17...eight today and nine tonight

Horrible mini session for Ding but still plenty of time to recover

This has shown that finishing late in the second semi doesn't matter

I know, in 1985 when Dennis Taylor was 8-0 down to Steve Davis after the first session, nobody watched it on the second day

And if its one sided today it wont be on much tomorrow, certainly not in the evening.

Terrence Chant was supposed to post that comment!

^ I'd started to bore myself banging on about it

Last player to lead 4-0 at the first interval was Dott v O'Sullivan in 2004. He went on to lose 18-8!

as a matter of interest TC, what's the split in the tipping comp for the final ?

Ding 20-11 Selby, but that's probably influenced by double points for Ding.

Has the Beeb shown Griffiths winning in 1979 in the Crucible Classics series yet? I was there for that so I'd be quite keen to watch that again.

So I'd assume pretty much everyone got the cuei question right.

Ding needs to get going soon.

Not sure why people felt ding was the favourite for this match. I suppose he had played well throughout the tournament but selby and final experience would always be a big factor .

Hope we are not heading for first afternoon finish in many years


Leicester double tomorrow maybe

I'm surprised some of the 'experts' didn't know it. Surely any professional snooker player should know that Joe Davis has won the most world titles.

This isn't looking good for ding. Mark is looking very good indeed.

Has any final ever gone 17-0?

Didn't hear their responses. Who got it wrong?

No they showed them all in date order. First match they showed was Davis V Knowles from 1981 so nothing earlier than that

Man against boy here. Selby is like Davis and Higgins combined tying Ding up in knots mentally and dishing out the worst kind of punishment in this greatest of all arenas for the greatest prize. Its impossible to tell what Ding is thinking, but I bet its not pretty.

The bookies had him slight favourite as did most snooker fans. He was favourite for a variety of reasons and rightly so.

Can't remember to be honest. Don't know if they were being serious or not though. Willie Thorne turned to Steve Davis and said 'how many did you win... 1..2?

Someone said Joe Davis won 20.

Is that high-pitched whine coming from Ding?

I never really count Joe as good as he was because he played one match compared to the modern day. If he'd have played in the current format I very doubt he'd have won 15.

Actually the first world title was between 10 player over a 6 month period

No one knows how players would get on in different eras. Different equipment etc

Imperative that ding wins these last 2 frames.

That's why I don't like comparing them. Same in other sports.

dings game has fallen apart today, he looks very weak mentally...