Snooker Season 2022/23

Well, he did the important thing anyway which was to avoid defeat so Grace will now have to beat Steadman 3-0 and eclipse Aaron's high break of 101 to win the group. I would be just a little bit pissed if he manages to do that!

Well done Mick Judge, the only player in the group to win a match so moves forward to join Aaron in the winners stage. Owes Zhang Anda a pint tonight for doing him a big favour against Kyren there.

Well, Ken got pretty much smoked by Yuan there, doubt he got too much more than 10 shots the whole match! Always did look a pretty tough group to come through in fairness.

Nice routine 5-1 win for Aaron and earns a date with Baz Hawkins in Germany next month, as well as a few quid to keep coffers ticking over. Very scrappy overall it has to be said but looked good among the balls and really terrific last red in last frame to virtually clinch the match. Main job done so look forward to tomorrow now.

Nice break that from Lu Ning to sew up the group, good day for him. Aaron finishes bottom but at least a positive finish from him, much tidier and clinical there than earlier.

I see Hendry has withdrawn from the upcoming Northern Ireland qualifiers which is a shame if only because i thought it was an interesting draw for Aaron and a match I'd have confidently expected him to win. Will face Zhao Jianbo, No.1 on the top up list instead, whom he beat comfortably to secure his tour card at Q School, but still the tougher prospect i fancy.

And the frame doesnt arrive! Loses to a fluke but only after he missed a sitter on the pink which was virtual match ball so only himself to blame. Good win for Ng On Yee but not sure i can see her retaining the card on that evidence. Poor match.

Bad day at the office for Aaron, 3 prime chances to win the first blown and sinks to 0-4 defeat to Dave Gilbert. Just looked tight and nervous for some reason, taking too long over some of his shots. Off to Germany to face Baz Hawkins in European Masters next so not going to get any easier!

Yeah, great win for him. Saw a couple of frames and Fan missed quite a lot but you got to punish them which Mick did. Early performances this season been quite encouraging, couod and probably should have beaten Steadman in British last week. Daniel Wells up next so decent chance to wrack a few more quid up.

Shame to lose so heavily in the end after a promising start, Hawkins very clinical once he got moving. If you're not sticking these top players tight, sometimes not even getting within a foot of baulk cushion, then they're simply going to murder you every time.

I mean, Barry not taking the free ball there was such a bizarre decision, i can't understand what his thinking was. Did he just expect Kyren was going to stick him in plum, wasnt that difficult a snooker to get out of nor that difficult a pot on the pink. Sums up his match today for me, just never on it for wjatever reason.

Sad to hear today that Clive Everton has just produced his last ever edition of Snooker Scene after 51 years and over 600 editions. Not clear if that's the end or if someone steps in to take on the baton, but feels like the end of an era either way. Probably better known as a commentator, but Clive was first and foremost a journalist at heart, fearlessly independent and snooker was lucky to have him all those years. Health obviously not been great so past time for him to look after No.1.

Seems it's not going to happen. Dave was always the successor in waiting but he's so busy with commentary duties, he's not going to be taking it on. Wpbsa not interested either so not sure where that leaves things, very uncertain anyway.

Cue world, that's going back! Remember the old Pot Black magazines from that time too. Also remember how all the main news outlets had dedicated snooker corrs up to around late or mid-90s - Trevor Baxter for the telegraph i think, Clive for the Guardian and Yates for the times of the main ones. Trevor actually ran his own magazine for a while but not sure it lasted that long. In the circumstances, i think it was a remarkable achievement for Clive to last as long as he did, can't imagine it's a very viable project economically in todays climate, particularly doing hard copy.

From memory i think the top 8 were seeded into R2 in 81 and 82 was first year they had qualifiers and full complement of 32 players at the crucible.

I think the current structure definitely has lots of flaws, but truth is there'll always be pros and cons to any set up. If you were to seed the top 32 into last 32 of every tournament, say, you're virtually guaranteeing them 30-40,000 ranking points a season, including the proviso of having to win a round to earn points. Plus, they get to avoid qualifiers, less travel and come in fresh. It'd be a very big advantage to have, imo, on top of privileges they already have. Maybe a R1 bye could be a workable compromise.

But I definitely agree with the point that more has to be done for lower ranked players. I see they're now being guaranteed minimum earnings of 20K per season on a trial basis, which is a positive development, but it doesn't help in terms of rankings. I think it would help if there were more tournaments where not so many top players entered and lower down guys had a real chance, but reality is they are almost always chasing points, either seeding cut offs or bonuses, so that doesn't really happen to any great extent. There's a limited pot and sponsors, understandably, want the best players turning up so I think that's a problem and the gap between top and bottom will be very slow to narrow, if at all. If you are a bit unlucky, get a few tough draws and lose a bit of confidence, there are large parts of the season where you hardly get any game time at all and I'm not sure that does the tour any good as a whole.