By Elliott West
Introduction
The Coalite World Matchplay was a professional non-ranking tournament that took place between the 4th and 12th December, 1992. Held at the Dome Leisure Centre, Doncaster, this was a non-ranking event and had a winner’s prize of £70,000. This was the last year that it was held and on this occasion, James Wattana and Steve Davis made the final. Wattana got the better of Davis and won the event, beating Steve 9-4.
The Tournament
Round 1 (Best of 17 frames)
Martin Clark beat Nigel Bond 9-6
Steve Davis beat Alain Robidoux 9-3
Alan McManus beat Terry Griffiths 9-7
James Wattana beat Darren Morgan 9-7
Quarter-Finals (Best of 17 frames)
Martin Clark beat Gary Wilkinson 9-7
Steve Davis beat Jimmy White 9-6
Alan McManus beat Stephen Hendry 9-6
James Wattana beat John Parrott 9-3
John Parrott was feeling the effects of a long season as he was beaten 9-3 by James Wattana in the quarter-final with Wattana leading 6-2 at the interval. Parrott said:
“I am bushwacked, I am mentally tired. Playing since August, it’s been a long season and perhaps the World Matchplay was too close for me after reaching the final of the UK Championship.”
“James looked a lot more fresh, I certainly intend to lock the door of my snooker room over Christmas.”
“After the UK I was spaced out for a week and it was the first time this season that I had gone into a match feeling I could not win.”
John Parrott
Stephen Hendry’s nightmare run continued when , for the seventh tournament in a row, he failed to come home a winner. This time he was beaten 9-6 by McManus, who in the UK Championship, had beaten him 9-8 at the same quarter-final stage.
By the mid-session interval, McManus with breaks of 59, 92, 59, 87 and 50, had opened a 6-2 lead. Hendry threw caution to the wind at night and blasted in breaks of 72, 58, 105 and 63 to trail by just one frame at 7-6 but McManus had runs of 52 and 54 to seal his 9-6 win.
Steve Davis took on the recently crowned UK Champion, Jimmy White in front of two sell-out crowds.
Davis and White were level at 4-4 at the interval but its was Davis who pulled away at night, producing the more consistent snooker with White saying:
“I didn’t play well all day”.
Jimmy White
The same sentiment was shared by Gary Wilkinson. Wilkinson who was beaten 9-7 by Martin Clark, described his safety play as “diabolical” and felt he missed too many easy balls in the match.
Semi-Finals (Best of 17 frames)
Steve Davis beat Martin Clark 9-4
James Wattana beat Alan McManus 9-3
In the semi-finals, Davis who had been setting records for the last 14 years, chalked up another world best in his 9-4 victory over Martin Clark who was playing in his first major semi-final after failing to get past the quarter-final hurdle in seven previous attempts.
Davis started sluggishly and Clark went into a 3-1 lead but, after the interval, Davis ran riot. In the space of four frames, he had total clearances of 141, 123 and 135 to become the first player to achieve three total clearances in one session of play.
In frame six, which Davis won 77-10, Clark had the misfortune to split his tip while attempting a deep screw on a long red and to leave the arena for emergency repairs.
Clark, who superglued on a replacement tip, still managed time to smile as he said:
“The way Davis played in that session, I didn’t need a tip on my cue.”
“No excuses because there was nothing I could do in that afternoon session. But, using a replacement tip, my timing was way out at night and I didn’t feel right.”
Martin Clark
In the second semi-final, Wattana had easily dismissed the challenge of Alan McManus, the world No. 13 but up to No. 6 on the provisional world rankings. McManus had now played in a number of semi-finals but had only reached one final – The Asian Open, the previous year. McManus was clearly under the weather and later found out that was suffering from an abscess on his tooth.
The Final (Best of 17 frames)
James Wattana beat Steve Davis 9-4
In the final, Wattana made a superb start in a high quality and open match and, by the end of the first session, led 6-2 including an excellent clearance of 39 in frame four when he nursed three reds out from the cushion.
When play resumed, Davis looked on his way to a maximum but failed a not-too-difficult 13th red in the ninth frame and when Davis took frame ten 63-48 to reduce the deficit to 6-4, Wattana was starting to feel the pressure.
A dramatic turning point came when, in frame 11, Wattana leading 48-44, found himself snookered on the last red. Incredibly, Wattana not only got out of the snooker but produced the Fluke of the Season when the red cannoned in off the black into the top left-hand pocket. After that Davis scored just eight more points as Wattana won the next two frames, finishing off the match in true championship style with a break of 97.
Summary
James Wattana’s win in this tournament was significant, casting out an in-form Davis, winning £70,000 for his efforts at just 23 years old and returning to Thailand, a sporting hero. He was met in Bangkok, three days later by a large crowd and transported in a white 1963 Chevrolet to Government House to meet the Thai Prime Minister, Chuan Leekpai. Wattana is definitely the best snooker export that Thailand has ever produced and this was one of his impressive victories.
