2021 World Championships

[Danger Steve]

The Undertaker Vs The Baby-Faced Assassin who’d of thunk it.

[MrRottweiler]

Bingham has gone down in my estimation after his post match comments as has Hazel for the way she put it to Mark Selby in his post match interview like it was office gossip. What she said was unnecessary and sounded like a paparazzi trying to get a story. It clearly shocked Mark and that isn't fair for a finalist.

[Odrl]

I'll give Bingham a pass for this one. Obviously he was disappointed and it was easy to look for an excuse. He didn't even bring it up in his first answer, but Walker did his best to try to make him say something controversial and ungracious. I would have told him to sod off.

[Zelig]

Gosh, it looks like many of us are back to the forum after long time - is it the Crucible, the easing of the (mental) lockdown, the website that seems more reliable (altogether I guess)? My two cents on what I have seen in the semis.

Wilson: I like him in general, and it is true he has improved a lot in the last 3 years or so, but I still think that, of the elite players, he is the least endowed with class and touch. He made great advances in cue-ball control, but you can't buy "class" at the market nor acquire "touch" with practice beyond some point (example: I saw Kyren versus Un-Nooh live, and although Thepchaiya is clearly inferior in many relevant departments, not a single person in the crowd had any doubt that Un-Nooh's touch of the cue-ball was innate and of a different planet, a pleasure to watch - and even to hear! - with respect to the BOOM of Kyren's cueball each time he stroke it). In fact, Kyren is 100% reliant on his manufactured potting technique, which is absolutely lethal when it works, but all his confidence builds exclusively on that. This is what led him 10-4 vs Murphy. But honestly, what Kyren has done in those first 14 frames was too good to be true, he basically never missed! As soon as he started missing - which is when you need to pull out your class to succeed - the manufactured castle went down. This is why I cannot see him being the number 1 in the game in a broad sense: it may happen he tops the ranking or even win at the Crucible at some point, but if it happens it will be like Jim Courier in tennis (Courier has been number 1, but nobody remembers his actual contribution to the game besides the obsessive use of top-spin and the tendency to overhit the ball -- curiously, two characteristics of Kyren too!).

Murphy: this is a perfect counter-example of class in my own definition ("class" does not have anything to do with elegance or style as I intend it, it is that special talent that makes you do confidently and calmly the craziest riskiest thing you can imagine but at the right time, when it matters the most, and ultimately makes you win). Shaun has won today because he went for the big shots while on the edge of the cliff, and those shots went in because... he does have class (same kind of Mark Williams, perhaps?).

Selby: last year he said Ronnie was disrespectful to him and to the game because Ronnie dared to escape his snookers by smashing the balls. Ronnie was not disrespectful, he was simply doing what he publicly declared years before (I won't be caught into his Selby's torturing tactics anymore, I may lose again in the future, but I will lose on my own terms). What is disrespectful to opponents is to take 6 minutes for a shot -- like he did with Higgins some time ago -- or even 3 minutes when un-necessary -- like today with Bingham. What is disrespectful to the game is to transform snooker into an exclusively speculative game, which is furthermore disrespectful if the perpetrator has a complete arsenal of alternative weapons he could use to excel anyway (cue action, potting technique, break-building, touch...). I would like to see Selby playing without the miss rule and with a strict 2-minute maximum time per shot. Perhaps he would win anyway, but he would have to do it in a different way.

[mikee]

Not always a great fan of Selby ,some times he’s just too slow. ,but he did Ballbag fair and square ,Bingham had a lot of luck and only had himself to blame in the last frame .Wilson must be wondering how the hell he lost so many frames ,Murphy played fantastic but Wilson let him do it .As for the final I’m neutral on that one ,and just hope it’s a good close match .

[Neil Taperell]

Bingham has gone down in my estimation after his post match comments as has Hazel for the way she put it to Mark Selby in his post match interview like it was office gossip. What she said was unnecessary and sounded like a paparazzi trying to get a story. It clearly shocked Mark and that isn't fair for a finalist.

I missed it , what did Stuart say ?

[Starsky]

Hopefully Murphy will carry on playing like he did in the semi and Selby won’t just try to strangle him with his tactical game . Selby is by far the best player out there to deploy those tactics if his A game isn’t working. It’s not pretty but it’s very effective .

[JimMalone]

I'm not sure. Today will give him nightmares. Losing the final so badly last year must have hurt, because he was so outclassed. But giving up a 6 frame lead, that's a whole different proposition. Hope he bounces back, but players only get so many chances, and the pressure builds with every loss at the business end of the world championships. Personally i think he's lucky to have the record he has, he seems a level below the elite, particularly with his cue ball control which still isn't really improving.

I'm also not sure if Wilson ever will win a world title, but I think he has certainly made improvements over the past years. His scoring is much higher than four or five years ago though he indeed tends to lose the cue ball here and there a bit. And other than Trump he can't quite make up for it with his potting, but his potting has improved as well.
I agree with the notion that he is below the elite, but he is in the next tier.

I think he will be a contender over the next years and maybe, since he's only 30, get better.

[JimMalone]

Is Selby guilty of gamesmanship?

No I wouldn't say so. The only thing which he shouldn't have done maybe was playing for five snookers past midnight, but I think even this is okay, just to send his opponent a signal: I will fight until the end and you won't get anything easy from me.
The long time of thinking at a complicated table is perfectly fine - as was Ben Williams' demand for Mark to play on in the one instance, where Selby took too long a time. But I think it's just his nature in such complex situations and his will to find the most perfect solution and I can feel this cause I tend to think a long time in such difficult situations as well.

I think it's part of the game to get into your opponents head and Selby is quite good in this. And actually I think other players don't mind, cause from my observations Selby is well liked among his peers. Players like Hawkins, Murphy, Bingham had some chats in the floors with him just before going out to the tables.

[trains]

I missed it , what did Stuart say ?

possibly this

can anyone dig up Shaun Murphy's crucible semi final record , which year/s if any did he lose

[JimMalone]

Bingham has gone down in my estimation after his post match comments as has Hazel for the way she put it to Mark Selby in his post match interview like it was office gossip. What she said was unnecessary and sounded like a paparazzi trying to get a story. It clearly shocked Mark and that isn't fair for a finalist.

It's always hard to find the right words in defeat. As a journalist myself I really find the interviewer more to blame here the way the provoking way the question was asked.

[JimMalone]

possibly this

can anyone dig up Shaun Murphy's crucible semi final record , which year/s if any did he lose

He lost once in 2007 - 16-17 to Mark Selby.

[trains]

He lost once in 2007 - 16-17 to Mark Selby.

Ok it surprises me a little that he won 16 then but ok thanks

[Nifty50]

He lost once in 2007 - 16-17 to Mark Selby.

Are you sure? I thought he’d only lost twice. Versus Higgins in 2009 and Bingham in 2015.
PS. Just checked. I was there in 2007. My scribbles I made on my program says final was Higgins 18 Selby 13. Murphy beat in semis 17-16 by Selby.
PPS just reread post. Talking about semis. Apologies.

[John Flaf]

Very informative post by Zelig, I like Ronnies thinking, I will play my game my way, If I loose then it's on my terms so be it, Well thats sort of what Zelig said, Thats exactly how Shaun has to approach the Final, if you succumb to Marks game you are lost.