Judd Trump vs. Nigel Bond: What Happened? – Shorts Thoughts

‘M: Bond, we have a mission for you. Currently, the circuit is experiencing a monopoly like no other since the 1990s. Before we can allow this to get too far, we need you to intervene and restore the former peace. Do you accept your mission?

Nigel Bond: I accept.’

The World No. 1 was currently on track to be the first person to hold all Triple Crown titles since Stephen Hendry in the 90s; and it seemed that no one was going to stop him from achieving this feat. This was even stated by Hendry himself. If you’re reading this and can sense the tone, you probably already know what happened. But how did it happen?

At first glance, it seemed as if it was another day in the office for Judd Trump. He established a 3-1 lead against 54 year old British Open winner, Nigel Bond. Trump achieved breaks of 114 and 90 along the way. When Trump won that third frame, he probably didn’t expect that it would be the last frame he would win in this year’s UK Championship.

However, whatever Bond does in the mid-session interval should be a continuing event because once play resumed, he was firing on all cylinders, competing with Trump in the scrappy frames and safety exchanges. He then turned up another gear and extended his lead, matching Trump’s 114 break followed by an 85.

The last frame was both the longest and tensest, for both, players. On one hand, you have Bond, who is trying to close out a match that everyone probably discounted him from having any kind of chance of winning; and you have Trump, who is struggling to stay in the match and keep his hope of winning the UK title for a second time alive. This is probably more so for Bond, because he knows he is playing the best in the world and can’t let him have any kind of chance because the result could turn out different.

Despite Trump being in with a chance first, he couldn’t clear up and Bond accumulated enough points to stay in the frame. This included a magnificent pot close to the rail on the penultimate red by Bond, which was acknowledged by Trump and in my opinion, the best shot of the match. The real battle came on the colours and once it got to the pink, Bond was taking any chance of a pot he could to put away the match. Eventually, that chance did arrive and much like his long potting throughout the match, he sunk a beauty.

When fans are thinking about who could potentially beat Trump (or any top player, for that matter), they generally lean towards a young up-and-comer far down the rankings causing a major upset in a short format match. We should have really been looking at the veterans of the sport who have an abundance of experience, and could only be stopped by Hendry at the World Championships from 1993-96.

Trump was just simply having an off day. Normally, even when he is playing relatively poorly he can still get over the winning line but by his recent standards, he wasn’t in-form. His long potting was weak by a fair amount and this was probably the main contributor to his loss. At one point in the final frame his long pot stats were 29% compared with Bond’s 73%. Even his safety was comparatively looser than normal.

Although, it wasn’t all Trump’s fault. Bond was playing tremendously well; in both the potting and safety department. Using a terrific cue action he was able to produce some stellar pots during the match. I wouldn’t be surprised if his coaching inquiries go through the roof following this performance. Given this excellent performance, it wasn’t entirely smooth sailings for Bond. He had to scrap with Trump in many of the frames, which also contributed to Trump not being able to find any rhythm.

I don’t think the argument of Trump not having any bottle or choking when the pressure ramps up is something that can be said about him anymore, particularly after this match. If there’s anything that he has proven this season, it’s that he has no problem getting over a winning line; and that he relishes being No. 1. This has been proven by him in dominant fashion countless times in the past year, against the very best. His main focus now will be starting the New Year as strongly as he did this season.

As for Bond, he will now face either Joe Perry or Gary Wilson next; both players who have had incredible bouts with Trump not too long ago. Victory over the winner of these two players will accomplish Bond’s first quarter-final venture in the UK Championship since 2003. If he can reproduce the form he did against Trump, everyone else should stay alert. Hopefully this win will give Bond a new-found confidence that he won’t be going anywhere and can still give a match to anyone.

Barry Hawkins Makes 147 at UK Championship!

Following his success at the Paul Hunter Classic, Barry Hawkins’ next season highlight came a few days ago when he completed his third career maximum break in his Round 1 match against Gerard Greene at York. This adds to his competitive tally following his 147 successes at the 2010 PTC and 2015 Champions League.

As the televised UK Championship gets under way, it’s already seen James Cahill beat David Gilbert, John Higgins beats Peter Lines for the first time in 25 years, whilst many other top seeds have already progressed past their first round matches. Hawkins was already 3-0 up in his best-of-11 first round match where probably the most difficult shot of the entire break presented itself.

Hawkins did very well to spot a plant set for left centre but even better to cut against a red below the two to secure it into left centre. The way he was cutting against his initial red was natural to position for the black as a shot-to-nothing. Regardless as to how set the plant was, it was still an impressive shot which was followed by a wonderfully constructed maximum break.

This was one of the few surprising 147s where there were no difficult shots or moments where the player fell out of position. That’s what made Hawkins’ break quite impressive; his temperament was ice cold as he manoeuvred his way around the black spot. I’m honestly picking at straws here but the only slightly difficult shot Hawkins had to face was on the 13th red where he had to lean on the table; but as a left hander, it was no problem whatsoever. Everything else was top positional play and focus.

The match was refereed by top official, Brendan Moore who, I believe has now overseen the most 147 breaks of any referee. It also secured the high break prize of £15000 for Hawkins, unless someone else can match it in order to get a share. Keep your eyes on Bingham. The 2019/20 season has now seen its fourth maximum break in its venture to produce 20 in order to trigger the prize winnings.

A lot of praise has deservedly gone Hawkins’ way since his success and hopefully it’s a start of great things to witness in this year’s edition of the UK Championship. Round 2 has a few matches that will be a great watch, including Fu/Wilson, Bingham/Gould Ebdon/Lisowski, and Hawkins/McManus. The UK Championship produces many classic moments; will this year have anything to offer?

History of the UK Championship

As one of the Triple Crown events, the UK Championship is the first of the majors that take place in the snooker calendar. With an enormous Masters-level £200,000 available to the winner this year, let’s find out about one of snookers oldest tournaments.

The UK Championship was established in 1977 and held in Blackpool for its initial staging. It was later held in Preston up until 1997 where the tournament was then transferred to Bournemouth for a few years before naming its home at the Barbican Centre in York since 2001 (Side note: Telford held the UK Championship for a few years from 2007-10).

The inaugural tournament was won by Patsy Fagan with a victory over Doug Mountjoy and the historic championship has been won by all the big names you could probably think of. Literally, if you can think of them, they have probably won it. Notable UK finals include 1983 (A. Higgins and Davis), 1993 (O’Sullivan becomes youngest winner), 2011 (Trump) and 2018 (O’Sullivan overtakes Davis and Hendry).

Funnily enough, the UKC wasn’t always a ranking event. The first seven iterations, up until 1983 were non-ranking and only British residents were allowed to enter. It was in 1984 when the UKC became classed as a ranking event which all players were allowed to enter. It then became the second highest ranking event before the International and China Championships were introduced.

Also, this major was formerly contested over a longer duration. We’re used to seeing the finals of the UKC fought in a best-of-19 (first to 10) matchup. However, in the 1980s and early 90s, the finals would be played over a best-of-31 (first to 16).

Interestingly, all UK titles since 2012 have been won by either Robertson, Selby or O’Sullivan. Although, with the way things are going (this is written in August just after Trump’s International Championship win) this sentence may have to be amended to ‘all UK titles since 2011 have been won by either Trump, Robertson, Selby or O’Sullivan’.

Snooker Season 2019/20 Mid-Season Review - Shorts Thoughts

It’s been an eventful season so far and now that we’re coming up to the first Triple Crown, let’s recap the highlights of this year’s campaign. Despite what it may seem, other things have happened besides Judd Trump winning everything.

Yan Bingtao captured his first ranking title by winning the Riga Masters back in July. The Riga Masters also missed many of its competitors due to flight complications; players included Kyren Wilson and defending champion, Neil Robertson.

Trump began the season following his WSC win and rise to No. 1 strongly by taking the first of his 3 ranking titles (so far) at Daqing, China for the International Championship. He did get eliminated fairly early in following tournaments but went into a flurry of finals week after week; from the World Open to the Champion of Champions to the NI Open, continuing his great run. He lost out in the CoC final to Robertson but has already established himself as the leading century maker with 45 so far. This is almost double the amount of 2nd place. This is also without mentioning how he is storming away with the world rankings, securing his position at the top for quite some time, regardless of how things continue.

Shaun Murphy is another standout player this season, making 3 consecutive finals, unfortunately losing out to Trump and O’Sullivan at the International and Shanghai respectively, but secured his first ranking win since 2017 in a close fought match against Mark Williams.

The first Home Nation event saw Mark Selby break his drought and win his first ranking title for over a year with victory at Crawley for the English Open. He’s also been in 3 semi-finals this season so far, a significant improvement over previous years. He also has just made a bit of history which he is fully embracing online where he spent 6 minutes 13 seconds taking a single shot. Peter Ebdon can now relax.

Now, let’s summarise the non-rankings. Ronnie O’Sullivan triumphed in his first tournament of the season with a 3rd successive win at Shanghai; but has been unsuccessful in his ventures since then until he reached the NI Open final. He has also taken a much more exhibition style approach to his matches, where his shot selection has been quite questionable.

Robertson got his first win of the season with an absolute classic against Trump in Coventry for the CoC – if you haven’t read the breakdown of this match click here to do that – it was match of the season. Barry Hawkins and Thepchaiya Un-Nooh have also been successful at the Paul Hunter Classic and Haining Open, respectively.

And who can forget Jimmy White winning big at the World Seniors Championship, qualifying him for the Champion of Champions. Another memorable moment in this tournament was the participation of Reanne Evans who put up a very respectable performance against Shaun Murphy, coming close to proceeding to Round 2.

Lastly, there have been three 147’s made this season so far; two have been claimed by Tom Ford and the other by Stuart Bingham during the recent NI Open. So, if somehow 20 maximums get made this season, Ford will be getting at least £100k for his contributions. Ford now has 5 competitive maximums to his name.

There is still an enormous amount of snooker left this season, most notably the Triple Crown and Coral Cup series. Can Trump hold all Triple Crowns in the 2019 year with a win at York; or can O’Sullivan turn it on to defend his title? Will Trump allow anyone to share the trophies this season? What things are you looking forward to happening this season?