Present vs. Future? Players Championship Final 2020 – Shorts Thoughts

The second event in the Coral Cup series took place which involved the Top 16 players in the one-year ranking list. Ultimately, the battle for the top prize whittled down to the current World Champion, Judd Trump and the young 20-year old prospect, Yan Bingtao. A showcase of two players that possess the same raw talent but are in very different stages of their careers; it was always going to be a final worth watching.

Breakdown

Bingtao did well to capitalise off a Trump miss with a break of 70 however, he still lost the frame as Trump got the snooker he required along with a free ball. This was short-lived as a break of 55 got Bingtao over the line in Frame 2. The next couple of frames belonged to Trump as he made a 75 and won the scrappier affair in Frame 4 to lead at the midsession interval.

Relatively loose safety is a pattern that emerged for Bingtao throughout the match as a double kiss allowed Trump to extend his lead with a 122 century break. Even in the frames that required a bit more safety and reds were scattered on the table, Trump’s skill was able to keep his opponent at bay, much like in Frame 6. A brilliant opening pot out of the jaws of the left corner pocket by Trump and a break of 75 further lengthened his lead to 6-1. This could have been 7-1 but an unfortunate in-off for Trump led to Bingtao bouncing back with a 95 to end the opening session.

The bounce back continued as Bingtao started off the evening session as best he could have asked for as he claimed Frames 9 and 10. Unfortunately for him, Trump managed to regain his authority in the match. Safeties that would normally be considered ‘good enough’, weren’t effective at keeping Trump away as he blasted a 108 and 68 in the following two frames.

Bingtao wasn’t able to punish Trump’s mistakes in Frame 13 as he missed a black off the spot. Instead, he left Trump in amongst the rest of the balls as he clinched the frame to go one away from victory. And victory was just what the doctor ordered for Trump as breaks of 36 and 60 helped him secure his second Players Championship title.

Afterthoughts

Even though the overall final was a good standard, it was clear as to the differences between the two players. When the semi-finals between Murphy and Bingtao were taking place, I perhaps selfishly wanted Murphy to win just because I think he would have competed better against Trump in the final, particularly if he brought out his Welsh Open form. However, Bingtao cruised through Murphy with an ease and 100% long pot success (14/14) that quickly dismissed any reservation I had.

Bingtao had his moments in this final, particularly as he came out firing in the evening session and his long potting had significantly improved. His chances to get a foothold in the final fell at the start where Trump wasn’t at top gear just yet. He would have relished some of the opportunities he was afforded if he was on the practice table. If he was able to focus on his own ability as opposed to his opponent and the occasion he was in, it would have been a closer match.

What I really admire about Bingtao is his maturity for his age and the amount of talent he has on the snooker table. He isn’t arrogant and he’s aware of what he needs to do to perform well in the sport. It’s easy to forget that he is just 20 years old and has already appeared in 3 ranking finals (winning one of them at Riga). But when everyone places such high expectation on him as being a prodigy, this is precisely the kind of experience he needed which is why Bingtao won’t (and shouldn’t) be disappointed at his performance in this final.

Playing the best in the world when they are performing at their best will set the benchmark for Bingtao and give him a standard to aspire to. He played against an opponent that was in his position near 10 years ago and is now starting to reap the rewards. Bingtao has done very well to stake his position in the Top 16 and if he continues ascending as he is, he will definitely be the player everyone expects of him in the next 5-10 years.

I find myself running out of things to say about Trump but then he goes and achieves things or plays shots that continue to take the words out of all our mouths. Still proving himself as the undisputed best in the world, Trump bags his 16th ranking title and becomes the fifth person to win 5 ranking titles in a season. With three tournaments remaining and Trump running the show the way he is, it’s quite likely this will be beaten and he will cast a shadow over the rest of the greats.

He’s too good. He has no weakness. Many questioned his nerve and character, even while he’s been doing all this winning, but Trump continues to amaze as he produced the best pressure clearance all season in his semi-final decider against Maguire. He’s acquired a confidence with his string of success which puts him in a complete league of his own with the other players running a completely different race. What will he do next?

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History of Pot Black

Some may remember, but I reckon there’s a significant portion of viewers who are only vaguely aware of Pot Black and the important role it played in getting snooker on the map in the late 60s/early 70s. Let’s roll back the years and learn a little more about the phenomenon that catapulted the sport of snooker to great heights and paved the way for the game as we know it today.

In 1967, BBC began colour-broadcasts and were still looking for programming that would benefit from this new use of colour. Fast forward to 1969 and the first iteration of Pot Black (commissioned by Sir David Attenborough), snooker had gone from a minor sport to an experience that resonated with many fans and viewers. And what would better benefit from the use of colour technology than a sport where commentary formerly involved describing to listeners how each ball was a differing shade of grey.

Speaking of commentary, Pot Black was cast by the one and only Ted Lowe. BBC producer Phil Lewis contacted Lowe and asked him to gather players and arrange the series for broadcast. Lewis was certain at the time of the name ‘Pot Black’ which Lowe was hesitant about due to the lack of ‘snooker’, but continued with the necessary preparations so he can finally get the game on television.

Along with its conception was the approach to snooker decorum where players wore the traditional, smart clothing that we are used to seeing today; emulating that of Joe Davis, who was a long-time hero of Lowes.

Prior to the light bulb moment that was Pot Black, snooker was just a niche activity that didn’t really have a place yet. It was mainly an activity indulged by gentries/nobles or those in run-down billiard halls. Lowe stated that the programme helped bring the game into the homes of millions of viewers in between those two classes. And that’s exactly what it did. Snooker was put on the map.

The format of the tournament generally followed a one-frame shootout style, including the final. Depending on the year, between 6 and 16 players were involved and the show was broadcast on a weekly half-an-hour basis, broadcasting one match per episode. It was much like an episode of your favourite drama or late night chat show that you would tune into every week; along with the drama and comedy that came with the players involved in Pot Black. The whole tournament was often filmed in the course of a day.

It was risky for the players involved in the tournament as Pot Black was the main form of snooker that was shown on television. Ray Reardon, who happened to win the first Pot Black, shared some of these concerns as reputations were determined by a one-frame shootout; stating those who lost often struggled to even find exhibition work afterwards.

Despite its tremendous success, Pot Black only ran until 1986 (with a few revivals in the 90s and 00s) where mainstream professional snooker took its place in TV coverage. Without Pot Black, the whole landscape of snooker may be completely different. Who knows if many of the success stories we’ve seen in snooker would have still happened if it weren’t for Pot Black? It may be a time that most will have very few memories of (or none at all), but it’s certainly something that will never be forgotten in snooker as time goes on.

Fun fact: Ronnie O’Sullivan and Stephen Hendry have never won Pot Black (not including Junior Pot Black). Steve Davis has won four times (82, 83, 91, and 93).

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World Snooker WST App Review (So Far)

Just over a week ago, WST launched a mobile app which will very well be widely recognised as the official snooker application. For a newly launched application which heavily relies on up-to-date information, news articles and scoring, the WST app is actually something worth installing and even hanging onto. Allow me to share my experience so far.

For those unfamiliar, or even those who are but just haven’t installed yet; the purpose of the WST app is to provide instant information relating to all things snooker. As opposed to specialising in a particular segment of snooker i.e. scoring, news, rankings etc. WST provides information relating to near enough everything you could require as a fan, all in a very functional application.

The chief aspect of the app that I commend is that it wasn’t a half-baked attempt at getting an ‘official’ snooker application on the store. A lot of thought has gone into each of the clickable elements, where everything effectively has more information/content behind it. Say you’re looking through the ‘Rankings’ tab and come across some players that you’d like to know more about – click on their name for relatively detailed bios. Looking at a specific tournament? Click around to look at tournament brackets, scores, as well as the ‘Roll of Honour’ which displays all the previous winners of said event. That’s a nice touch.

Further elements that are welcome additions when looking through various tournaments in the app are the ability to look at the scores for all matches that occurred in the tournament. You can view the scores of all Round 1 matches in an event if you’d like and can click further into the match to look at the points breakdown. It’s even categorised into sessions as well, so you could even look at which matches were morning or evening games and what dates they were played.

The ‘Tour’ tab makes it easy to see all the events in the season – which you can then look at the tournaments you want and the further information mentioned before (as well as purchase tickets). If you go to the ‘More’ tab, the calendar is a pleasant feature which simply highlights which weeks/months have events scheduled. And if that’s not enough, the home screen has a clear countdown to the next tournament.

There are also a few other features to the app. Live scoring seemed to work quite well when I was using it. The app was able to update the points and scores in quite a close parallel to the live action. News articles are clear and easy to access from the homepage. The voting polls probably won’t be most people’s favourite aspect however, it is a welcomed use of space in an all-in-one app, provided that it is updated frequently – which so far, it has been.

Lastly, it’s worth mentioning overall usability and experience. Considering how new the WST app is, every credit to the team behind what is so far a seamless and smooth navigating environment. I haven’t had any crashes yet but this will vary across devices. However, upon testing with my Android phone, things have been going extremely well.

A particular aspect of the app that I am extremely fond of is that everything is internal. What I mean is that whenever you click on a news article, a video, or any link, it doesn’t just take you to an external website where you wait for information to load. Everything is quick and remains in the app, which is closer to my personal preferences; without any clutter of ads.

Obviously, nothing is perfect. Whilst technically I haven’t had any issues yet, there are those who have; mainly when it comes to favourite player selection or sign-in issues. My suggestions relate more to potential future additions:

• I would certainly like to see some inclusion of WWS into the app at some point, with similar features like rankings and tournaments in the women’s scene

• While I do appreciate the world rankings and one-year list, I know it would be useful to see a provisional list as well which specifically shows the monetary additions/subtractions a player suffers depending on how they perform

• Similar to favourite players, I’d hope there was a favourite tournament(s) that could be selected so you may perhaps get more relevant notifications geared towards these events i.e. when it would be available to purchase tickets

• Notifications for when your favourite players are about to start their match

• The ability to select two players and view their head-to-head stats

• The creation of some kind of archival tab where you could look at previous seasons. For example, when the 2019/20 season closes and we are in the middle of 2020/21, it would be useful to be able to view the 2019/20 info for reference

Overall, WST were able to create a smooth, functional application which exceeded expectation and has a lot of content behind it. The main challenge is keeping the app running and updated, particularly during the off-season when things are quieter. As long as the app receives continued support from WST, I see no reason for this to be an obstacle. Good job WST for creating an app useful for all snooker fans. If you haven’t already, give it an install. And if you’ve come across any bugs or have any feedback, now’s the time to let them know!

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Should A Shot Timer Be Introduced In Snooker?

In an environment where the Shootout exists which limits players to 15 seconds a shot, there isn’t officially a time parameter which players are hindered by when playing in other snooker tournaments. When players average close to 30 seconds and above per shot, they’re seen as performers on the slower end of the spectrum.

Whether it’s Peter Ebdon making a break of 12 or its Mark Selby taking over 6 minutes on a single shot, there will be circumstances which require more thought than one would initially expect. Following Barry Hearn’s decision a couple of years ago to publicly display average shot times in order to speed up gameplay, it has seemed to have an effective response in order to achieve this despite the criticism received for this method.

I don’t think average shot times are much of a problem; I think issues arise when players are taking literal minutes on a single shot when it’s completely unnecessary. When situations like this arise, for instance, the Selby shot: the referees should become more involved to nudge the players to take their shot. Understandably, some shots will be significantly more difficult than others, but if a player is taking almost a minute per shot in a simple break, then the referee should notify the player to speed things up.

This was the case once between an Ebdon/Dott match that required a third session in their two session contest which prompted a backlash from Dott. Obviously, all referees will have different judgements if they were going to intervene with regards to a players shot length but it’s something most would expect a referee to be able to manage. If a player is in a tight snooker or a tense safety battle is ensuing then of course, there’s no need to enforce a timer. However, if a player seems to noticeably be slowing down play or taking an excessive amount of time on a single shot, then some intervention is required.

I like to think of snooker as an art; and you just can’t rush art. A shot timer would potentially increase the speed of play, but at the expense of good shot selection and an all-round quality match. Snooker has never been associated as a fast paced sport and there haven’t been any complaints from viewers to speed things up.

Snooker is also a highly tactical sport and I think the quick, efficient break-building aspect is balanced out by the long tactical battles of the game. While most may find entertainment in watching speedy action, they are still happy with watching the elements of the game which require the competitors to show some creativity and bottle.

If there are those who enjoy the format of the Shootout, perhaps there can be more alternative variants of this event, which encourages a rowdier atmosphere and high paced action. I reckon the Shootout would be more successful if there were brackets like the snooker Champions League as opposed to a one-frame match. But as it stands, with the increasing competitiveness and experience, players are becoming naturally quicker at the game where a shot timer just isn’t required.

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