Five Players Who Should Have Won The World Championship (80s/90s Edition)

Much like the Short post I previously wrote looking at five players that perhaps should have won a World Championship (scroll to the bottom to read that), this time I’m going to look at some of the individuals across the 1980s and 90s that got close on certain occasions but weren’t able to strike gold.

Just to clarify, this isn’t to retract from any of the successes that these players were able to achieve in the sport. It’s more to observe which players could have won big if it weren’t for the usual suspects in the 1980s and 90s. In the current era where competition is extremely high, making it challenging to predict a World Championship (or Triple Crown) victor, it can be quite informative to look at these previous decades and see what could have happened.

Doug Mountjoy

UK and Masters Winner, Welsh-native Doug Mountjoy only lacked the WSC to complete his Triple Crown. There was over a decade between his UK and Masters titles but he was close to the mountaintop in 1981 when he reached his only WSC final. Unfortunately for Mountjoy, he was up against a young Steve Davis who was in the infancy of his prosperous career. Mountjoy wasn’t able to reach the later stages of the Worlds following this defeat; only reaching one quarter-final in 1984.

Tony Knowles

Twice a ranking event winner, Tony Knowles had some considerable success at The Crucible during the first half of the 1980s despite not being able to go all the way. He reached the semi-finals on three occasions including 1985 and 86, where he would lose out to the eventual winners of the championship. Although, arguably his most notable accomplishment that is mentioned whenever you hear about Knowles is his hammering of defending champion Davis (10-1) in the first round of the 1982 WSC.

Neal Foulds

Former World No. 3, now commentator, Neal Foulds reached the semi-finals of the Masters on three occasions and the finals of the UK Championship once. His furthest voyage in the WSC came in 1987 where he was stopped by Joe Johnson. Foulds was able to reach the quarter-finals a few times but kept finding himself in sightlines of other champions. Given his deep Triple Crown ventures, it is unfortunate Foulds wasn’t able to etch his name in the trophies.

James Wattana

He’s still an active professional however, James Wattana’s acclaim is primarily associated with his performance in the 1990s. Before O’Sullivan entered, Wattana held the record for the fastest maximum break, at 7 minutes 9 seconds in 1991. Wattana reached The Crucible semi-finals twice, losing to rivals White and Hendry each time. He was able to scrap with the best of them as displayed by his £1 million+ prize winnings and was one of the driving forces in popularising snooker in the eastern hemisphere.

Matthew Stevens

I know this is on the borderline as to whether we can classify Matthew Stevens in this list, but he was reaching Triple Crown finals in the late 1990s and was a professional for years before that. Stevens is one of the players that could fairly hold a little resentment towards the Class of ’92 considering how many Triple Crowns they cost him. The easiest thing is for me to do is show you is Stevens’ record for his first 8 Crucible appearances from 1998-05: 1) quarter-final, 2) quarter-final, 3) final, 4) semi-final, 5) semi-final, 6) round 2 (ignore that), 7) semi-final and 8) final. A personal favourite of mine and I still hold out hope that he’ll complete the Triple Crown!

What do you think of my list? What other players across the 1980s and 90s do you think should be included?

---

Like this Short? Click here to read: Five Players who should have won the World Championship

Have an idea for a Short post? Feel free to get in touch using the social media links below! Thanks for reading!

Mark Selby’s Impressive Run as World No. 1

Steve Davis remained at No. 1 for 7 consecutive seasons in the 1980s and Stephen Hendry for 8 seasons in the 1990s. It’s a relatively safe assessment in saying that competition has ramped up as time goes on, which is why it’s such an impressive (and sometimes unnoticed) accomplishment when Mark Selby was able to match Davis’ performance from 2012-19.

Firstly this should be taken with a grain of salt. And by ‘grain’, I mean a literal grain because there isn’t anything that can be taken away from this achievement. Selby’s run wasn’t a continuous sailing at the No. 1 position. Partway through this period he did temporarily get overtaken in the rankings but by the end of the season had reclaimed his top position. This is why most hear about him holding No. 1 for over 4 years which refers to him never losing first place at any point until it was recently toppled by O’Sullivan last season.

This kind of run at No. 1 hasn’t come close to being replicated since Hendry and this includes the Class of ’92. Given that they were each other’s main competition while other talents were still emerging is perhaps the reason they weren’t able to achieve this. However, Selby managed to break through all this, in a period where the Class of ’92 were winning World Championships and establish a legacy that will categorise him with the greats.

Even though the ranking system has been altered over the years, one fundamental factor the remains true is that if you perform well, this will be reflected in the rankings. Selby’s Triple Crown performance from 2014-17 would have had him at World No. 1 regardless of the ranking system in place. And due to the 2 year money rolling system, is what allowed him to stay at the top of the rankings for so long. Considering how the rankings used to only be updated once a season but now is effectively updated after every tournament made Selby’s accomplishment even more impressive, as his position could have changed at any point.

If we describe periods of snooker in eras, we have the Davis era, Hendry era, the Class of ’92 era (which is still ongoing) but then I like to think the Selby era rose next. Not necessarily because Selby dominated in a way those before him did, but he certainly paved the way for the arrival of newer competition in players like Robertson, Ding and Trump. I guess you could call it the Competition era.

Actually, Selby did kind of dominate like Davis and Hendry did; 3 WSC’s in 4 years – something not done since Hendry. During this period, he was able to win 5 ranking events in a single season – tying Hendry, O’Sullivan and Ding. Higgins referred to Selby as the modern day Steve Davis after their final in 2017, which I don’t think is too far off. It took one relatively poor season and a couple of ranking climbers like O’Sullivan and Trump to finally overthrow the reign Selby had held for so long.

There are some snooker fans who are distasteful towards Selby and his style of play which is perhaps one of the reasons why this remarkable feat doesn’t often get the attention it should. Personally, I love watching Selby play because of his brilliant snooker brain and ability to navigate his way around a table. Realistically, Selby is only 3 or 4 good seasons away from being able to match the likes of the Trinity (Davis/Hendry/O’Sullivan) and I think he is a player who will be able stand the test of time long enough to try and make this happen.

---

Like this Short? Click here to read: Would a professional play well on any table?

Have an idea for a Short post? Feel free to get in touch using the social media links below! Thanks for reading!

Why The Coral Cup Series Is A Great Idea

The Coral Cup consists of my favourite tournaments in the whole snooker season, with the exception of the Triple Crown. They operate slightly differently to other tournaments and provide some of the best matches which could contest a major final in their own right. As the series progresses, the competition only gets better and success in these events can have drastic impacts on a players earnings and therefore, ranking.

If you’re unaware, the Coral Snooker series is made up of the World Grand Prix, Players Championship and lastly, the Tour Championship. The Grand Prix is the oldest of the three events, dating back to the 1980s and going through numerous rebrands; the Players Championship goes back to 2011 and the PTC; while the Tour Championship was only introduced last season when the Coral Cup brand was formed. They are all held fairly closely to each other after the New Year and include competitors in the Top 32/16/8 of the one-year ranking list.

That’s one of the main qualities that make these tournaments fascinating to watch. Near enough every other event is based on using the two-year world ranking data in which certain players can win a big tournament and sit on the prize winnings for quite some time – two years to be exact. The Coral events reflect those who have performed best in the current season and pretty much give a clear, up-to-date picture on who the top players are.

If a player has won any kind of ranking event in the season, then they are pretty much guaranteed a spot in the Top 32 or even the Top 16. For instance, Ding Junhui is securely in the Players and Tour Championship thanks to his UK Championship victory, despite not winning anything on either side of this tournament for quite some time. Even if you’re a defending champion, a poor performance in the season will not get you into the later, more lucrative Coral events. It’s a shame the Shanghai Masters isn’t a ranking event.

There are six-figure prizes on offer for the winner of any of these events (GP - £100k; Players - £125k; Tour - £150k), making it a worthwhile endeavour for those aiming to get towards the top of the rankings. Considering the available winnings, it’s quite amazing to realise there were still 6 tournaments last season that dished out higher prize money to the winners. However, when the prize money is this high you can expect the best players to show up and given the format of the Coral Cup, you can expect to see matches that you’d watch in the Masters.

One of my favourite features of the Coral Snooker Series is the progression that you’re able to witness as the weeks roll by. Unlike the Home Nations or the recently created European Series, the Coral Cup filters the best among the best (among the best) through the series. While other events have an element of unpredictability due to the short format matches and flat-128 draw, you have a better idea of the quality and calibre of snooker to expect with the Coral events.

Whether Coral remain the sponsor for the series indefinitely or not, I do hope that WST continue to brand these events together. Similar to the Home Nations, these tournaments create a unique storyline when bundled together, particularly with the bonuses that are up for grabs. I wonder if something similar could be created earlier in the season for those ranked 33-64.

---

Like this Short? Click here to read: Top Ranking Events in 2018/19 Season

Have an idea for a Short post? Feel free to get in touch using the social media links below! Thanks for reading!

Snooker Cue Tip Brands (Elkmaster/Kamui etc.)

Formerly, I’ve looked at how the tip of a cue can make a difference when you are playing a shot. This looked at factors like size and density (click here to read that Short) and how they can impact a shot upon contact. If you are looking at replacing the tip on your cue and wondering how to choose from all the brands that are available, then hopefully this will be helpful for you.

Elkmaster

The most common/popular brand of cue tip, even among professionals. These tips can be ordered in batches so you’ll always have spares available should the situation arise. They are quite inexpensive compared to other brands. Elks generally fall on the softer end of the scale, allowing for comfortable gripping on the cue ball as well as ease when it comes to shaping. They will also require a bit of breaking in before getting comfortable and consistent results.

Due to Elks coming in batches, it can be tricky finding the perfect tip of out the bunch. This can often lead to heavy shaping and pressing before even using the tip to ensure it fits your specification/preference. There are such tips called Elkmaster Pros which are pressed and shaped to a better result than standard Elks, but I am not aware that these are actually any different in the manufacturing process i.e. they are handpicked out of an ordinary Elk batch. Blue Diamond is a brand that is characteristically similar to Elk, if it doesn’t meet your requirements.

Kamui

Chief rival to Elkmasters – Kamui offers an alternative to players who prefer the contact of a slightly harder tip. Kamui is more expensive and you are effectively ordering for a single piece, as opposed to receiving a batch with multiple tips. Kamui uses a higher quality leather so you don’t have to maintain them as much as an Elk - you can worry less about mushrooming or misshaping with a Kamui tip. John Higgins is a notable Kamui user.

Century

A brand of tip that is all about quality. If you want something that matches the class of the sport you play in, this is the one to get. Century uses a grading system to allow you to find the perfect density in your tip; G1-5 where the higher you go, the harder the tip. These tips are a little more expensive than Kamui’s but you receive four in a batch and shouldn’t need to worry too much about compressing them. Another thing to consider is that currently, they are only available in a 10mm configuration, so if you wanted something smaller and don’t want to take to slicing your expensive product, you may need to compromise or wait until Century start manufacturing a smaller tip.

Something to note is if you want a G5 graded tip, these do have to be custom made and are significantly more expensive than other tips. So bear that in mind if you need a hard tip. Century is a brand of tip endorsed by Mark Selby.

Fun Fact: According to Century’s Amazon seller page, Mark Williams used a Century tip when he won the World Championship in 2018!

Talisman

Available in soft, medium or hard variants the Talisman tips are close in price to the Century brand. Talisman tips are generally harder than other brands so soft and medium will be sufficient for most users. Often complemented as a great all-round tip which doesn’t require much breaking in or maintenance, this is a great choice for a reasonable all-round player.

It’s quite difficult to compare tips unless you have extensively used products across all brands. Most people will have a certain preference when it comes to size and density but the main differences across manufacturers is the time it takes to break in/shape a new tip and how often it will need to be replaced. What do you think? What’s your tip brand of choice? Feel free to inform on other brands that were not mentioned above (Black Heart – but they seem to be quite scarce).

---

Like this Short? Click here to read: Types of Snooker Cues: A Guide for Buying Cues

Have an idea for a Short post? Feel free to get in touch using the social media links below! Thanks for reading!