By Elliott West
Introduction
Snooker can be a very cruel sport and this year Shaun Murphy was on the receiving end of an energised Mark Selby in this year’s World Championship final. Selby, never shy to move away from his tried and test plan of nailing all the balls to the cushions, left Shaun with a dilemma that just escalated during this Bank Holiday marathon. The 2005 World Champion, just couldn’t break out of Mark’s stranglehold despite several valiant fight backs. In a final where both players were mentored by the same coach, Chris Henry, one has visualise a frantic coach, moving between the two dressing rooms with both players ready with a glass to the wall, desperate to hear what Chris was saying to the other.
Beating a Tactician
The only way to skin a cat is to play them at their own game and I am afraid to say, Shaun Murphy didn’t. Ronnie O’Sullivan provided wise words on Eurosport’s punditry on Sunday evening, saying that Murphy must remove all the balls from the cushions and score heavily by splitting the pack. However Murphy got caught up in Selby’s psychological game and rather like someone in quicksand, could never get out of Mark’s and slowly sank throughout the two days. Not even his Crucible fist pump could resurrect his chances and he was always chasing his opponent in frame difference. Sadly this chasm got wider as the match drew to a conclusion and with a 14-11 score line at the end of the afternoon session on Bank Holiday Monday, the engraver was already prepared to engrave Mark Selby on the trophy.
Selby is a very difficult player to play and he has a knack of grinding his opponent down. Even when he is behind in a match, he will still play for snooker’s when a frame is lost on paper. Murphy did produce some very polished long potting in the match but even when he threw everything at his opponent, bar the kitchen sink, Mark was still able to able to motor and firmly imprint his stamp on the match.
This may be a final that comes back to haunt Shaun for many years to come. Although he has played very well in this tournament despite a poor season, this was his chance to add a second world title to his list of triumphs. Murphy is clearly an excellent player and his record proves it but he failed to play his own game and let Selby get on with his well drilled show. Had he done this, Shaun would have got under Mark’s skin and the outcome would have been different. They may be great friends off the table but when the lights go down, snooker becomes a war of attrition that takes no prisoners.
Sight Right clearly helped Shaun in terms of his game and it is technology that he greatly respects, showing his approval by becoming an ambassador for the cause. However, on this occasion, it was not enough to fend off the barrage of breaks that Selby produced. Murphy’s play, not even in the last session with his valiant last crack of whip, landed short of the victor. Perhaps this 18-15 victory by Selby will go down in the snooker annals as a fourth World Championship title for this lad from Leicester but to others, it will be another missed opportunity to decode the Mark Selby conundrum. A victory witnessed by an audience and a capacity one at last!
