by elliott west
As day one becomes a distant memory so day two eclipsed the previous. With controversy already in the air as Ronnie O’Sullivan again lets off steam regarding the Crawley venue. “The Rocket “ was quoted as saying that “Every day in Crawley is a day lost in my life”. O’Sullivan believes that the event shouldn’t be held there anymore as the logistics and playing conditions are inadequate. Personally I believe that everyone has their right to an opinion and as I haven’t been to the location, I can’t really say whether Ronnie is right or wrong but I am sure that World Snooker have looked at these issues and will make further changes including moving the location if necessary.
Aside from this day two of the English Open opened the floodgates for further tense play with both Mark Allen and Mark Williams feeling the heat in their matches. Allen playing the Thai legend, James Wattana and had to dig deep to cross the line as James was not going to give up without a fight. In the end Mark was the victor but incurred a few match bruises on the way. With an excellent 125 break on the way, the match finished 4-2 to Allen. I recently saw James Wattana when I went to the World Seniors in Sheffield. What struck me was what a shy and reserved man he is but revered in the game. Despite this loss, James is still a fine player and deserves praise for his many years in the sport.
Similarly Mark Williams was pushed in his match against Jamie Clarke but the Welshman in his laidback mode, just flicked the accelerator switch and turned the match into a 4-2 victory achieving the highest break of the tournament so far with a 142 break. Williams commented after the match that the frames were long and scrappy but he did enough to win. Interestingly enough he revealed when asked about travelling back from China to Crawley after such a brief break in tournaments, Mark said that the journey takes it out of him and he would be reducing his China entries to concentrate on UK tournaments.
There were also wins in the day for David Gilbert who took out Stuart Carrington, 4-1, Marco Fu made a return to form after corrective eye surgery. A whitewash against my good friend Ken Doherty is never easy to stomach but it great to see Marco play well again because he is definitely one of those players in the game that should have won more. Kyren Wilson also had a great win against Liang Wenbo beating him 4-1. Wenbo had nothing to shout about this time but still remains one of the characters of the sport, a live wire who is not afraid to take on the difficult shot when under pressure.
The night finished off with a great display of snooker by the Australian great Neil Robertson. Robertson managed to follow his GPS to Crawley and produced a blistering display, creating flowing snooker against his opponent Kishan Hirani. Breaks of 75, 71, 118 and 85 was more than enough to see off Hirani and produce a 4-0 whitewash. Robertson when interviewed after the match said that there was no incentive to produce a 147 at a major tournament other than being a crowd pleaser. The removal of a rolling prize fund had put players off as there was no longer an achievable financial reward with the introduction of a hundred 147’s in a season sharing a million pound cash pot.
Overall this was a very exciting day of snooker that sadly also ended Jimmy White’s chances of success in Crawley with a narrow 2-4 defeat at the hands of Bai Langning. Jimmy still has an opportunity window to get into the Champion of Champions event after he recently won the World Seniors in Sheffield after beating Darren Morgan in the final. Aside from this the English Open is still literally very open but seems likely that the winner will come from the top sixteen players on the main tour.
