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Well, good afternoon on the first wet day of this year's championship!
It took MC Richard BEare only one attempt to make an uncorrected mistake this year – wishing us an enjoyable afternoon at five to ten on the first morning. Today he advised us that there would be a 15-minute interval at the end of each session!
The first day did not contain too many mouthwatering prospects, and so it proved with the exception of John Parrot, who was at his best for years. The three oldest men in the championship, along with Ian McCulloch, started this year's century board, firstly Bond with 114, then Parrott with 126 which remains top at the time of writing, McCulloch with 110 and Davis with 100.
Fu's flu and Hamilton's food poisoning added to the dourness of the day, which contained only 15 minutes for lunchbreak and 20 for dinner!
In fact the highlight of the day was probably an amusing dialogue between commentators Everton and Griffiths when Griffiths suggested that, after a long spell of scrappiness, there might be a big break now as McCulloch potted a long red. "Would you like to bet on that, Clive, just a little bet, £5,000 maybe?" "That's too small for me, Terry" whereupon McCulloch breaks down on 25. "I don't suppose you'll pay up, Terry?" "Well, you didn't have the courage to take me up on it!"
Day 2 provided a real Crucible classic, John Parrott being involved in a record tenth Crucible decider – as Kellie-text so wonderfully put it when it got to 9-9, "Just this frame for a place in the BBC studio".
Talking of John Parrott playing his best for years, so too Fergal O'Brien with a 50-break in five of the six frames played so far today. On the other table, a very noticeably trimmer Shaun Murphy looked like owning débutant Judd Trump (looking to be the youngest ever Crucible match-winner) but did not have it all his own way as Trump recovered to trail only 4-5.
What have I missed? Oh yes, O'Sullivan and Ding! Ding could become the second player to make a Crucible century despite winning only one frame! Just for fun, I wonder if anyone can name the person with whom he could share this ignomimious record?
Wish you were here! (particularly if you have an umbrella)
It took MC Richard BEare only one attempt to make an uncorrected mistake this year – wishing us an enjoyable afternoon at five to ten on the first morning. Today he advised us that there would be a 15-minute interval at the end of each session!
The first day did not contain too many mouthwatering prospects, and so it proved with the exception of John Parrot, who was at his best for years. The three oldest men in the championship, along with Ian McCulloch, started this year's century board, firstly Bond with 114, then Parrott with 126 which remains top at the time of writing, McCulloch with 110 and Davis with 100.
Fu's flu and Hamilton's food poisoning added to the dourness of the day, which contained only 15 minutes for lunchbreak and 20 for dinner!
In fact the highlight of the day was probably an amusing dialogue between commentators Everton and Griffiths when Griffiths suggested that, after a long spell of scrappiness, there might be a big break now as McCulloch potted a long red. "Would you like to bet on that, Clive, just a little bet, £5,000 maybe?" "That's too small for me, Terry" whereupon McCulloch breaks down on 25. "I don't suppose you'll pay up, Terry?" "Well, you didn't have the courage to take me up on it!"
Day 2 provided a real Crucible classic, John Parrott being involved in a record tenth Crucible decider – as Kellie-text so wonderfully put it when it got to 9-9, "Just this frame for a place in the BBC studio".
Talking of John Parrott playing his best for years, so too Fergal O'Brien with a 50-break in five of the six frames played so far today. On the other table, a very noticeably trimmer Shaun Murphy looked like owning débutant Judd Trump (looking to be the youngest ever Crucible match-winner) but did not have it all his own way as Trump recovered to trail only 4-5.
What have I missed? Oh yes, O'Sullivan and Ding! Ding could become the second player to make a Crucible century despite winning only one frame! Just for fun, I wonder if anyone can name the person with whom he could share this ignomimious record?
Wish you were here! (particularly if you have an umbrella)
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