Hello everyone, remember me? Yes that’s right, I’m back for a rare foray back into the baize. As some of you will be aware, this time of year for over a decade for me was one where I was busy squirreling away, checking head to head stats, checking current form and overall season rankings and the like, in preparation for the World Championship. Whilst those days are now behind me, part of me misses the buzz ahead of writing ‘The Big Preview’ and all it brought with it.
Rather than squirreling, I’m afraid these days I am more inclined to be channelling my inner Parrot. For I, a fellow Liverpudlian like JP, will also be sitting there for 17 days saying ‘I’ve not seen much of this boy play’ about around a quarter of the field, the difference is that JP gets to claim the whole thing on expenses in the swanky Mercure while I sit in the arsedent at home eating Pot Noodles.
Right, first thing’s first, THE CURSE. As anyone who has followed me over the years knows I am firmly of the opinion that the Crucible Curse will never be broken, Davis couldn’t do it, Hendry couldn’t do it, Ronnie couldn’t do it. That should be evidence enough yet still some believe that The Snooker Gods do not exist. The most recent victims of the curse include Luca Brecel who I seem to recall scoffed at the idea it existed last year and was firmly booted up the arse and out of the championship by the Snooker Gods before he could even unpack his bags in Sheffield.
This year’s forthcoming victim Kyren Wilson has gone even further. I’m not sure who is advising him at the moment but releasing a video where he smashes a mirror and puts an umbrella up indoors can only serve against him. He’s clearly misguided if he thinks The Snooker Gods aren’t on social media and my guess is that while he may survive round one, he’ll be the victim of a Chinese takeaway in the Last 16. He won’t win it, let’s just leave it there shall we.
This brings me to the second big theme of the championship this year, yes, the Chinese invasion. I am old enough to remember when we were being told that by 2020 half the tour and most of the top 16 would all be Chinese, but many have come and gone in that time with only seemingly Ding able to play the long term game. But something feels different this time around and it would be no surprise to see at least one Chinese player make the final this year, particularly given that there is at least 2 of them in every quarter of the draw.
Most people’s man to do this will be the returning Zhao Xintong, a ridiculously talented player who, if he adapts his very aggressive style to suit the marathon of The Crucible is sure to make a good account of himself. He starts out against last year’s runner up Jak Jones, as unlikely a finalist there has been in the history of the championship, which brings me on to the next theme; the outsiders.
The World Championship used to be an event where you would say that only 6 or 7 players had a realistic chance of winning it. This year and given that we’ve seen some of the more unrecognisable names making the late stages in recent times, means you can probably make a case for at least 20 of the 32 starters, if not more. My guess is that if you backed the outsider to level stakes in every match over the 17 days you would end up with a profit, if anyone wants to try that and let me know the results, please be my guest and don’t blame me if you can’t feed the kids in May.
Of the ‘old’ names, Judd Trump starts as tournament favourite, though almost everyone who I have seen have an opinion about the winner this year is plumping for Mark Selby. John Higgins seems to be back to something like his best but struggles over the 17 days of late, Mark Williams eyes have gone to pot if his recent rumblings are to be believed, Neil Robertson continues to try and follow up his 2010 success whilst secretly disliking the enclosed nature of the first three rounds with a passion, Masters champion Shaun Murphy will once again be donning several hats during the event, working for the BBC whilst also doing a stint behind the bar at The Mercure (one of those might not be true), other seeds with chances include Barry Hawkins who tends to save his best for this place, Mark Allen, who doesn’t and former champ Brecel, who after upsetting the Gods last year is tumbling down the rankings faster than a Jackson Page maximum.
Of the non-Chinese qualifiers I think there is potential to see an upset in the Robbo/Wakelin first rounder, Chris to me has the kind of game that can be adapted to this event and he’d be one of the outsiders I’d take a punt on ‘just in case’, Joe O’Connor is another that could spring a first round surprise against Higgins and go on a run, whilst my old favourite Dave Gilbert is another who saves his best for the hallowed ground of The Crucible.
So, who am I missing? Ahh, yes, the lesser spotted Rocket, of course. Ronnie and Ali’s balls were well and truly warmed up for the draw and they meet once again in the most needled match up in snooker. We know that Ronnie has done this before, he’s had not quite the whole season off this time, but enough of it to make winning this one of the greatest challenges of his career. If he were to pull it off again it would be up there with the achievements of Muhammad Ali, though I hope with not quite as much punching involved in his opener with The Captain.
I can’t leave without mentioning two names appearing here for the first time in Zak Surety and Daniel Wells, both competed in the SB Classic when it was in full throttle, Zak being one of the original grand finalists in the very first year of the tournament and Dan being runner up in the penultimate year. I really hope they enjoy the experience and show everyone what great players they are.
I’ve probably mentioned well over half the field above and there is still a decent chance that the new champion isn’t amongst them.
I think it would be disingenuous of me to put forward any ‘tips’ as such, given that I haven’t been invested in snooker at all this season, but I will put forward the opinion that we will see at least one Chinese face in the one table situation and that we will also see more than one qualifier there too.
If someone said to me that I had to pick a bet to have or face a lifetime watching re-runs of the first round match between Mark King and Rory McLeod from a few years ago, as a winner I would probably go for Selby with a side bet on Barry Hawkins. For ‘surprise’ packages if there are any these days, I’d plump for Chris Wakelin and Joe O’Connor for first round shocks and possibly more. But I can’t ignore the merits of the Chinese players, it’s probably worth backing all of them to reach the semis and see how it goes.
A few years ago I came up with a bet that the bookies have since been trolling us all with, the ‘century in every match’ bet. What started out as a 28/1 interest bet has now become the bet that funds the bookies summer holidays, it is basically the new curse, but for us poor punters. It won’t happen, but that won’t stop people backing it, I’d just hope the bookies play fair this year and at least make the price appealing to all us mugs, degenerates and losers.
Right, that’s me done. I hope you enjoyed it. If these guys will have me back I might do an update after the first couple of rounds, I’ll spout a load of nonsense on the usual social platforms before I get booted off for saying something inappropriate so you can catch me there if you like.
Enjoy the snooker.
SB