Originally Posted by zawtowers:
“Morning all,
Had a very enjoyable time yesterday (as ever) in Sheffield, although with me living much further away due to change of job etc it means that there's only going to be two visits this year, so thought it best to make the most of them.
I got to Sheffield early and noticed the large hoardings that guide you all the way from the railway station to the Crucible. I know my way, but nice to see that for the first time fan they've got some clear direction. I did spot a rather nice bit of sculpture in the Winter Gardens (a painted elephant snooker style) and also in the Mercure St Paul's opposite Shaun Murphy casually chatting to Dennis Taylor - Shaun seemed quite relaxed actually.
Before play I spotted a fair few people heading in, both Alan McManus and Anthony McGill for practice, Ali Carter was his usually good self, as well as refs Zheng Weili and Jan Verhaas. Willie Thorne also spent lots of time with fans too before going in to commentate, although Stephen Hendry arrived late-ish and literally sprinted in!
So to the morning session, Ebdon-Fu. I was sat next to the players (you spotted me TC!) and got a good view of the table and an insight into the feeling of what it was like as a player to sit there as your opponent made century breaks. Fu made two 80+ breaks that could have been centuries, and seeing two on the bounce (first two of the tournament) was good, notably the 138 total clearance which is a marker laid down. Fu was in superb form and even Ebdon's methodical methods with two 40+ min frames didn't stop the 6-2 lead.
In the final frame of the session (as it turned out) it had got down to the colours and referee Brendan Moore had a word with both players to say it was the last one aa they'd passed the cut off time of 1.45pm to start the final frame of the session.
Incidentally the piece Hazel Irvine filmed with her holding the trophy was around 9.45am - and so wasn't live as such - only the bits of her chatting with Ken and Steve (and later John) were. Also when you heard on the telly her chat about Ali Carter, she was at the stairs where the players come out after mid-session and had her reading glasses on, still looking rather lovely - would have had TC's approval!!
I only had time to grab a quick sandwich in Boots before the afternoon session, although Terry Griffiths was three people in front of me in said queue and either no one recognised him or everyone was doing what I was and letting him enjoy his lunch break and relax before going back into commentary.
So front row for McManus and Maguire, and both players seemed unhappy with the table (as did other observers, seemed too bouncy on the top cushion and the jaws especially). Maguire went 3-1 up but after that McManus started to play some super shots, especially the accuracy of safety play and pinks to the middle a lot of the time. Maguire was doing his usual petulant frustration, especially in the final frame where he banged the rest on the table. I think Olivier Marteel was close to giving him a warning - he did not look pleased. Was happy McManus won five on the spin though!
One thing being front row was seeing the two camera men on the floor at work with their trolleys and camera. They're the ones who line up the shots close up and do a superb job. I was able to see McManus line up a black to bottom right corner and the cameraman's picture in line at the same time, with the lights on his display going red when the producer had moved to him to be the live camera. It was fascinating to see and another angle on how it all comes together. If photography was allowed during play, I'm sure there'd have been some crackers to capture from there...
The session finished with just enough time to get to the station and the train back to Manchester and my girlfriend's, although I did notice that Winter Gardens had closed earlier to allow some filming for the BBC (and so that Jason Mohammad could take up position)
More after Tuesday, but I also have to mention the cracking Stuart Bingham - Ali Carter match. As I said last night, snooker was the winner in this one. A 10-9, two classy centuries from 8-8 and a tense final frame. Pure snooker for the purist, and I like Matt35 said don't want the Worlds to change - there's a reason it's called the World Championship, it should be the ultimate test!”
Great stuff Wazza. Nice pics too. Willie looks well