Instant Classic

Alex Higgins: The 69 Break - Instant Classic

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Arguably the greatest break ever made; if not, then it is undoubtedly in most viewers’ top three clearances of all time. Yes, of course this was going to be covered (38 years later) at some point. As soon as you mention Instant Classic, it is considered a crime if this historic break is not thrown into the mix. Let’s rewind to the 1982 World Championship semi-final, where Jimmy White is one frame away from reaching the world final.

However, his opponent was 1972 champion, Alex Higgins. White had an impressive run to the semi-finals, passing by Cliff Thorburn, Perrie Mans and Kirk Stevens along the way. Meanwhile, 33 year old Higgins had some closer encounters against Doug Mountjoy and Willie Thorne; having won a deciding frame against the former. Little did the Hurricane know that another deciding frame was imminent. But this Instant Classic is all about the penultimate frame of this semi-final epic.

White had gained a 41 point lead but missed a black off the spot, not too dissimilar to 1994 (click here to read about that Instant Classic), whilst trying to make a cannon. Fortunately for White, Higgins gave him another chance with a poor safety but only capitalised enough to get the score-line to 59-0 due to a missed rest shot. And the table was set. Six reds remaining; two tight alongside cushions; 75 points on the table; 15-14 down in a first-to-16; and insurmountable pressure.

Red. Position was clearly an afterthought during this break. Higgins was focusing on each ball and pot as he arrived at them. Most eulogise about the upcoming blue but for me, this following green was equally as impressive. Hampered just as much as the blue, a longer distance green potted perfectly to naturally come off the angles and bring the difficult red off the cushion. Red. During the break, the black came up the table, so the following pot saw Higgins sink the black from the baulk colours. Nice.

That red that Higgins developed earlier off the impressive green? Thin cut, but in. And Higgins arrives at the blue. Higgins wasn’t showing the usual distaste that many players show when they’re not correctly in position. He just realised the importance of the shot and the difficulty required in bringing the cue ball back to any of the remaining reds. Hampered, extreme bottom left on the cue ball, high power – what are the chances? Not only did Higgins pot it, but he did it so well that he overran the cue ball by a tremendous margin and almost ended up snookering himself behind the black.

Red. But not just any red. Possibly the most important red of the break. Due to the previous shot, Higgins had to take a red to the top right corner pocket. Compared to his previous shot, it didn’t seem as challenging. Nevertheless, it wasn’t guaranteed. A very missable pot, Higgins played to perfection and landed behind the black in what seemed to be the last complex pot of the break.

Although, it was anything but that. The worst thing for a snooker player is to sink a difficult pot just to follow it up with a fairly simple miss. In this case, Higgins sunk a series of complicated pots as he was fighting to hang onto the rope that was keeping him in the 1982 WSC. The remaining 10 shots may have seemed textbook, but the pressure was rampant. Red. Black. Red. Black. Colours.

It’s always the unorthodox breaks that are remembered the most; particularly the breaks where one wouldn’t expect a player to be able to clear in one visit. Ronnie O’Sullivan’s 92 comes to mind. Higgins utilised five out of the six pockets to manufacture this clearance, and that was before he got to the colours. If good positional play was compared to having the cue ball on a string; the first half of this break was comparable to trying to chase a slinky down a stair case with one hand on the bannister.

The reason this 69 break is still praised to this day revolves around the circumstances in which it was made. White required one more frame to reach the final and any shot Higgins took could have been his last. And the shots he took on…the possibility was highly likely. The technical difficulty of some of the pots Higgins took on, particularly the cannon from the green, and the famous blue are so easy to miss and go horribly wrong.

John Spencer regarded this as the pressure break of the century. I don’t think that’s far off. Decades later and this break is still highly regarded as one of the greatest and most memorable of all time, and rightfully so. While many other players possibly would have gotten the cue ball in better position, if any of the pots came up that Higgins had to take on, considering the circumstances I don’t think there’s many (or even any) that could have sunk those series of incredible pots.

What do you think of this monumental pressure break? What other clearances do you think belong up there with this memorable clearance?


Like this Short? Click here to read: Neil Robertson's 100th Century – Instant Classic

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Neil Robertson’s 100th Century – Instant Classic

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It was the first time ever achieved; and it seems imminent that we will be seeing this historic feat accomplished once again. In 2013/14, two players broke the single season century record however, one of these individuals ran away with the margin so significantly that he crossed a line many thought wasn’t possible. This is Neil Robertson and his momentous 100th century at the 2014 World Championship.

The stage was set at the WSC quarter-finals as Robertson was in the middle of contesting an epic against long-time rival, Judd Trump. It was towards the business end of the match as Robertson was 10-11 down and had been chasing Trump for some time. At this juncture, the stakes were high and Robertson was just fighting to win the match. And then the break was there.

It wasn’t an easy opening table for Robertson, as evident by the near two minutes spent deciding on his opening shot. However, it was clearly worth the time and thought as Robertson potted an acute long plant that commenced his historic break. The rest of the break was carefully played and judged by the 2010 World Champion and even though Robertson wasn’t necessarily running completely out of position, he wasn’t exactly in prime position throughout, having being saved by a few impressive pots during the contribution. But then the time came as Roberson potted the green that he needed to make 101 and received a deserving uproar from the participating Crucible crowd. Robertson went on to win the match 13-11.

Robertson was on a high-scoring rampage in the 2013/14 season with the UK Championship under his belt as he completed the Triple Crown (and became the first overseas player to achieve this). At the time, the high century record in a single season was held by opponent Trump, with a tally of 61 which was met in 2012/13. The way things seem, it’s like Robertson and Trump are just exchanging the high century record between them.

However, Robertson wasn’t the only one gunning for this record. Ding Junhui managed to beat Trump’s former record of 61 by adding one more to the total during the same season. If Robertson didn’t perform, Ding would have been the record holder until the following seasons. Although, no one was expecting The Thunder from Down Under as he ran away with the centuries with such a considerable distance that he was opening up the fans and pundits to the possibility of a century of centuries – something that was formerly unheard of.

To give an idea of Robertson’s centuries through the season and how extraordinary his scoring was, he eclipsed the previous record of 61 during the Champions League, which takes place from January. In early February, Robertson managed to reach 78 centuries and got this number to almost 90 centuries by the time he was complete with the Welsh Open at the end of the month. He reached 99 centuries thanks to his first two WSC matches before he accomplished the magnificent 100. Robertson then went on to make a further three centuries in his semi-final against Mark Selby to close out the season.

An astonishing moment of history that will always be remembered, particularly as it opened the eyes to other players as to what could be done in a single season. The other high century records after the 103 made by Robertson were all made in the past few seasons following 2013/14. It’s certainly no easy task even with the standards constantly rising, but Robertson has further etched his name in the history books with this Instant Classic.


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Like this Short? Click here to read: Stephen Hendry vs Jimmy White 1994 WSC – Instant Classic

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Stephen Hendry vs. Jimmy White WSC 1994 – Instant Classic

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A moment in history. A final never forgotten. A black ball that brought the snooker world to its knees. It has been 26 years since the Crucible Classic which gave us a memorable match and a momentous final frame. You can probably picture the events from memory already but for the sake of reminiscing through Instant Classics, whether you’re a fan of the result or not, this is definitely one of them.

The 3-time World Champion at the time, Stephen Hendry contested against recurring rival Jimmy White, in what was his sixth and last WSC final. Hendry has headlined many terrific classics and moments during his career (some of which will be re-hashed in the future), but the 1994 match will always live in memory with most as a (minimum) Top 3 contest.

It was a pretty close fought match throughout with Hendry winning 5-in-a-row and White winning 6-in-a-row during the opening session as White edged it 9-7. Hendry was always on White’s heels as he didn’t let him extend the lead. There was almost always a frame between them until Hendry reached towards the championship end as he led 16-14 and 17-16. This included a critical juncture where Hendry showed remarkable sportsmanship as he corrected referee John Williams on a free ball – a call which could have provided him a 17-15 lead. Nevertheless, White wasn’t about to let his closest chance at gold slip as he forced the decider.

This was White’s closest chance not only because of the score-line, but due to this being the year that Hendry had injured his elbow with a hairline fracture. This would make cushion or awkward bridging shots quite uncomfortable for him. Secondly, White had momentum in his favour as he forced the decider from 17-16 down. Additionally, Hendry was in first and missed.

The decider. Only the second time to happen at the Crucible. After Hendry left a red over the left corner pocket, faltering at 24, White had his shot. Already with 8 points, White was carefully manoeuvring his way amongst the reds. Normally when an opponent misses a pot, the other player comes to the table reinvigorated and somewhat relaxed that they have another chance. You could say that White was feeling the opposite at this point in the match. However, White was doing well – he got the reds to a point where there wasn’t a difficult ball on the table.

The black. On a break of 29, White had a seemingly standard black; which Dennis Taylor mentioned in commentary would probably have a 1 in 30 chance of missing. Whether it was a twitch, the pressure, a distraction or looking too far ahead came one of the most shocking moments in snooker history. This was noted by the very audible disbelief and gasps from the audience as this happened. This is because they all knew, including the commentators, what was going to happen next. And it did happen.

This isn’t to take away anything from what happened next, which is often overshadowed by the nature of the missed black. Hendry masterfully cleared the remainder of the table with a break of 58, demonstrating his middle pocket excellence as well as his nerves of steel. He had just claimed his fourth world title in five years.

Whether you and the live audience favoured the result or not, both players were gracious in victory and defeat, which made their rivalry enjoyable to watch. Out of all White’s final, this was certainly the one that got away. Little did White and the rest of us know, it would be the last time he graced the world final while Hendry continued to take the 90s by storm. It’s a final remembered by all, fans and players alike. And for those new to snooker and wanting recommendations of classic matches to watch, this is definitely an Instant Classic.


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Like this Short? Click here to read: Ronnie O'Sullivan's 1000th Century - Instant Classic

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Ronnie O'Sullivan's 1000th Century - Instant Classic

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With compelling victories over Barry Hawkins, John Higgins, Mark Allen and Neil Robertson, who would have thought that winning the Players Championship 2019 would be the secondary highlight the night of the final.

The Coral Cup will always be one of my favourite sets of tournaments because of the competition it encourages and this year’s Players Championship was no different. Despite the solid contesting throughout the event, make no mistake; it was all about the final. More specifically, the final frame.

O’Sullivan was on 997 centuries before the start of the final and made 2 centuries in the match to build a comfortable 7-2 lead against Robertson. Once the scoreboard got to 9-4, O’Sullivan potted a sweet first red into the left centre which initiated the infamous 1000th century break. And I don’t know many other players that can consistently win their final frames by clearing up the table.

The rest of the break was fairly standard but there was a lot of speculation and crowd murmurs as to whether the magical 1000 would be made that night. In prior interviews, O’Sullivan said that he would be saving this landmark for a future event – some thought he was saving it for the World Championship, which would have meant intentionally refusing centuries for weeks.

But fortunately, this wasn’t the case. O’Sullivan realised that moment was right; he had a great tournament, the crowd were engaging and encouraging him to make it and it was with an opponent who he has great respect for.

If you ever want to see a snooker crowd going ballistic (that isn’t the erratic bellowing of the Shoot Out), watch this. Or the 2008 WSC maximum break. No one can work a crowd like O’Sullivan and only he would have been able to get this much from an audience. This was only enhanced when he played with the crowd with little gestures, getting up from the final pots and of course, playing the century ball left handed.

Now the question is, how many with O’Sullivan go on to make? Well, only he can really answer that. But he’s been making at least 50-60 centuries the past few seasons and he has said previously that he wants to leave a lengthy gap for the next person to try and catch up. One thing is for certain though, this will go for decades as a classic snooker moments that many will remember.