Yesterday was the last day of stage 1 at the 2024 Ranking CLS and it produced something quite extraordinary in Group 15. I put it in bold green in the report hereafter. All credits to Gilbert, but you have to feel for the other three, especially Pagett who finished the day on three points, undefeated and will get very little to show for his efforts, no money, no ranking points, nothing. It’s cruel really.
DEFENDING CHAMPION MURPHY TOPS GROUP
Shaun Murphy got his season and the defence of his BetVictor Champonship League title off to the perfect start, winning all of his matches to top Group Three.
The Magician lifted the title in the ranking edition of this event 12 months ago. He defeated three-time World Champion Mark Williams 3-0 in the final to secure what was the 12th ranking crown of his career.
His season started today with a group featuring Steven Hallworth, Reanne Evans and Tian Pengfei. Murphy got his campaign up and running in style with a 3-0 win over Hallworth, crafting runs of 100, 93 and 61 during the rout. He then defeated Evans 3-1 and dispatched Tian 3-0 to progress to Stage Two, after a day which saw him win eight out of nine frames.
David Gilbert produced a stunning last gasp century break to win Group 15 by the narrowest of all margins.
The Tamworth cueman was pitted against Andrew Pagett, Xu Si and Duane Jones. Remarkably all of the matches ended in 2-2 draws. It was Gilbert who took on Xu in the last game of the day. They headed into the final frame with Xu leading 2-1 and in pole position to progress, even with a draw, having made a 131 high break. However, Gilbert fired in a sublime 136 to snatch top spot on the high break tiebreaker and clinch a place in the next stage.
Meanwhile, Ronnie has been practising at Vic Snooker Academy in Sheffield
Don’t ask about his sense of fashion ! I love yellow as a colour but… 😂
Also shered on social media this … typical Neil Robertson mishap!
Ronnie O'Sullivan 
Also notable about Group 15 was the high breaks were very high: 130, 131 and ultimately 136. But Xu Si usually finds a way to snatch crushing defeat from the jaws of victory. Plenty of people had some advice about how he should have approached that final frame, but Dave Gilbert’s wonderful break started with a plant to middle. Xu will have had a long train journey home.
There must have been a miscommunication about Neil Robertson’s schedule, or there has been some last minute change. It seems someone somewhere has made a big blunder to end up with this situation.