Day 1, Part 4 Snooker: World Championship

Good evening. Welcome to the crucible theatre in Sheffield. Day

one of the Betfair World Championships. We are backstage, it

is the first evening session, we are ready, and it is the return of the

Rocket, Ronnie O'Sullivan. Breaking news. Ronnie O'Sullivan has

decided to misthe rest of the snooker season. He has personal

issues to resolve. The doubts have been cast on whether he will return

to the sport. The Rocket, Ronnie O'Sullivan.

So a terrific atmosphere at The Crucible for the return of Ronnie

O'Sullivan, the defending champion, The Rocket is back and he takes the

first frame in style. It's there. It's one apiece.

Would you believe it? 62 and the frame to Ronnie

O'Sullivan. He will be delighted. Marcus Campbell will be kicking

himself. In it goes, and Ronnie O'Sullivan's

stretching his lead to three. Ronnie will be disappointed with

that. Marcus Campbell fails, five frames

to two. And Ronnie O'Sullivan defending

champion, ends the first session, leading by seven frames to two.

As you see, The Crucible theatre once again in Sheffield is packed to

the rafters to see Ronnie O'Sullivan. Ken Doherty is with me

backstage. The players are ready, they will be out soon. What did you

make of Ronnie's return? I thought he looked in imperious form. He

looked focussed, concentrated, up for the match and it is great to

have him back, there is no doubt about it. On paper it is a tough

match but he stole a couple of frames and it ghaism more of an

impetus. It is a fans ticks session for him. So much has been written

about him, so much has been said about him, the fans adore hip, I was

outside at the stage door earlier, the fans flocking, just to get a

glimpse of him. Snooker needs Ronnie O'Sullivan. It does but the game is

bigger than any one individual. It is great to have him back, the most

talented player that has played the game and the buzz round Sheffield,

even backstage, you know, to have him here playing is a great

attribute for the tournament, and he has it all to do. As a Welshman I am

looking forward to see seeing Mark Williams playing. Good evening Rob.

Good evening, ladies and gentlemen. It is the climax of the opening day

here at the cuetable. And it really has been a good one. -- Crucible.

For the Betfair World Championships. 16-and-a-half more days of action to

come. And the stage is set once again for

four world class players. Please welcome a player whose great

form this season has been rewarded with a Crucible debut, the youngest

win over the world aperture title in 2006 has stepped up in class this

year, including a run to the semifinals of the aShaun PCT1. Raise

the roof for Michael White. relaxed players on the circuit. He

made his first appearance here at The Crucible, can you believe it 16

years ago. Winner of 18 ranking event title, including two Crucible

crowns, this is his 21st year as a pro and he is still going wrong, he

is the Welsh potting machine, Mark J APPLAUSE

and on table number one, please welcome a player who has shown his

best form of his career in cent years, semifinal semifinals a

classic earlier, a PTC winner Germany, everyone in Dumbarton is

hoping for a come back, the pride of And finally, please welcome a player

who won his first major title 20 years ago and he has been delighted

crowds round the world ever since, producing sublime form 12 months ago

for his fourth global crown, he has been missed this season, but he is

APPLAUSE What a noise inside The Crucible

theatre here in Sheffield. Ronnie's return, here he comes for the

evening session, will he be the first man into the second round of

the 2013 championship? Good evening to Willie Thorne and Dennis Taylor.

Good evening, and the atmosphere in The Crucible theatre, it is always

great but when Ronnie O'Sullivan enters it is a bit special.

REFEREE: Marcus Campbell to break. Marcus Campbell, well, he has a

mountain to climb here, but just take it frame by frame, you never

know. He can consider himself lucky to be

seven two behind. When he trailed 3-1, he could have been 3-1 in

front. Ronnie, won a couple of frames from plenty of points behind.

The only thing that is missing, from Ronnie's game has been his long

game. That has been poor, everything else is back to normal. Yes, I think

at his best, Ronnie's long game sometimes lets him down a bit. There

is the long pot success rate. When he was in the balls, he didn't

look any difference different, so that year hasn't really affected

The cue ball could be in. REFEREE: Foul. . An early chance for

Marcus Campbell. He is 1% behind in the safety

No century break yet, in this match. And this looks fob a fabulous

positional shot and that little nudge on the red.

That has helped it. Played some of his best snooker this

season, he has been round a long time, Marcus, very very talented

Not bad on the old golf course, we have played with him. He plays off

four or five handicap. . Yes, agree Marcus is one of those play player

that no player wants to play him in qualifier, he very rarely loses in

qualifiers. When it comes to theel is vision, we have never really seen

It has been mentioned hundreds of times anyone who can beat Stephen

Hendry 9-0, that was unbelievable. Well that is a poor effort from

Marcus. No wonder he is scratching his head there. It looked a bit

tight. I think he was concentrating on the canon on to the red to leave

himself on the black, and took his eye off the pot, which it is amazing

That was close, any more pace that wouldn't have dropped in. There is

plenty of loose reds, the fact She has finished short on the black he

may go into the pack and bring a few more into play. He didn't really

want to do that but he might have to now.

That is one into the middle pocket, and the reds are perfectly placed

now, and, well, if he wins this frame, he wouldn't give Marcus any

chance. Stephen Hendry developed the shot from blue into the pack to keep

the white in open play. Lonnie was one of the first players I have seen

do it off the black, he plays it in a way when he hits the pack the

white stops. He is excellent that the shot.

We did mention at the start, in among the balls in the first

session, he looked terrific, he had breaks of 82, 62, 71, 85, 86, and a

58, and the last frame of the careless you would feel, the way the

balls are situated, to run out of Let us have a look, there was s much

room past that red. He was concentrating, but that was very

Agree with you, he was concentrating, he, even if he hadn't

kissed the red, the red was going Lovely guy Marcus, on and off the

table. It is his serious face on this evening.

Whatever happens in this match, he will reflect on that first session,

where he knows he should have been a lot closer.

Yes, I think if Ronnie was going to be vulnerable, after a year off, it

was going to be in the early frame, I did a bit with yimy -- Jimmy White

on Five Live, we said the first four frames were going to be so

important. He started with the break of 82, and

then he had two terrific clearances, Marcus, should have won the frames

but Ronnie, he cleared up twice, which was superb.

So he is out there, playing as if he I was chatting to John Higgin, and

he was saying, he didn't feel Robbie would have any problem. It is not

like a boxer that is out for 12 months or a footballer where you

haven't played for 12 months in the main arena. He has had plenty of

practise time. With his experience, he was always going to play fairly

He has been active on the exhibition circuit in the last couple of month,

he played in the exhibition matches with yourself and Jimmy. That is

good practise in itself. We played one at Goughs where they

used to do the Irish Masters, Ronnie play played Steve Davis. He looked

edgy, with nearly 1,000 people there, then he settled down and

Steady as a rock, doing his fifth final this year, the referee.

Catching up with Stephen Hendry. . He is one of the better referees,

without a shadow of a doubt. Ronnie took a bit of time to check

whether the pink would pot. That This is a fabulous chance to win

A quick glance at the score board to see how many needs to secure the

If he takes the yellow, he is going to need another red, and he has to

take the yellow. But no problem getting on to the

red, that will take him over the line in this opening frame of this

Could this be his first century of centuries in his career. Still

100-odd behind Stephen Hendry. But Ricky Walden leading with way with a

magnificent break of 140. And all the way round the hous

You can't do any better than that, what will you do? He made a century

break and he leads 8-2. Just two That break, eight minutes and 15

seconds, there is nothing better than seeing Ronnie O'Sullivan clear

up like that He is in full flow, he has been out one competitive match

and a whole year, and it, he has come back where he left off. He

looks in great form, and he is striking the ball lovely, he is

manoeuvring the cue ball effortlessly, when he is full flow,

there is nothing better to watch. Our cameraman caught a shot of

Marcus Campbell looking up to the skies. Marcus Campbell will be

disappointed, because Ronnie stole two or three frames this, this

morning session, so the match could have been a lot closer going into

tonight. 8-2, now, it looks like it is going to be all over for Marcus

Campbell, but it is hard the play against Ronnie O'Sullivan in that

form. Given where Ronnie has been, what does he want tonight? Does he

want to clear this up and get it over and done with or does he want

more time at the table? You win your matches quickly as possible. Get out

and get ready and focus for the next match. You don't want to burn

excessive energy that is not needed. Thank you. Back to the commentary

team. Great point that from Ken, it is

lovely to try and win a much as easy as possible you get more time to

relax, especially when you get to the latter stage, if you can win it

with time to spare, that gives you an extra rest. When Ken got beat in

the final, there was only three short of the maximum frames he could

have played. He won three matches 13-12 and won the final 18-16.

have no problem for the darling of Dublin, he is as fit as a butcher's

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He looked totally relaxed there. Once again, a good opener.

It is a long pot, I suppose, that, but it is when there is distance

between the cue ball and the object ball, that is the one he has been

missing, that is the only thing that has been wrong with this

He naerly missed that, it was awkward, he was at full stretch and

Britaining over a ball. Almost The pockets do look generous this

year. I was waiting for do you say that.

That is wide. Any sort of strength on that, it wouldn't have gone in.

There is another one of those shots where Ronnie plays in at the edge of

If he gets on the blue, it is another chance to win a frame at one

visit. What is his pot success rate at the

moment? 94%. That is starting to He doesn't hang about. There is the

There is another question we were asked, who was the quickest break

builder, I said, go back to 1997, I commentated on Ronnie when he made a

maximum break in five minutes and 20 second, I think that is the answer.

Jimmy said Ronnie was much quicker than himself.

Or Alex. Alex was very quick round the table

but he didn't strike the ball quickly, he took his time on the

Never misses a trick, even though the two reds are available, he

played the canon into, to push them a bit more into open play.

These two reds are available in the middle. There they are, just to make

things better he pushes them out of the way and left him perfect on the

Made that look easy. Well, there is nothing Marcus Campbell can do about

Almost past the winning line in this He has come up a little bit short,

has he? That was a bit more difficult, but

This might be back-to-back How many canons has he played in

this break? Played that canon as he would like, but he still has a

Tell you what, watch out, there is a Rocket about!

In this some sort of form, he will be the man to beat, I know he played

down the fact that the bookmakers had his second favourite, but this

sort of form, he might be installed as a favourite, you would have to

say. He will be favourite tomorrow morning because he will be the only

player into the next round. As you rightly say, as he is playing at the

moment, he will be hard to beat. But he has not been pushed in this match

What a shame. No century. He finished that break with a break of

90. Marcus Campbell is, well he can't be in any more trouble, he is

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In the context of stat bores there is not much for you to digest given

he has only played one match so far, but he is looking terrific. That was

a very interesting stat. 118 Crucible centuries, a lot are of

players haven't made that in his career. Incredible. OK, back to

Willie and Dennis. Marcus Campbell breaks off in what

he hopes won't be his last frame in this year's World Championships but

the form Ronnie O'Sullivan is showing, it could well be his last

frame. Just missed the boat early on in the match.

Didn't put Ronnie under the pressure He hit that far too thin.

He has got away with it. Well, he has covered one red, but, the red to

the left of the blue passes that one that is near the pocket.

How do you feel on a shot like this? You are 9-2 down, it is the first to

ten and you are left with a long straight red. You have to give it

your best shot and hope it goes in. If I doesn't, you know you could be

sat down for a long time. Beautifully cued. He had a perfect

view. Straight down, his cue arm kept relatively dead straight. Well

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And unintentional cases onto the It is still not straightforward for

Mark has. The black will only go He concentrated that hot on getting

minute or on to the black that he took these high off the pot. --

But it was the turn of Marcus to have good fortune. He missed the

Ronnie looks to be very focused in Last year, when he beat Ali Carter

in the final, and throughout the whole tournament, his safety play

He left the red. He can cut this The natural pot would have taken

the cue ball on to the left side cushion but he used side to prevent

The black will be completely free We thought it was going to be a top

opening match for Ronnie. It look But it has been a great start for

Ronnie. All the top players are He took a risk there. It might be

the end of the break. Can he cut No problem. But not the best kiss

in the world. He has one to left These pockets, if you play them at

pace, play well throw them back out. Ronnie had a look at his backhand

Marcus will be playing for a bit of pride. He wants to show people what

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He has got himself back into this But has made it a little bit more

difficult. He needed that red �2. - He is wrong side of the blue. He

has to be careful if he takes the He took his eye off the pot again.

The chance has gone again and Ronnie O'Sullivan will want to get

If he does win this frame and match he will be heading back home

because he does not play again He plays either Ali Carter or Ben

Woollaston if he wins this match. Of course, he played Ali Carter in

Nicely played. A little bit of angle to force the white around to

He does not played very often with the rest now, because he is so

critter left handed. That was a real pressure shot with the rest.

It was the shot before, when he got on the black, he did not hit it

hard enough to get round nicely He is lucky if he's on the green in

the middle because he played for That will do! Even Ronnie has a

little smile at that one. I think when he missed the green, up on the

thought, I'm over the line here. -- He is keeping his slender hopes

alive here, Barker's Kumble. -- He played that beautifully. It was

a tough positional shot. He is not It is a long way back but he is

still out there battling away. Ronnie O'Sullivan still needs that

one frame. A little smile all round As far as the paying public in the

Crucible are concerned, they what this game to last because they want

to continue enjoy watching Ronnie. Absolutely. With the help of that

you lick in that green, it flew into the top pocket with such pace

there he did not think the pocket would hold it. Nice to see the

players having a little chat and a smile as well. Look at the angle.

It hits the near jaw. It is quite unusual to see a flicked like this.

-- fluke. It is not off it is not often -- it is not often that you

see a player smile when you have a fluke against them. On the other

table, Michael White took the first two frames. A break of 87 in the

He still needs that one frame. As Ken was saying, it is great to see

the boys having a little smile there. There are probably talking

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He did not get the white as he intended. But can he cut the green

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They are two great shots there, at That green was to pot on the road

was even tougher. -- the creamed was tough and the red was tougher.

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Ronnie would lot the pink to be But I think he was trying to play

good banana shot, as we say, miss the pink and get into the reds. But

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It is going to be a very tough the Marcus Campbell has now gone

favourite to win this frame so we should go -- we could go past the

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He got into the cue ball lot more He needs one more good positional

shot to get him back into prime The five reds look nice but a few

of them of blocking each other into It is a good joke that the tables

are very quick. When he first hit that, I thought he was going to

He will need the red next to the blue. It is available into the two

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corner pocket so should not prove a He has not left the greatest of

He needs to get the white in either of the two circles, he can get the

red next to the blue into either We have and many come back on our