It’s the second round… After defeating Ken Doherty in the first, Mark Allen has a hard time in the match he’s up against Matthew Stevens. Stevens has won all the frames in the first part of the match and had the lead at 4-0 before Mark even won one of the frames. The score is now 4-1…

Mark Allen’s game is not working well, he’s 4 frames behind while MAtthew Stevens is only 5 frames away from victory in this match. Mark has to work hard to catch up if he wants a shot at victory.

In snooker there is genius, there is practice… and there is LUCK… But you know how it works, luck is with the bold. And we have here masters of the cue helped in their way to victory by hands god.

Snooker unwritten rules of fair-play require the players to pay apologies for any shot that was unintentionally successful. These people are forever in debt to the goddess Fortuna for some of these shots.

John Parrott defeated 6 times world champion and friend Steve Davis in the first round. Shaun Murphy defeated young debutant Judd Trump (who, by the way, plays very, very good!).

They are now one up against the other in an uneventful match that doesn’t go so well for Shaun. He is now in the lead by two at a score of 6-4 but the level of play dropped a lot and there are many mistakes to be taken advantage of, on both parts…

Update(s):

The score is now 7-5 with Murphy in the lead.

John Parrott manages to win another frame and trails behind Shaun. The score is now 7-6 with Shaun in the lead. The 14th frame got a little complicated as they are close in points and fighting to gain a good safty shot or maybe a snooker. They are both waiting for the other one to make a mistake and I bet Murphy would feel much better if he were in the lead by two…

Murphy was about to steal another frame from John Parrott but he came back at the table and secured the win, the score is now 8-7, If John is to win this match he needs to find his game before it’s too late…

The evening session is going the same way… The match is tense and John Parrott is in Murphy’s tail being only one frame behing. the fact that Shaun didn’t manage to break away with a greater lead may prove crucial in the end of this match as John Parrott is holding on tight and, maybe with a bit of effort, he might steal away the victory fram Murphy. The score is now 9-8 with Shaun in the lead.

Shaun Murphy is now in the lead by 2 frames and is closing in to victory. Murphy is 3 frames away from victory while John Parrott is two frames behing him, Parrott is feeling the pressure. Parrott made a big mistake at the brown ball in the 19th frame and Murphy won the frame, there are now 3 frames between them.

10am

Stephen Maguire – Joe Swail

John Parrott – Shaun Murphy

2.30pm

Ian McCulloch – Anthony Hamilton

Mark Allen – Matthew Stevens

7pm

Stephen Maguire – Joe Swail

John Parrott – Shaun Murphy

Molly Newbold, a 15-year-old from Derby, is already planning a future career on the green baize - not with a cue though, but with a spotless pair of white gloves.

In fact, her refereeing skills have already been put to the test at this year’s 888.com World Championship having officiated several Junior Pot Black matches.

So how does a normal schoolgirl who has yet to take her GCSEs at Wilsthorpe School, Derby, get so interested in snooker?

“It was about two years ago when I was watching the Masters with my dad,” she said. “I saw Michaela Tabb refereeing a match and I said I would like to do that.

“I had already met Neil Robertson and I gave him a letter for her, asking how I could get started. Michaela was great and rang me up straight away and gave me loads of advice.

“We have since stayed in touch and we talk all the time now. She has helped me at every stage.”

Molly has now reached Grade 3 but it will take another two years before she gets to Grade 2, so her ambition to referee on the professional snooker circuit remains a long way off.

In the meantime, Tabb, now a familiar face on television and who has been a professional referee since 2001, is giving her plenty of encouragement.

“Molly is absolutely terrific,” said Dunfermline’s Tabb. “She’s very enthusiastic, loves the game, knows the rules and gets on with all the players.

“She needs to keep refereeing matches to get the necessary experience, whether it’s kids or ladies tournaments. So the Junior Pot Black at the Crucible is perfect practise for her.

“Who knows, one day she may well end up doing an 888.com World Snooker Championship match here.”

–worldsnooker.com

I’ve been watching this tournament for 6 days straight by now and seen a lot of frames being played. I must say some of the players really express their emotions and make it pretty clear they are all working really hard for the title, it means a lot to a snooker player.

I read Stephen Hendry’s statements and watch videos of him. He’s seven times world champion, you wouldn’t think it would be such a big thing for him anymore. Well, actually it’s on the contrary, he feels winning the title for the 8th time would be the greatest achievement of his career, you must be wondering what’s in the minds and souls of the young snooker players fighting their way through the rankings at Sheffield…

Effort is indeed rewarded, endless hours by the snooker table in long growling practice sessions and sacrifice are not in vain. But you do need talent to make it. There are hard working players who devoted their lives to the game on one side and there are the so called golden-boys like Ronnie who make it all look easy because they are naturally gifted. It’s normal for some of them to feel irritated by his behavior because he takes lightly all that for which they are working hard for…

After the match against David Gilbert:

“I thought my attitude and concentration was fantastic through the whole match, which is something I had been working hard on,” Hendry said. “If my attitude had been better last year I wouldn’t have lost in the first round.

“I could easily have chucked this match at 5-1 down, so I’m delighted with the way I dug in and won nine of the next 11 frames. I thought that was a tremendous performance.”

eurosport

In the morning session’s other match, Neil Robertson took 3-0 lead before the Welshman Ryan Day fought back.

The match between Stephen Lee and Mark Selby seemed to be over long time ago, Stephen Lee had a crushing 5-0 advantage but Mark Selby managed to surprise us all and won 6 frames straight and is now in the lead 6-5, it’s a beautiful match between these two.

Mark Selby is on a winnink streak, he won 8 frames in a row and is now in the lead 8-5, he is surprising to say the least.

Not only did Mark Selby recover after Stephen Lee was in the lead by 5 frames but is now about to win the frame and the match by 3 frames. Mark will meet Peter Ebdon in the second tour of the competition.

We are now in the 10th frame of the Hendry- Gilbert match. As I was saying, the young debutant David Gilbert is putting up a fight against multiple world champion Stephen Hendry. Gilbert was actually in the lead 5-1 but Hendry got back on trach in the second session. Hendry is at his 75th appearence here at the Crucible.

Stephen Hendry gained the lead at 6-5, after he made a very good come-back from 1-5.

After David Gilbert managed to win another frame, Hendry is smiling his way back into the lead. After 13 frames Hendry is in the lead 7-6.

David Gilbert is patiently potting the balls to make the score even again, Hendry has changed his tactic and isn’t making any more risky shots and so has Gilbert. It’s now 7-7 in a very interesting match.