The Crucible never fails to disappoint and yesterday was better than any roller-coaster ride. The much anticipated draw between Ronnie O’Sullivan and James Cahill looked like on paper, a Ronnie win with bookmakers giving odds prior to the match of a Cahill victory at 500-1. However when push came to shove, Ronnie turned up yesterday morning like someone who hadn’t slept after a night out. His demeanour was dejected and kept yawning between shots.
Cahill, who entered this match with nothing to lose, played like a top 8 player and never lost his nerve, even when he missed the odd shot. James, a nephew of the former champion, Stephen Hendry, fell off the tour as a professional and has had to fight his way to the Crucible through the recent World Championship qualifiers. People outside snooker probably wouldn’t have heard of him up to this point and more importantly would view him as another Ronnie casualty.
My belief of why Cahill managed to beat O’Sullivan is two fold. James managed to get under Ronnie’s skin in the first session and carried this over into the second. Perhaps Ronnie took this annoyance to his bed that night and let it affect his sleep cycle. When O’Sullivan is out of his mindset, he is vulnerable and starts to doubt his capabilities. With this vulnerability, played out on the baize, his game went to as Jimmy White would say; “shredsville”. His hard work to bounce back, led to school boy errors and allowed Cahill to gain in confidence. It even meant that this Scot could display his natural flair and even play left handed.
James who credited his rise to his mother Maria a former snooker player who drove him to events and spurred him on was close to jacking it in two years ago, but with this maternal support Cahill regained his confidence and pride for the sport. I should also mention his coach Chris Henry, who has sent the likes of Stephen Hendry, Jimmy White, Peter Ebdon and Ding Junhui to success. Such a coaching stable must be good ground for this massive victory and simply shows that dejection can lead to victory. This 10-8 victory over O’Sullivan was no fluke. It was meant to happen precisely because no player can dodge the snooker tidal wave; even if you are Ronnie O’Sullivan.
The storm that Cahill created seemed to remain in the room when both players had left the theatre because no sooner had they gone more drama bubbled to the surface. Mark Allen who pulled out of the China Open for personal reasons didn’t turn up yesterday. His play was ragged and his match statistics were on par with a low performing club player. It wasn’t that Zhou Yuelong played exceptionally well against his opponent but the fact that Allen played exceptionally badly and ended the session 7-2 in deficit.
Meanwhile someone else tipped for the title; Judd Trump left his potting boots at home and instead wore “Dunlop Green Flash” trainers. His performance was extremely poor and far from the form that he has carried during the rest of the season. Judd will have to radically change gears if he is stop Thai Thepchaiya in his tracks who is carrying an overnight 6-3 lead.
David Gilbert managed to inflict a 10-7 victory over Joe Perry. The German Masters finalist showed his worth and dispatched Perry but Stuart Bingham would never have dreamt what would have happened in his match against Graeme Dott. Stuart who led Dott 8-1 started to falter in the final session and things got worse when he missed a red three times and lost the frame on the miss ruling. Dott then went into turbo gear and pulled the match back to 9-9 and almost set off another seismic victory at the Crucible. However, Bingham finally managed to pull himself together and limped over the line with a 10-9 victory.
Perhaps now, we may have that 1992 moment, when players are pushed into the limelight and start to beat the old guard. Only the Crucible can answer this question and if it had a mouth, maybe it would but what is clear from the China Open and now the World Championship, top players are now at their most vulnerable and any player outside the top 8, could win this tournament and it may, even if I dare to say it, someone in the top 32. Neil Robertson is now the obvious choice for the title but even he might flounder with a skilled opponent and 17 day format. Rather like rolling a dice, no one can expect the unexpected.
