Un-Nooh, Xiao Guodong, Jordan Brown and Ken Doherty. Group F will be Kyren Wilson, David Gilbert, Scott Donaldson and Mark King.

Coverage of both tables will be available at Matchroom.Live, with UK television coverage on Freesports.

Group fixtures, results, standings and details of how to watch can be found at http://www.championshipleaguesnooker.co.uk/.

FINAL GROUP STANDINGS

GROUP B

	P	W	D	L	FW	FL	+/-	PTS
Zhou Yuelong	3	2	1	0	8	3	5	7
Shaun Murphy	3	1	1	1	6	6	0	4
Matthew Selt	3	1	0	2	5	7	-2	3
Dominic Dale	3	1	0	2	4	7	-3	3

GROUP D

	P	W	D	L	FW	FL	+/-	PTS
Mark Selby	3	2	1	0	8	2	6	7
Graeme Dott	3	1	2	0	7	4	3	5
Jamie O’Neill	3	1	0	2	3	7	-4	3
Rory McLeod	3	0	1	2	3	8	-5	1

…

The draw for the Champion of Champions has just been made and here it is:

There are no easy draws in this one of course. Neil Robertson, the defending champion has probably the easiest first match, but, should he win it, will face a serious challenge in the QF, with John Higgins or Ding Junhui waiting.

Ronnie hasn’t a too bad draw, but will need to be sharper than he was in his first two events if he wants to go deep in the tournament. He plays on the last day of the Group stage, hence minimising his stay in the “bubble”.

Here are more details about group 2, as published on the event site

CHAMPION OF CHAMPIONS DRAW MADE WITH ROBERTSON TO FACE WHITE IN TOURNAMENT OPENER

The draw for the 2020 Champion of Champions has been made, with defending champion Neil Robertson set to get the tournament underway against Jimmy White on Monday, November 2, live on ITV4 from Marshall Arena, Milton Keynes.

Monday’s group will also see former Champion of Champions winner John Higgins face UK Championship winner Ding Junhui, while reigning World Champion Ronnie O’Sullivan begins his attempt to win a fourth Champion of Champions title against Michael Holt on Wednesday.

The event begins with a quarter of four-man groups, with one group played each day from Monday until Thursday. The afternoon sessions feature two best-of-seven Group Semi-Finals, before the best-of-11 Group Final in the evening session. The tournament carries a £440,000 prize fund with £150,000 going to the winner.

Players were split into three seeding pools for the draw, based on their current WST World Ranking, with players in Pool One automatically allocated to the group which corresponds with their seeding. Robertson is the defending Champion of Champions and will take his place in Group 1 on Monday as the tournament’s No.1 seed. World No.1 Judd Trump will be in Group 2, with World Champion O’Sullivan in Group 3 and World No.4 Mark Selby in Group 4.

One player from Pool Two (Mark Allen, Kyren Wilson, Shaun Murphy and John Higgins), was drawn at random into each group. The remaining eight players were placed into Pool Three, with two players from that pool drawn into each group.

Judd Trump and Shaun Murphy are the seeded players in Group 2, where they will be joined by Stuart Bingham and the winner of this week’s Championship League Snooker. Group 2 fixtures will be confirmed on Friday night, with the highest ranked non-seed to face Murphy, and the lower ranked player to face Trump. Should the Championship League Snooker yield a repeat winner, David Gilbert will take the remaining place in the Champion of Champions as the highest ranked player not to have qualified already.

Wednesday’s action sees Mark Selby face Luca Brecel before Kyren Wilson plays Stephen Maguire in Group 4.

Group action concludes on Thursday with three-time Champion of Champions Ronnie O’Sullivan facing Michael Holt and Mark Allen against Scott Donaldson.

CHAMPION OF CHAMPIONS DRAW & SCHEDULE

MONDAY, NOVEMBER 2 | GROUP 1
1pm | Group Semi-finals (best of 7)
Neil Robertson v Jimmy White
John Higgins v Ding Junhui

7pm | Group Final (best of 11)
Winner v Winner

 

TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 3 | GROUP 2
1pm | Group Semi-finals (best of 7)
Judd Trump v Stuart Bingham/CLS Winner
Shaun Murphy v Stuart Bingham/CLS Winner

7pm | Group Final (best of 11)
Winner v Winner

 

WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 4 | GROUP 4
1pm | Group Semi-finals (best of 7)
Mark Selby v Luca Brecel
Kyren Wilson v Stephen Maguire

7pm | Semi-Finals (best of 11)
Winner v Winner

 

THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 5 | GROUP 3
1pm | Group Semi-finals (best of 7)
Ronnie O’Sullivan v Michael Holt
Mark Allen v Scott Donaldson

7pm | Semi-Finals (best of 11)
Winner v Winner

 

FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 6
7pm | Semi-Final 1 (best of 11)
Group 1 Winner v Group 4 Winner

 

SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 8
7pm | Semi-Final 1 (best of 11)
Group 2 Winner v Group 3 Winner

 

SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 9
The Final (Best of 19)