Day 7, Morning Session Snooker: World Championship

A week into the 20 17th Bedford World Snooker Championship, second

round well underway on what a match this morning on BBC Two, and all

China affair as Liang Wen Bo, the runner-up at the UK Championship in

2015 takes on his very good friend, the man beating in last year getting

Crucible final by Mark Selby, Ding Junhui. The art of making anything

brilliant is making it look simple and when you look at the player on

the circuit makes it look simple it's Ding Junhui with the amazing

control. The cube or control is the best I've ever seen. I remember

Steve Davis seeing through the 80s he was always the correct side of a

bowl and Niang has taken that to the next level. When he's in and amongst

that, getting from A to B seems so simple, never any complications, he

never falls straight on the black if he needs to be offset. He's always

on the right place. Some players have cube all that far away, it's

always tight in. Making the game as easy as possible. He looks like he

grew up playing on a table that a third of the size and he's used to

being up there but we are sometimes over here. When I was a young player

growing up, I grew up playing, we used to use Taylor's chalk and draw

a line up that you have Wayne and this was the gutter. I wasn't

allowed to finish in this area. I don't know if Ding Junhui has done

the same thing. The shots he plays are so simple. You've noticed

something different about practice routine. Things are not quite the

same. I haven't seen him practice at his facility, I seen him practice

and venues. We will do line-ups, any variation of break-building

routines. Ding Junhui will practice frame scenarios where the reds will

finish where they would naturally finish and he will be practising

shots that come up in games and when you think about it, that's how we

should be practising. It's like a golfer that practices only on the

driving range and never goes to practice playing on the course. We

are practising line-ups but we should practice actual frame

scenarios. The pack splitting, is this the right to move the pack?

Ding Junhui is very good at that. If he's trying to play the red here for

the blue, he always finishes the correct side of the red. Ding is

always on the correct side of the line to get the ball, never finishes

straight. He's always on the black with the correct angle to play

whatever shot he wants and when he does that correctly he's unbeatable.

He reached the quarterfinals in 2008 and beaten by Ronnie O'Sullivan.

Love looking at those celebrations when he got through to the final of

the UK Championship in 2015. There he is, looking at the World

Championship board. Will his name be on 2017? I have to say it wasn't the

best performance in his first-round match against Stuart Carrington but

if you know setting up a mouthwatering clash against is very

good friend Ding Junhui. On table two, Stuart Bingham takes on Kyren

Wilson, the second session of their match. Wilson took the first five

frames. That is available on the red button this morning and on the BBC

sport website and BBC sport app. The players are ready, let's join our

MC. Good morning ladies and gentlemen,

started a week ago with 32, now only 16 remaining, four qualifiers and 12

top seed is bidding to become this year getting World Snooker champion.

A massive session of the crew awaits us and lets not forget we still got

11 full days of action to go in Sheffield. APPLAUSE

Please welcome first of all on table two, a young player brimming with

confidence after a great start yesterday. Winner of the Shanghai

Masters in 2015, he made the Indian Open final this season, now

established in the world's top 16, they call him the warrior, Kyren

Wilson. APPLAUSE

Liang and his opponent, making his sixth

appearance in the second round here and from 5-0 down yesterday he drew

on and on the experience to reduce the deficit, world champion in 2015,

he won the Welsh Open in fine style this February, the pride of Essex,

is the bull run, Stuart Bingham. Millions of people in China will be

tuning in for the start of this match on table one. Please welcome a

man making his first appearance in the second round since his debut

back in 2008. Year after victory over Stuart Carrington, winner of

his first ranking title this season at the English open, cracking win

over Judd Trump. He wears his heart on his sleeve, that's why he is

China's firecracker, Liang Wenbo. His opponent, facing his second all

Chinese clash of the tournament after knocking out Zhou Yuelong.

Training Shanghai Masters champion, winner of 12 big ones in all, and

national hero back on, so enter the Dragon, Ding Junhui. APPLAUSE

huge day on the BBC today, Shaun Murphy against Ronnie O'Sullivan

live at 2:30pm on BBC Two. John Higgins starting against Mark Allen

is later, for now, good morning to Willie Thorne and Stephen Hendry.

COMMENTATOR: Good morning, very much looking forward to this battle of

the two best Cheney sticker players in the world at the moment. It's 5pm

in China, I bet there's a good few million people tuned in to this one.

-- Chinese snooker players. I expect this to be full of breaks

this morning, both incredible break-builders. The surprising fact

that Liang Wenbo Holzer 3-1 advantage over Ding Junhui in the

head to heads. Might find that surprising. Ding being a regular

tournament winner. That's the pot success. It is very high.

Ahead in the long pot department. Ding ahead in that safety success as

well, not looking very good for Liang Wenbo at the moment.

All the stats say that Ding should win this match but every match is

different and it snowed the best of 25. Eight frames in this morning's

session. APPLAUSE Ding was superb in his first session

of his first round match. Three centuries. Couple of 60s. I still

believe, Willie, he is miles ahead. I really do. I've got to admit, he's

up there with yourself in the brick building department, he's super when

he gets to this end of the table. At the moment, the best players in the

game are Ronnie O'Sullivan, John Higgins and Ding around the pink and

black. Very really you see when these players are in form, going up

for bold colours or blue. That's always a sign of great

break-builders, some of the players after two shots they're playing for

the green or yellow. 440 competitive centuries. We always say the chink

in his armour might be the temperaments. Especially at this

venue. He got to the final last year. Partly due to the fact he had

to qualify, so there was less expectation on him. Huge expectation

from China for Ding to be their first world champion. Massive star

over there. Some players never settle here.

Until you win and match here, it's a very hard place to play. Always talk

about rookies coming here for the first time and very rarely does more

than one rookie get through the first round battle until they've

been here a couple of times. It's all to any other place. Walking

through that stage door, arriving in Sheffield. It's the home of snooker

for me. Always will be. APPLAUSE Liang Wenbo looked very serious. The

two players had a laugh and a joke before they kicked off but when he

was walking into his music, he looked very serious.

Target here behind brown and green, that's where he will be looking to

get. Good line. The cue ball well short. This was another factor of

his first session in his first-round match, he potted ten of 11 long pot.

That coupled together with his brick building is going to see him very

difficult to beat in this championship. Found that path very

nicely. The pleasing thing with Ding, the two shots he's played have

gone right in the heart of the pocket, it reminds you when you're

playing that you're cueing well. You can have a go at another few, if the

balls were going off the jaws he'd wait but he's feeling good.

He had a massive loss this year when he lost his mother, he always used

to be over here with him. Looking after him and managing him. Maybe he

has done little spare, he's going to do it for his mum.

Still going off the jaw. It's strange because the players don't

seem to doubt it's going to go in but the angle we have it does seem

to be going high. Overhit that by a long way. Hit the left-hand jaw.

Looked like he panicked and it wasn't going to go on. Does this red

at the end of the pack go? Not the one he played for. It's OK, he's got

this to the right middle. If that red at the end of the reds behind

the pinks does go, it's a decent opportunity. He can take care of

this first frame. He's another 27 points to make that a reality. The

widow bullseye said there will be a few more than 27.

Took a risk that maybe he didn't need to play. He just needed three

more reds and three colours. As always, Ding sees it very early. You

spent an awful lot of time in China doing various exhibitions. How big a

star is Ding in China? He's huge. He's probably in their top two or

three sports stars. If he was to win the world championship, it would be

astronomical what would happen. Been to almost 50 cities in China and

every time you go there and you speak to the media, one of the first

things they always ask if his Ding Junhui going to win the World

Championship? Playing pots like that, probably yes after he's

playing safe. He was expecting the red to kiss that in the middle of

the table but has left him reasonably on the blue. Liang Wenbo

looking at the television to tell him whether that's blue is in.

Easier to look at the table. Just one more red required after

this black to make the frame safe. You sense you want to let your

opponent known to -- that you're playing very well, so he'll do his

utmost to clear the table. I agree it's very important to try

and clear the table. Some players, as soon as the frame is

mathematically over, they stop concentrating. Easy short, loose

positional shot. 15-20 minutes of safety play or something like that

breaks up the rhythm. Better to keep on it every ball. Sometimes you

don't think it matters as long as the frame is won, but you go into

the next frame and your concentration isn't 100%.

Can play for either right here, he's perfect on the black. Might have

been tempted to dropping behind the one on the cushion.

That's the one that's going to stop Ding making a century in the first

frame. He is planning to take it off and he's played it perfectly. That's

obviously told me why he didn't play for the red on the cushion

previously. He had that plan. In fairness he might not have had the

angle but that was a sensational shot.

Ding made it three centuries in his first match, so this is possibly his

force. -- fourth. This is not a bad start. Absolutely

brilliant. Very, very well played Ding Junhui. That is just the way to

start. He leads 1-0. You were very impressed with the way, I don't know

how you wear when you played here, when you pot the first shot, you get

a buzz, if you missed the first shot you are a little bit tentative on

the next one? Absolutely, to get your first long pot in makes you

feel so good and we will see a couple of examples of Ding. He is

comfortable, got his hand on the table which makes the first frame,

right in the middle of the pocket, it gives you so much confidence. I

thought that was a shock to nothing but this one, stunted and you hear

that sound of the ball hitting the back of the pocket, right in the

middle. Of course, we can show you a shot in a few moments time when he

played to get the red from the cushion. This is the art of brick

building, this is why he's so good and makes money century, could have

dropped behind the red, deliberately plays this angle on the red, not

only does he just can in the red, is the pace he plays, catches the red

half wall, the cue ball down to the black, that's not a fluke. Quality

stuff in the first round from Ding Junhui. Flawless, really.

Just a reminder it's the sessions, two sessions of eight frames. One of

nine. Mentioned in the opening frame, Liang Wenbo holds a 3-1

record over Ding, so won't be too concerned, he knows he will make a

few centuries in this match, he just hopes he's going to make more.

Of course it so difficult for these Chinese players to come to this

country and spent nine months of the year away from their hometown and

had to learn the language. The first time Wenbo was here and a name was

announced, it wasn't him and he walked through the curtains as if it

was him and then realised and turned back. It was hilarious. They speak

pretty good English now, don't they? Yes, both these men speak perfect

English. Left this red on. This one, I think he can drop for the black.

Just play it slowly off the cushion. Three out of three, very impressive.

Another one that didn't touch the jaws.

another perfectly played cannon. Not just all the top players see the

shots, see the cannons that are on, it's the pace. It's the pace they

play it at. There are so tight for the next ball. Great chance to go

through the gap. His mindset is to play to kiss the pink? With that gap

there and just play it reasonable pace and have a few reds to the

corner. Magnificent break-builder, just sees it like you did, pitching

every shot around the black spot. Every shot you play you wanted to

try to make it to a possible frame on and that's what he's done. -- a

possible frame-winner. Four reds, four blacks and still

perfect position. Certainly no signs of tiredness for

Ding Junhui on this early start. What time does he have to get up

before at ten o'clock session? Six o'clock? Round about 730-8 o'clock.

Get down to the venue for about nine, 20 minutes, half an hour on

the table. Two reds at the same time. If he

feels he may be kissing it for a black, he could go around the two

cushions for the same pocket. Team will be playing for it --

Junhui will be playing for it. Perhaps he feels he can hold it.

That was always a problem. That was deceleration. That could be very

costly. We have seen how sharp Junhui is

this morning. Apart from that red he missed. How is Wenbo feeling? He can

certainly play for the red on the left-hand side of the table. Screw

back to that. Hard to say if he is hampered by the

blue, but it was mostly played. -- it was nicely played. It was

hampered. If he was right-handed it would have

been no problem. But he is left-handed so it will be awkward. I

felt the cue never used react. -- I thought the cue never used to react.

That is a good recovery, well done. Looking at the reds. Unless he plays

the brown he won't get onto one. A follow-through of three cushions.

But he is obviously far too straight on the blue. He almost hit it too

well. That was a fantastic shot. It was cued beautifully. We can almost

call it a blind pocket. He is having a second look at the potting angle.

He just had to pick the spot and hit the spot.

Nice angle, if he wants to go into the four reds and the pink. It is a

decent target. Is that a plant? The way he was looking. If he doesn't

want to go directly into the reds from potting this red into the

corner, he can play a half canon. Stay on the black. Although, I think

it might be risky. Try and get an angle on the black. Perfect. Well

played. Saying that, the cue ball has gifted a couple of inches too

far. The red on the outside of the four. Canon that and it would leave

a red. But I think he just has to go into the red between the pink and

black. Any contact on the red is needed, but just make sure you pot

the black. Well played. Doing this well this morning. We could be in

for a fantastic session of snooker this morning between these two

players. This would really hurt Junhui. He will be kidding himself.

Why have I not gone for the pink? Why have I not gone for the frame?

It just shows you that one mistake can be really costly, especially if

your opponent is playing really well.

He should learn how to win ugly sometimes.

18 points needed. Two pinks isn't enough. He is going to need the

yellow and green. But the angle onto the green is not going to be easy,

unless he places the green in the middle. It helps that he is

left-handed, though. This is the best angle he has got

now on the black. He is looking at the possibility of

leaving half bald pink to left middle. Then it would be easy to

stand up to the right-hand cushion to get onto the yellow. -- stun up

to the right-hand cushion to get onto the yellow. But he is playing

the black now. A touch of left-hand side. The cue ball is somewhere

where his body is just now. Oh! Careless. He wasn't concentrating on

the positional side of that. That has... For a moment I thought that

was going to go in. The black off the spot. White Hart. Well, as he

was looking at the pocket, the right half of the pocket. -- right half.

Somewhere between green and brown... Well, it may be flipped a bit of

side on -- it may be flicked a bit of side on. Does he risk the pink?

And then come all the way around the table. Or does he go for a safety?

Possibly getting one lifeline in this. But he might be needing

another one. Not as planned, but he will be happy

with it. Canon on the blue, and then he checks the cushion. Concentrating

automatically on the blue. Slowdown or speed up now. No need to

think about position at all, obviously. Just pot now. It is

there. APPLAUSE

Excellent start from Junhui. He has a chance -- he had a chance of a

very big break. Wenbo missed his chance. And it is Junhui who takes

the lead. We talked about how this table seems to be... Let's have a

look. Watch the red. Is this in when he hits it? That is not in for me.

Never in. It looks half an inch off. This is only a quarter of an inch,

the black. This looks in as soon as he hits it. We are going to watch it

now. That is in there. And it just touches the front. Everybody talks

about the table fitters. The officials have said that the pockets

are the same, everything is the same, maybe it is the cloth. But

that first shot, I just don't believe it is in. It just proves

that you have to go for the far one. Not every tournament is the same.

Sometimes it is the near tables, they will flick it off the near. But

just shows how costly it can be. This game at the top level, you

cannot let your concentration slip at any moment. He had no thoughts of

missing that black. It was no pressure. It was just complete

carelessness. Just concentrating on the cue ball. He took his eye off

the pot. It will be a delighted Junhui coming back to the table. He

missed out on the chance of getting a 147. He would have been very

annoyed with himself sitting there. But the fact he pinched the frame,

he will be delighted, as he breaks off in frame number three.

To the right of the pack. He will want to get back to baulk. There is

the gap. And that is a pretty good safety.

Ding playing the rest to get the redback on the back cushion.

Surprising choice. -- red back on the back cushion. But played

beautifully. That could have gone so wrong.

And has a look to see if he would be pushing a road towards the corner.

He won't be doing that if he has hit it thin enough. -- has a look to see

if he would be pushing a red towards the corner.

A little bit of pace with the cue ball. So it is a relatively

straightforward safety. As he found a pot? I don't know how he is going

to miss the kiss on the two Reds. He played it nicely, but that was

risky. Claim to perfection. He may have a thin cut, but he will have an

idea of what the cue ball is going to go,

though that is the first attempt at a long pot this morning that he has

missed. And he has missed by a long way.

This is awkward. He will have to screw up this red, cue ball back up

the table. He didn't get into it. How about the black? He has had a

result there. Obviously not. As we say, aim for the far jaw, but he

does not fancy it. There is pressure on this. Good shot. He will have to

have a look at what is left. He should have missed that green. It

was a big shot to take on. Another one right in the middle of the

pocket. The black in the right-hand corner is very tight. The left-hand

corner is available. Whether he will play for it now... No, he has played

for the blue. The red over the left-hand corner, nothing good on it

if the black is available on the right-hand corner. So he really

needs to go for the black after the next available red. Looks to be too

straight on this. He is just looking at whether pink Wilko. If he goes

for the pink in the middle. The black spot would tie them up. -- he

is just looking at whether the pink will go.

I am surprised he played for the pink. OK, it's over the right-hand

corner, but stopping both the pink and black going into the right-hand

corner now. Didn't really want to be playing

this red yet. But he is playing for the red at the right-hand corner.

This end, right in the middle of the table.

He will play the pink here. Screw the two reds on the pink spot. He'll

need to play with a bit of pace. He could snooker himself. Make sure he

hits this hard enough. He has played for the single red. Obviously

happier with the pink or black, none of them going to the left-hand

corner. Happy with the situation. We have lost our live coverage.

Hopefully back to the programme as soon as we can.

And work -- that was very hard work, but break. Trying to get the cue

ball close to the baulk cushion. He just doesn't entertain any

possibility of missing it. It did not come into his mind. Frame ball,

I agree, was the time to play that shot to nothing. Now he is playing

the black to cannon. Apologies for the loss of picture a short time ago

on the Junhui Wenbo match. Pleased to say that pictures are now

available and being transmitted as they should be. But if you are

watching on the red button this morning, a quick announcement just

to say that the red button will cease to be showing the snooker for

the time being. But you can carry on watching the other games on our

website. Throughout this championship you can choose your

matches on the app. In the meantime, let's go back to the Junhui Wenbo

match. A really good effort from Ding. He pouched the black. And got

a kiss on the two reds. A little bit fuller and he would have got the red

interplay. He generated topspin. He could have brought all four red

interplay. But it is very easy to get onto the black when the reds are

eventually split up. I must admit, I would be tempted to

pot the red. It is dodgy. But you could follow through the cue ball.

Play with a bit of pace. Get the cue ball below where the black is. And

if he missed it, hopefully the Redwood, way from the pocket --

hopefully the red would come away from the pocket. We have discussed

many times that it is a far jaw table. Here we go. It is a very

tough pot, but I feel it is worth the risk. If the -- if he follows

the cue ball to take it underneath the red and the Black. But I don't

think it is going to take it on. -- I don't think he is going to take it

on. He would like that to red to stop. It is a good shot in the end.

Maybe the right choice. It remains to be seen, but that was a good

safety shot from Wenbo. If Ding can play some sort of

telling safety shot here will bring four reds into play. Liang Wenbo

needs to put a red safe. Webb excellent length of cue ball.

This safety shot is now fraught with danger. Very difficult not to put a

red over the right corner pocket here.

Ding just grimacing there. That was purely because of where the yellow

ball has gone. Making contact with the girl has made this red pottable

to the right corner. We'll play it with some left-hand side.

That is frame ball now for Liang Wenbo. Ding needs snookers.

I think he's helped himself together very well, Liang Wenbo, lost the

second frame which he thought he was going to lose at first when Ding

Junhui potted six reds and six blacks and then he had a chance to

win it and missed an easy black and has done very well to keep himself

together. Wonder if Ding will come back to the table. 60 points behind

with only 51 on. I was talking, to the other day how

many frames can be won from a one needing snookers. Without the

championship -- throw the chav Egypt I wouldn't think there would be more

than ten frames. I would go nearer five. -- throughout the

championship. It's almost rarer than 147. Matches like John Higgins, Mark

Selby. The two best in the world in that department, there was always a

chance. It's so important when you win the frame mathematically to keep

potting and to get back to the table. Here for 17 days, hopefully a

lot of snooker to be played, you don't want extra 15-20 minutes

because they add up. Not the two snookers he needs, to win this train

he'd need to get seven snookers to miss two.

Cue ball is very close. If you didn't pot a colour, he would

certainly concede. I'm sure he'll look at Liang Wenbo and he's given

him the frame, largely due to the break of 62.

Stephen, we had a long debate in the commentary box about Liang Wenbo, he

needed just a red, whatever happens with the red we're talking about, he

could play it slow, he could play it hard but we've already found out

that the red along the cushion from the farm job is very easy. We were

discussing that we both thought we would have gone for this. He can

leave the cue ball, somewhere where the black is, if he pots that red,

it's a straight shot, if he goes for it with enough pace to follow the

cue ball underneath where the bikers, if he misses the red he'll

come away from the pocket. -- wherein the red is. Chose the safety

and to be fair he played it very well, little but fortunate with the

reds running list didn't go over a pocket -- the two reds running

loose. Liang Wenbo is behind in virtually every statistic. You see

Ding, the highest break of the tournament, long pot success. That's

good with the long pot success, you only get three quarters of your long

pot. Will be interesting to see what the stats of the winner would be

with the long pot success rate. If you get 50% it's pretty good over

the tournament. Both players back in and there is the wonderful arena.

Two Chinese players, they're giving us a treat this morning, playing to

a very high standard. Playing eight frames in this first

session. This is the last one before the mid-session interval.

Nice frame for Ding Junhui to win and be 3-1 up. Only has to win one

of the remaining four to be at least level. These little mini sessions

come into play in long matches. This is a test of caring for Liang Wenbo.

Dead straight red to the corner, the sort of professionals buying up in

practice and play for a couple of hours, medium length straight pots.

Of all the World Championship 3-1, what was the biggest deficit, did

you ever lose a session 7-1, 8-0 or anything like that? I certainly lost

a lot of sessions, maybe not 7-18- zero, but somebody might correct me.

Sometimes it would be damage limitation, the difference between

7-1 and 6-2 over Anna four session match can be huge. If that was a

test of straight cueing, then he's filled it. -- failed it. Sometimes

when you get the cue ball cleaned it can distract you. He went down to

play a shot, he thought he saw something, had to get back again.

The blue appears to be on the way. We'll play to the bunch from the

green. Could play from the pink to the yellow but there is the red at

the back of the pack that will pass to the corner and the one that is in

open play to the left of the pink. Didn't play for the ride down the

cushion, that's for certain. -- didn't play for the red. Didn't time

that want at all, he didn't want the cue ball anywhere near the cushion.

Not only is the pot difficult, has to get the cue ball away from the

cushion. That's well played. Very good. Definitely a bonus. He missed

tying the first red. To finish on that red with an angle to get onto

the black, a little but fortunate. May end up going to the bunch here

because it's a flat line and they are very tightly bunched, he would

need to hit it very hard to get the cue ball through them, might follow

through to the cushion for the red to the left of the pink. He's going

to play to the bunch but will have to be struck pretty firmly. That

little gap, if he can get through there it would be a good way to play

it. He got the gap. Good shot. Red to the left middle. There you see,

just squeezes it through the tight gap of the reds.

This is not straightforward. Has to play it with pace to go up for the

green. Even though he has those loose reds,

will try to land on this black. Not at this time. Just playing the

run-through round the back of the red to the same pocket as the black.

He played this done. Going to the back of the pack as well, that's

handy. One more loose red, possibly the one

to the middle of the reds will go as well but always good to call -- to

go to the middle of the bunch for a bit of insurance. I never liked

leaving it till the very end when there were no reds available. I

think that's higher on the black than he would have liked but there

is a red right in the middle that goes to the same pocket. That's

perfect. Well played. Both tables were recovered yesterday

morning. The commentator in the afternoon session, I thought the

tables where playing very slow. Back to normal again now. The television

lights have speeded things up as well as the under table heaters.

Might have red that goes to the same pocket as the black year. That's

what he's played for, things opening up nicely. Just deciding if he needs

an angle on the black. Just had a quick look to see if it was

available to the middle, the plant. If the plant is not on, he'd like to

finish law on the black and cannon into the reds knowing it would be

better going with the rights to the left and right corner.

Needs one more close to win the frame. Just under the two trends

away from the four, leave one to the right corner. I would suggest this

time there will be an angle left on the black. Or pink he can go for.

Pink is actually probably a better shot. Huge target now. As long as he

doesn't get to the cue ball and head the left-hand side of the bunch.

He'll play to the right-hand side and got a knife and click it and --

he'd obviously try and flick it. If he's on this red he's very

fortunate. You want to be anything but hitting the left-hand side of

the reds there. That was careless. It was a poor shot for somebody as

good as Ding Junhui. Take the half bottle on the other side because he

might have sprung off the other two red. Very fortunate to get on that

one. That could and should be a free manner and an interval 3-1 lead. Can

go into the two reds if he wants, the right half of them. Off two

cushions. There's been an excellent stuff the first four frames. It

really has. I can think of one easy chance each they missed in the first

four frames. Starting to look like Ding will make

his second century of this morning in an session. We had a little

friendly bet between myself, I've gone with two and under centuries in

the first three frames and Stephen has gone for three and over. Not

looking good for me at the moment. Already made four centuries.

Wouldn't bet against the fifth coming up here. I think last year in

the World Championship on the route to the final he made more than

anyone, 15 centuries. He's a machine, Willie. Been studying the

stats coming out with that information? This is flawless, isn't

it, the first century made of the morning session was on a string,

apart from that one shot where he kissed the wrong side of the pack.

He's been excellent in this one as well. Very, very high standard. Yes,

looks like already when Ding gets an early, the first opportunity is

going to win it. Didn't quite get the desired cannon

on the blue. What a shame it wasn't a total clearance. Tap from Liang

Wenbo to appreciate that century. This morning's session has been

flawless. Wonderful start from Ding Junhui, back to that match shortly

after the mid-session interval and will surely the highlights of the

other match taking place on the other table this morning at the

Crucible. Stuart Bingham is trailing overnight 5-3. You may see just

behind me, Ronnie O'Sullivan getting ready for today's match against

Shaun Murphy. They saw that as nothing ever fans love more than

watching a 147. Cliff Thorburn's 147 isn't on there but it's 20 years to

the day -- to the day that that man rattled in the quickest 147.

Everybody wants to make a 147 but do it at the Crucible is one of

proudest moments. Magnificent, Jimmy White creates history. Massive

achievement for me. Greatest memories. Listen to the raw if this

pink and black goes in. I had to come up and down the table from the

pink to come down to the black. The cue ball kept on running. Just don't

leave it tight on the cushion. The third 147 maximum in Crucible

history. Looking back at it now it was a horrible black.

And he forced the cue ball into that cluster? Four minutes for the

century. Amazing. What a fantastic five minutes from Ronnie O'Sullivan.

Unbelievable maximum break. Now he's got them where he wants

them. He's normally devastating when the reds are like this. ?169,000 for

this pot. Wonderful, wonderful display from Ronnie O'Sullivan. Not

a bad start, five reds, five blacks. Little bit of history. He'll be the

first ever Welsh player to hit a maximum at the Crucible. Come on,

Mark. Unbelievable. Mark Williams. I'm over the moon. I'm shaking a bit

now. I bet you can't wait to tell Stephen Hendry the good news. Yes,

he can't be far away. Deep breath now. Remember your

technique. Marvellous! Marvellous! Ali Carter's first maximum in

competition. What a place to make it. He's going to have to play it

with pace and come out of baulk. Good shot needed. This cue ball,

stop there. A marvellous champion, and

marvellous moment. One of many in his marvellous career. Very similar

to the shot that Cliff Shaun Byrne had on this very table. In it goes.

Absolutely fantastic. There is only one Stephen Hendry. Absolutely

fantastic. After almost falling Shaun Murphy

Stuard, I'm delighted to see. What's your name again? . He's here

alongside me. Thank you very much for the tweets saying you got Shaun

Murphy's name long. You make one fatal error and that's it, the world

knows about it. When you look back at that take there, great memories?

Yes, that last one I made was my last ever time here at the Crucible,

so a lovely way to end my career here. The plastic stuff, when you

look at some of the players who done it, when you look back, as a snooker

fan, apart from yours, which one excites you the most? Ronnie

Sullivan's is incredible, will never be done again. Cliff Shaun

this much backswing, to power the yellow was a phenomenal shot. We

will see that one very shortly. What's your assessment of Ding and

Liang. Ding looks very sharp, when he gets in the frame early, he looks

like clearing up. Liang Wenbo looks very focused on getting up for it.

Ding is a good bit above all the rest of the Chinese players, a level

above and will be hard to stop this championship. Mark Henry, thanks

very much indeed! CHUCKLES . You can stop tweeting, we all make

little errors now and again. Stuart Bingham and on Kyren Wilson, 5-3

overnight and will join it in the tenth frame, Bingham won the first

of the second session. Early on in the frame.

COMMENTATOR: The interesting thing for me, who's played a very poor

safety shot, the shot he turned down there, that's the sort of shot that

Mark Williams takes on and leaves the red on the side cushion. He gets

the red, he's got an easy blue. If he misses the red, he leaves

nothing. I think he's missed a trick there, Stuart Bingham. As you say,

poor safety. It seemed like a second thought to play safe. He didn't give

enough thought to it. So careless. Might cost him the frame.

Obviously you can see Stuart's reasoning behind it. Got Kyren under

a lot of pressure at the moment and wants to keep things tight but you

can't refuse balls when you can play a shot to nothing. Fair comment.

Once he decided not to play the pot, then you have to give the other shot

you're going to play due thought and consideration. Little careless lips

like that and the only seem to happen at the Crucible. It's

sometimes that your mind plays tricks on you.

Without any shadow of doubt, the pressure is magnified here the

Crucible. Because it means so much to all the players. This is the

World Championship. You get one chance every year and to be

perfectly honest, it means more than any of the other tournaments put

together. It's the thing that every player

wants on his CV. If he gives the rest back, it's

amazing if he plays this red. Can he reach it? He's going for the

extension. Looks OK, just got to be a little bit careful, that's all.

Should be a fairly comfortable run through for the black. And no, no

reason why not to go into the cluster of reds. You've got a couple

of loose reds but he's not guaranteed position on them, so this

is an opportunity to bring more reds into play. And again the tendency is

to play with a touch of right-hand side on the shot, so he needs to

make sure he doesn't hit it thick with power. Played it well, decided

not to go into the reds with too much pace. If he's not on this red

he's been very, very unlucky. I think he's not on it. I think he's

stuck to the pink. You can usually tell by looking at

the player's body language. Maybe he is just on it. Well, John,

he missed an easy red into the right-hand black pocket yesterday.

Playing a similar shot with a touch of sight and he's played that very

well. The shot that he missed yesterday in similar circumstances,

when he caught another red first actually cost the 6-0 lead. Saw one

of those frames that could turn the match.

Played up nicely. -- played it nicely.

The time to that one nicely. Very important to get it right on the

blue. -- he timed that one nicely. That's very well played. He did have

a loose red. He decided to go into the cluster. It is not ideal, to be

perfectly honest, the way the pink and black finished. So he needs to

get on the pink on a good angle to get back for the following red.

It isn't obvious which red he can play for here. If the pink is not

possible he may play a cannon into the cluster. But he would have to

inject a lot of pace into the cue ball. But that is where he played.

It worked out nicely. I was holding my breath with the red going near

the middle. But he has played that well. And to be honest, John, he did

look for a plant there. And there was a plant which was close to go

into the middle. He did not look at that before he played the pink. Yes,

he would have been unlucky if he had played the red in the middle, but

you could also argue it would have been careless because as we could

see, on the last shot, it was close to being a plant.

He may even have reversed it off-line, John. In other words, you

were saying he has no need to play the cannon. Anyway, that little

scare over. He's played that nicely. It was two reds to the right centre.

Only a couple of reds, and a couple of colours away from victory in this

frame. Now you see the difference. 62

ahead, 75 remaining. This has been a very impressive contribution from

Wilson. Under tremendous pressure. Having seen a 5-0 lead slip. Bring

on -- Stuart Bingham regaining his composure to come back. It has been

very impressive. Yes, and as far as Stuart Bingham is concerned, he will

be sacked there seeding. He decided not to take on a difficult pot. He

played the safety. He hasn't played many worse safety shots than he did.

And he has been sat down ever since. That is how cruel this game can be

sometimes. Isn't this game both amazing and

wonderful, John? He could go on to make a century year. All of the

disappointment about perhaps throwing away a lead will go

completely. His confidence will be restored. He will be back in the

ascendancy. Amazing. Yeah, and all it takes is one shot. Just overran.

It's not nothing. He can get through. Further than I thought.

Still a possible century there. APPLAUSE

He played that nicely. This black, his first century of the

tournament. 31st of the championship. There you go, Wilson,

105. It is a strange game in many ways.

Stuart Bingham won the first frame. Got within one frame after beating

5-0 behind. But he played a very poor safety shot. And, as Peter

says, hasn't gone in. He missed the brown. But he made a century in the

tournament. And that will give him the confidence to push on. He now

leads by 6-4. Good stuff from Wilson. That much continues on the

BBC sport website and BBC sport app. This is the scene at the Crucible in

Sheffield. They are on a mid-session interval on that table. But our live

match this afternoon is Ding Wenbo. COMMENTATOR: Ding breaks in this

frame. This is to see who has the lead going into the second session.

Long pot success for Junhui. Not quite what it was in the first

round. Safety success, Ding has dominated so far. Having two

centuries, he has dominated the highest breaks, as well.

Wenbo did not want the double kiss, so he has left the choice of two

reds. And neither of them are easy. The one to the right middle is the

one that is least risky. The one he is looking at now, on the black, he

must fully commit to that. Because if he misses it...

We have been talking about balls going high of the pocket. But that

one was never in, that one. The chance. -- good chance. Not leaving

the cue ball there, though. The only good thing about this is he has a

perfectly good angle to drop onto the red in the far right corner.

Just concentrate 100% on the pot. Bound to be on the red. Got to keep

very still on these shots. No, there was definite movement there. If you

get movement, you put side on the cue ball, and that is what happens.

He hit it too hard, didn't he? He was probably worried about playing

the black like you did when he missed it a couple of frames ago --

like he did when he missed a couple of frames ago. He has to think about

damage limitation. He has got to get out of this situation no worse than

5-3. If you are under pressure when you

are 5-3 down. I was talking about these mini sessions of four frames

in a long match. When Bo knows he would have to win all four to have a

lead himself. -- -- Wenbo knows he would have to win

all four to have a lead himself. That is the pressure on a little

bit. When Ding get in early on a frame and the colours are open,

straightaway you would say it looks pretty ominous. The red he is

looking at right now, will he stay on the black? No, he is going to

come around and go for the blue. If he was in the club, practising, he

would have put the red in, screw into the events, and leave himself

the black into the right corner -- screw into the reds, and leave

himself the black into the right corner. Ding is working very closely

with Terry Griffiths now. You spent many years with Terry. He will help

him mentally, without a doubt. I'm not sure he will help him in the

break building department, but maybe that one thing we've talked about in

commentary is temperament. Somebody like Terry can help. Yes. Terry's

influence, no doubt, is in the dressing room. Just tell him how he

is feeling out there. It is very helpful to have somebody

in your corner who has been there, knows what it feels like knows what

you are going through. In the arena. Lowestoft is the most

easterly point of our islands. Every morning the sun hits

this bit of the country first. And when you actually get out here,

you want to go out and greet the sun! Since the 1970s,

11 piers have been lost completely. While others, like Lowestoft's

Claremont pier, still struggle on. Hello, David!

Can we go inside your pier? How many generations has

it been in your family? A real responsibility!

Huge responsibility! Surely these machines make sackloads

of money? Not bags of money, Mark. What was this pier like

in its Edwardian heyday? I mean, obviously a sense of

occasion coming on to a pier. Everyone dressed smartly.

There were theatres. Punters promenading up and down?

Yes, absolutely packed! Coming down to take the steamer

off the end there. Obviously it used to be

a lot longer than it is now. With a T-piece on the end

as well to moor up against. I can show you some old

archive photographs. The steamer would stop off on the

way to London and ferry people back. It wasn't just a pleasure pier?

It had a commercial function? Like the Victorian equivalent

of an airport. They were arrival points for

passengers visiting the seaside. But unlike an airport,

piers combined function with fun! No self-respecting seaside resort

could be without one. In the 50 years between

1860 and 1910, 78 piers were

built around the country. The end of David's pier

is now just too dangerous to walk on. a different perspective

on the state of Britain's piers. where all the amusements

are at the landward end, there's not much incentive for

the owner perhaps to spend money. you can't get even the

fishermen on there paying you money. From this angle,

it's obvious to see the problems that pier owners

like David Scott face. Without the revenue from paddle

steamers and their passengers, over a million pounds has been spent

renovating their pier - Spring is arriving -

in a whirlwind of pink. We're in Japan to celebrate

the sakura. So join us on Friday,

21 April at 8.30 on BBC TWO. How many times have you

driven a boat this fast?! Well, there's an image that'll be

stuck in my mind forever. Our crack team of experts

use pioneering research ..to how to help your pet

lose weight. and also, all Russian athletes

are clean as whistles. In a world of cyber-hacking

and fake news, there is one show that can

still be trusted. RUSSIAN ACCENT:

Da, Putin is excellent leader President Trump should also

go topless. RUSSIAN ACCENT: The Russians' only

interest is to strengthen democracy, and also, all Russian athletes

are clean as whistles. Have I Got News For You

is back and unhacked. Where are all the people?

'Be happy.' They're expecting

the new Garden of Eden...