The Snookerbacker Blog

To me, to you. Two Champs.

Yesterday in Leeds it was London’s David Gray who became the second player to lift the Snookerbacker Classic trophy and make his way on to Q-School in May to represent the blog, defeating Kyren Wilson 4-2 in the final.

David qualified from the Last Chance Saloon event in Gloucester just days before swooping in on Finals Day and nabbing the big prize in what was a busy week for the former Scottish Open Champion and UK Championship Runner-up.

The 34 year old Londoner is a very familiar name on the snooker circuit and I’m delighted that this win can help resurrect his career on the baize, he has to be a strong favourite to be the second winner to progress onto the main tour on yesterday’s evidence.

The day started with myself and Mrs SB travelling to Leeds and again getting hopelessly lost at one point, but having factored this in to the journey time we still arrived in plenty of time to lay out the tournament desk and decorate the Northern Snooker Centre with posters, the basic rule being that if there was a space somewhere, put a poster there.

The early matches saw the eventual champion take a commanding lead over Welshman Jamie Clarke who looked a little out of sorts having been ill all week but just as David looked to be heading for a comfortable win Jamie found some form and in the end David ran out a 4-2 winner in a match that could easily have gone to a decider.

On the other table local boy Sanderson Lam had a tussle with Ant Parsons from the North East, Sandi coming out a 4-1 winner with a very disappointed Ant claiming he just didn’t perform on the day, which of course can happen to anyone.

The second session saw two high quality encounters, Kyren Wilson saw off Adam Wicheard and young Oliver Lines managed to beat Gloucester’s Andrew Norman with a pot success in the 90%’s.

It was a very notable session for Lines, who to the horror of the onlooking and already beaten Clarke compiled his highest ever break in tournament play or in practice of 142, eclipsing Clarke’s 141 which had stood as the Classic highest break since October. Oli’s break was perfection and in truth he never looked like missing, he is some prospect and a name for the notebook. As for Jamie, he probably wishes he hadn’t bothered rising out of his sick bed for the 7 hour drive, as the break cost him the £300 high break prize.

The sociable side of the Classic was again evident and a lot of the usual suspects and many more were around to watch the action. The day was added to by the presence of Monique Limbos who had flown in from Belgium especially to snap away and her pictures from the day can be found on Facebook by clicking here.

But the main talking point for most was the amazing live scoring system provided by MySnookerStats and it soon became evident on Twitter that this was going down an absolute storm with everyone. Comments came in from places like China, Australia, Germany, Holland, Russia, Japan, Canada, the USA and Wigan with unending praise for the facility and I am pleased to report that yesterday saw over 1500 unique visitors logging in to the scoring to keep up with the event. It was truly a triumph and I hope to work with the guys again next season. A huge thanks goes to Andy Guest, Dom Cullen and Adam Whelan who kept the whole thing going under the weight of the SB Army clamouring for their stat fix, a truly sterling effort all round. You can find all the stats from yesterday by clicking here - click the match score for specific player stats.

By this time last year’s winner Martin O’Donnell had turned up as promised and his appearance fee was handed to him in the form of a brown envelope crammed with used notes. He then accompanied the lovely Mrs SB back to the hotel while I stayed to keep an eye on the action, they were gone quite a while but having applied thumbscrews to the MO’D and a tickling stick to Mrs SB I am quite sure that I have no reason to be suspicious about anything, though the MO’D is of course as taken with the delightful Mrs SB as everyone else and I’m sure he turned on the charm when he slipped her a gin and tonic in the hotel bar, the cheeky cockney scamp.

On the table Gray had a real classic match against Sanderson Lam and it produced the only decider of the day in what was a very tense affair. It again outlined the difference between being a losing semi-finalist and making the final, Sandi can be proud of how he performed and he was one frame away from getting his Q-School entry paid for, it was clear at the end how much it meant to both players and David visibly relaxed after the match.

Oli – Career High Break of 142

Whilst they were playing things were getting ever more sociable in the bar and the likes of the Wizard, Snoops, Jaykay, Roland and the MO’D were having a right old time of it. Oliver Lines in the meantime professed to how much he liked my shoes, which I promised to him if he won the tournament and grew his feet two sizes.

It was his turn next and he didn’t manage to replicate the form he had shown earlier against Andrew and lost 4-2 to Kyren, who having already gained his tour place through the PTC’s this season was playing for the cash prize.

Oli however leaves the event with his £150 losing semi-finalist prize and the £300 for the highest break, his 142 being the best break ever made in the SB Classic.

He also leaves with a new and expanding fanbase judging by some of the support I saw for him online, particularly from the female crowd. The good news is that he’s a really nice lad and has an attitude that is sure to see him succeed as long as he stays just as he is. I’m sure that Peter and Sarah are very proud of him and with good reason, if he doesn’t make professional at Q-School this year I think he’ll be very hard to stop in next season’s Classic.

It was then time for the final and as with last year it was smiles all round as Gray relaxed into his game and produced a decent performance, probably his best of the day, to scoop the extra £500 on top of his Q-School entry. I managed to wrestle The MO’D away from the bar to present the trophy to the new champ, but not before he had a moan that David’s trophy was bigger than his, some people are never happy….

But the day belonged to David and he came along for the winners curry afterwards with a smile as wide as the trophy. It’s a long way back for him to get to where he has been in the game, he can count a Crucible victory over Ronnie O’Sullivan amongst his achievements, but this is a good start and I have no doubt whatsoever that we haven’t seen the last of him. It also goes to prove that the Snookerbacker Classic is for everyone, it’s a level playing field whether you are looking at making a comeback like David or just starting out in your career like Jamie, Oli and Sandi.

The new champ spoke at length over dinner about regular coaching sessions that he holds in Coulsdon for local kids on Saturdays and it’s clear this is something that means a great deal to him, snooker is most definitely in his blood and his passion for the game shines through when he gets talking. He’s a cracking bloke and I really hope that he doesn’t have to defend his title next season as for me, he belongs on the main tour and judging by the reaction of a few players on hearing of his win I am not alone in thinking this, he does need a new nickname though as he doesn’t really like his old one ‘Casper’ which relates to his pale complexion. Mrs SB and I discussed this on the way home earlier and we like ‘The Swift’ after all, he has swooped in as quick as a flash and nabbed the title this week.

He also generously said he will display the trophy in Coulsdon Snooker Centre as he knows they would like to have it on show there so if you are in the area go and have a look at it and get a photo with it, send it to me and I might just put it up on here. A bit like when people see the FA Cup and all that, except better.

Finally, there are far too many people that we need to thank for making the tournament a huge success this season, I hope that we got round to doing so yesterday but if not please forgive us as we were both busy and by the end the drinks were flowing. It’s a really enjoyable tournament to be involved with and I am truly flattered at how well a concept that I thought of in bed one day has been received and we both hope to see old and new faces again next season for the next one.

A special big thank you however must go to referees Alex Crum and Matthew Lowson for yesterday which saw the white-gloved twosome working non-stop for more hours than I’d care to imagine. I hope they enjoyed it as much as we did.

I’ll be keeping tabs on David in the run-up to Q-School and of course rooting for him to carry the torch for the blog when he plays there.

Go get ‘em Champ. The comeback starts here.