Here is WST report on day 3 at the 2024 Ranking CLS:

Matthew Stevens became the third Welshman in as many days to qualify for the second stage of the BetVictor Championship League as he topped Group 25 on Wednesday.

Building on the success of Ryan Day and Mark Williams earlier in the week, Stevens kept the Welsh flag flying in Leicester as he earned a spot in the next phase of the season’s opening ranking event.

The former UK and Masters champion, now playing his 31st season as a pro, opened with a 3-0 win over Haydon Pinhey then drew 2-2 with Farakh Ajaib. In his decisive last match, Stevens fired breaks of 97, 59 and 91 in a 3-1 win over Robbie Williams.

Ashley Carty finished top of Group 31, beating Mostafa Dorgham 3-0 with a top break of 67 and Simon Blackwell 3-1. The Yorkshire cueman then rounded off his day in style as he saw off Elliot Slessor 3-0 with a top run of 81.

Results / Fixtures

Farakh Ajaib is a baffling player. One moment he looks like top 16 material, the next he makes really silly mistakes. Very weird. Matthew Stevens played well but hasn’t made his peace with rest … yet. Maybe when he turns 90?

I saw very little of the other group but I’m happy for Ashley Carty who, after his “Crucible” breakthrough appeared to regress a bit (well a lot actually). He’s better than his ranking says and it showed yesterday.