Saturday, 1st Round, Afternoon, Part 1 Snooker: World Championship

Hello, it's day one of the 2017 Betfred World Snooker Championship

and this one is extra special. Last night we rolled out the green carpet

and we had a little celebration, 17 former champions and all 32 of this

year's participants were able to take part in it because this is the

40th anniversary that this great championship has been staged in

Sheffield's and wonderful atmospheric Crucible Theatre, a

venue that has now become one of the most iconic anywhere in sport.

Thanks for whoever thought this one up, this is great.

LAUGHTER OK. Ronnie, you know what to do.

CHEERING And you've missed...?

CHEERING When we met up it was fantastic, we

shook hands, and disregarded the bad blood. I feel more consistent now,

17 days of this is fun. These lovely people are about to

sign a document which will keep this great championship here at the

Crucible and in the city for another ten years at the very least.

It is a fantastic tournament, it doesn't matter whether you have been

here one time or whether you have been had ten times, you still get

goose bumps. Last night our commentary team were

limbering up ahead of another 17 day marathon, and what a team that is,

177 World Championship appearances, 17 world titles between them, the

usual mix of expert opinion, a few laughs and some surreal moments no

doubt along the way but we are all in very good hands with these

gentlemen. As usual for the first part of the

championship we will be broadcasting from our studio inside the beautiful

Sheffield Winter Gardens and spending a lot of time too in the

players' practice room because we will present every single session

from one of these bases on BBC One or two, or indeed on the red button

and when the championship focuses in on just the one table from the

semifinal stages that's when we will make a new camp in our very compact

and Bijou table side home. You really will get the best view in the

house from them, as indeed will we. That's how we will play it for the

next 17 days but this is our grand plan for the opening afternoon.

The defending champion always gets things going here and that honour

falls once again to the world number one Mark Selby.

Huge respect to his opponent Fergal O'Brien who survived a tortuous

world record two hours, three minutes deciding friend in

qualifying to book his first Crucible appearance for seven years.

Meanwhile Ronnie O'Sullivan returns for 25th campaign, all thanks, he

says, to the sports psychiatrist who has him hungry.

I'm ready to jack it in the then I met Steve and it's his fault I am

still playing. He will take on one of five Crucible

newcomers this year, the most in form of them all, maximum man Gary

Wilson. And whilst it's all about the

players of the present we will enjoy a moment with some of the finest of

the past at a recent Legends event. Dennis, we are standing in front of

the world champions board, some fantastic performances to win those

tournaments. You turned professional in 1972 and now in the commentary

box and see every ball. How has the game changed over the years?

Well, the standard the players are playing to command there are so many

of them, all of the players that come here, incredible. You just have

to look at the number of century breaks, keeps increasing every year.

Way back in the early years it was only something like seven centuries

made in the first World Championship. But of course the

players were only playing in a few competitions. You didn't have all

the matches to play in back then. But it's great to see all of these

Chinese players coming through, there are four or five in the top

16. So, I think overall I think the standard has improved. But in your

day I think you would have competed against the best in the game

nowadays. That's very kind of you, thank you. I also think that perhaps

there is more aggression in the game and more attacking in general, and I

think perhaps they have solved the puzzle of positional play a bit

matter, perhaps that's why there is more 100 breaks. I think because

they are playing so matches Dummett many matches and they cannot pot

their way to a world title and must have a second game and somebody like

Judd Trump who is learning all the time, his tactical game is getting

better and it's just a matter of time before he wills Dominic Windsor

World Championship. We said that about Jimmy White and he lost in six

finals so Judd Trump still has to win the first one.

No matter what happens over the next fortnight here Mark Selby will end

the season as the world number one for the sixth consecutive time. He

has almost ?400,000 and thus points ahead of the nearest challenger in

the world rankings and could smash the ?1 million prize money in a

single season for the first time. There is no doubt that this is going

to become known as the Mark Selby era.

It is safe to say that if you become world champion and world number one

you know your way around a snooker table and Mark Selby certainly does.

I think he knows his way around the table than anyone currently playing

the game and as somebody who has played him more than anyone on tour

I have had my fair share of him and he puts you in difficult positions

and you don't know what to do half the time. When he joined the circuit

he had a different bridge, it used to be back towards his thumb and he

has gone more compact, similar to you, I think. A lot of us came onto

the tour as juniors and young players who were used to playing on

tables that went as fast and not as good. That technique suited us. But

when you play on these superfast cloth in TV arenas around the world

you have to have ultimate control of the cue ball and being a little bit

nearer to it gives you that and there is less can go wrong with your

action, your cue action becomes a bit shorter and that means less can

go wrong. It takes a bit of getting used to. He has a strange

characteristic of his head moving side to side when coming in on the

shot. He does that less now than he used to but there is definite

movement. As he is down on the shot there is definite head movement

either backwards and forwards or either side to side sometimes but at

the moment of strike he is always in the right position. I think among

many strong suits shot selection is definitely one of them. I think it

is his strongest suit. I perhaps personally go for the odd shot too

many. Whereas Mark never over exposes himself. He's always playing

a shot thinking about what happens if it goes wrong, what happens if

this doesn't quite work out. Whereas somebody like me is going, what

happens if it works? He tends to lean towards what happens if it goes

wrong and that enables him to play in a slightly different way. He

doesn't take on too much damage, which means he is always there or

thereabouts. Do you think that enables his B game to be so good,

why he wins a lot of matches when he is not quite at it. We can all win

when we are at our best, flying with century breaks and making

clearances, it is easy to do well. But when you are struggling, if you

can have that extra string to your bow we have a B, C or D game some

days, it means you can relax and don't have to clear the table. It

makes him incredibly difficult to beat. Exactly.

Mark Selby's opponent Fergal O'Brien has had good season. And the

antithesis of that, involved in the longest frame in snooker history,

two hours three minutes in the decider of the qualifying tournament

on Wednesday just to get here. This opening match began at 10am this

morning and here is what happened when we were live with this on BBC

Two earlier. COMMENTATOR: Good morning,

everybody. We're back. Played the cross double, got it.

APPLAUSE The reigning champion is one in

front. Chance missed and that will cost him

the frame. I fancy him getting this. Yes, good

shot. So, Fergal O'Brien, 3-0 behind.

Right in the heart of the pocket. He is playing it with the extension.

And that's a concession, so not the start Fergal O'Brien was looking

for. But just the start the defending champion wants. He leads

at the mid-session interval 4-0. 4-0 has become 7-0 in this first of

ten round match. They have two more to play in the opening session.

Stephen Hendry and John Virgo on duty in the commentary box. What is

your interpretation of what has happened so far? To be perfectly

honest with you it is just one way traffic and the best we can say

about Fergal is he has had a couple of chances and not made the most of

them and with his highest break only 17, at this level that ain't going

to cut it. There was a sign in the last frame that I thought Mark may

be losing a bit of focus, as you said, being so fine front but he

seems to have regained it now. I think we will see an example on this

red. It is a fantastic shot. Fergal had missed a long red but it shows

the confidence of being 7-0 up in an attacking way to cannon do red

alongside the black and creating this opportunity. -- cannon the red

alongside the black. He is long past the point of knowing he can't lose

this match. It is just a battle with himself for concentration, to stay

focused. He will want every frame today, he will want 9-0 to make

tonight as short as possible. Go back home, a few days off, relax,

watch everyone else sweat it out and then come back for the second round.

He decided to play for the red along the top cushion. He has got to be

accurate with these but he is full with confidence at the moment.

He played for the red, I believe, and just didn't get into it enough.

He still has the one to the right middle.

Who could have done without kissing the second red. He is on the blue.

He hit that beautifully. You could see the cue ball pick up pace after

the blue had gone in to avoid the brown.

Once again, OK, I thought he had put it behind him but in the last frame

there was a few positional shots. But there I wouldn't expect him to

miss that. Just losing that little bit of focus, as you said. Year,

when you've been put under no pressure, Fergal's highest break 17,

you have nothing against you, it is hard to keep the maximum

concentration sometimes. Here again he has not been punished for any

mistakes. That is always the way, when Fergal Mrs to red comes back on

the table and leaves mark with a nice little starter. -- misses the

red comes back down the table and leaves Mark with a nice little

starter. Two hours 46 is not too quick to say the scoreline is 7-0.

He has not won many frames in one visit, Mark Selby. He has been put

under no pressure whatsoever. A couple of reds and a couple of

colours away from 8-0 scoreline. There is always pressure on

defending champion. We have seen many shock results when a defending

champion has come here and gone out in the first round. Two of the

all-time greats, yourself, Steve Davis. It is nice to get this

potential banana skin out of the way and he will be happy if he wins

every frame. He won't be thinking, maybe I didn't have much of a test.

Just get this first round out of the way.

I suppose it is nice to come through a match where you have had to play

well to win, I suppose. Swings and roundabouts. I suppose you don't

really know how, in this type of match, how well he is playing under

pressure yet. But he is doing what is required.

Fergal will just be so disappointed with the way he has played. He would

have been looking forward to this so much after qualifying. Yes, three

qualifying rounds he had to come through. We were making a story

about the longest frame played in the World Championship, but he did

really well to get here to the Crucible. So far, no reward for his

efforts. Only pride in performance can keep

you going now. The chance of winning this match all but gone. I say all

but gone because I remember one year when Cliff Thorburn was way in front

and Nigel came back from 8-1 behind and finished up winning 10-9.

It won't matter, Fergal will concede. He just marches on, Mark

Selby, not under any pressure and now leads 8-0, one to play in this

session. One-way traffic, as John described

it, absolutely right, and this is a feeling of deja vu for you because

when you were champion you came back in 1992 and did something similar. I

won 10-0 against Eddie Charlton, and a wonderful feeling to get a match

over so quickly and obviously Mark Selby will feel that way at the

moment. As for Fergal he will be disappointed, nearly as disappointed

as Dave Gilbert. Yes, if David Gilbert is watching at home, after

being bundled out by Fergal in that two hours last frame, I hope you

enjoyed it, you know what we mean, we have all been there, the bloke

plays fantastic against you and gets out of jail and the next frame he

cannot pot a ball. You cannot underestimate the, I was going to

say fatigue, but to be honest the adrenaline performers that being at

the Crucible should surely engender to negate that, surely? It wasn't a

great draw for Fergal and the fact he has played three tough matches in

what is as we said at the start of the show this morning, the Ponds

Forge qualifying area, is a tournament within the tournament

itself and perhaps he was mentally drained, perhaps more so. It was

pretty late when they finished. It was but he got off to a bad start

and every chance he gets has double and triple the amount of pressure

because you feel as if you've got to get the first frame on the

scoreboard, don't want to get whitewashed, the pressure becomes

more and more and missed the pot and back to square one. This is the last

before the end of the first session and it is certainly all going the

defending champion's way. COMMENTATOR: There is a lot to be

made about qualifying and how much it takes out of you but I believe

that getting through them inspires you but you need a good start and

Fergal didn't get one. Yes. Perhaps is game plan could have been

different, trying to play the same sort of game that Mark Selby plays.

Here is an opportunity. But he has the whole arena now watching his

misery. Yeah. The other match, they have finished their first session,

so all eyes on this table. For once he has missed one and not

left it for his opponent. Possible pot to the far left corner.

You feel he will have to try and make something now. As we were

saying, in the UK when he made five centuries in that best of 11 match,

that was snooker of the highest quality. It's there. Good shot. Not

a bad case on the blue. Being so close to the blue it is

hard to generate the pace. There is one over the middle. Being so close

he couldn't really get the cue through, in danger of playing a push

shot. As I say the red has come over the middle, just dropping in around

the blue and otherwise he can play to the baulk end.

Could have done without being tight to the cushion. I think he's just

got the angle and if he puts the blue he is bound to be on the red.

He played it well. Good shot. He is dead straight on this red, it

needs good striking to screw the cue ball, exactly on the path where his

hand is now. Slight bit of angle. I think he may be able to get... He is

looking at the brown to the middle for the red in baulk. Maybe he could

get around the bunch. He played that well. Every credit.

It's hard to think positive when you are in the situation Fergal is in at

the moment. You've just got to play one shot at a time.

Now, I'm not certain what is available, there may be a red

available to the right corner. He's just coming around to have a look.

If there isn't I think he has the angle on the brown to come off the

side cushion and into them. Big target. That's what he's playing.

Couldn't have played it better. Surely he's on something. He is but

it could have been a lot easier than this. He has a thin cut. That is

very unfortunate, he could not have played that shot much better. Yes,

he hit them perfectly. As I say, this red does cut but with it being

so thin it is not guaranteed to have position. He potted it well, needs

to come in and out of baulk to be on a colour. Couldn't have finished

much worse. OK, he's on the brown but the wrong angle to get the cue

ball back-up to this end of the table. I was going to say, come on,

Fergal, take the brown on. Keep this break going. Every credit, I

suppose, still playing the right shots, he feels. Perhaps it was

worth just trying to keep that break going. Yes, well, a lot of players

would have thumped the brown in the middle and screwed off the baulk

cushion but I don't think it is part of Fergal's game. Is this hard

enough? Missed calls but it may not be taken as he has a chance of a red

to the middle. I see no reason to have it replaced. That 23 break on

his last visit, the highest break of his match so far.

Pot this, bound to be on the black. It's going to catch the near jaw and

not go in. I think we may see Mark play another

double hear. Not quite and that's why players

don't like playing doubles, depending on which side of the jewel

it is you could leave it. But I think it could be safe. -- which

side of the jaw it is you could leave it.

That red was running loose but I think he has it covered.

The balls are not badly situated. There is only one red close to the

cushion, so the next chance could be a frame-winning one. Fergal would

love it to be him. And it may well be. I think he has

left the red to the left middle, as Mark Selby. So Fergal has a chance

to get a first frame on the scoreboard. Better late than never.

Three hours he has been waiting for this chance.

Just got the angle on the blue, to play for the two reds in front of

the black. A little bit too straight on it to do that, but no problem.

Still in good shape. Just got to keep his concentration

now. OK, he would like to have been a bit

further away from the cushion than this. Natural to roll the black in

and bounce off the side cushion to get to the two reds above the black.

Could have done with putting a little bit more pace on the cue

ball. But it's not bad. Not perfect. Couple of reds, couple of high value

colours, that should see him put his first frame on the scoreboard.

And knowing this Crucible audience as I do, Stephen, he will get quite

a bit of applause. I think something you have got to give Fergal credit

for, his demeanour has not changed whether he is in his chair or at the

table. He's looked like he is still concentrating hard. A few players,

including myself, head in your hands, looking miserable and you

want to get out of there. He's looking for one more red, but

it's not as easy as he would've liked. One more red will put him 60

point in front with just 59 remaining.

Decided on this one, the one that is next to the yellow.

Not there. So this frame isn't over yet. APPLAUSE

Nicely on the blue, but it will be a tall order to win the frame at this

visit. He needs high value colours in the main with these remaining

reds. Six remaining colours. But when you are 8-0 in front, relaxed,

anything is possible. This is the first challenge he's had

for a while in this match. So it may clean up his concentration.

That blue now puts Mark 40 points behind, 43 remaining. So he's going

to need high value colours with these last two reds will stop he

Watt he could get on the blue, another red and a black and he could

win the frame by a point. But it's run safe. And the reason,

like you Stephen, I would have thought about the other red, you are

8-0 in front. I mean, you know, it was a chance to win the frame at

that visit. I do think he purposely tried to run

the red into the black to knock the black safe. Good idea, just didn't

work out as planned. Fergal just needing a red. I think

he will take this on. He won't want to move the crumb-macro tied to the

right-hand cushion. But surely he will play a pot on this one. If you

knock it in, you win the frame. You won't fancy your opponent cleaning

up even if you left the red. He's been around, looked at pot and

angle. You are right, John, he has to play this.

APPLAUSE Yes! Well done, Fergal. You can see

the little smile coming out of his face there. The applause is because

he has just made a hundred brig. Well done. -- hundred break.

And that will mean there is no way back to the table now for Mark

Selby. He can't be disappointed with that.

Mark Selby has a seven frame advantage going into tonight's next

session. He leads Fergal O'Brien 8-1.

HAZEL IRVINE: Mark Selby already in a commanding position against Fergal

O'Brien. One Welshman in the draw, Ryan Day up against Xiao Guodong.

Neil Robertson taking on Noppon Saengkham. Marco Fu plays Luca

Brecel. Yan Bingtao plays Shaun Murphy. Liang Wenbo faces Stuart

Carrington, who knocked out Mark Williams. Ding Junhui against

Chinese new boy zone Yuelong. Stuart Bingham up against Peter Ebdon. Kyra

Wilson against David Grace. Mark Allen against Bexhill's number 39,

Jimmy Robertson. John Higgins up against Martin Gould is 881. A real

bruiser, Ali Carter against Graeme Dott. So is this. McGill facing

Maguire. And joint favourite Judd Trump takes on Rory McLeod on

Tuesday. Judd Trump joint favourite with Mark Selby. Mark Selby living

up to his favourite tag this morning. A lovely smile on the face

of Fergal O'Brien. You almost feel a sense of relief for him. Very much

so. He will have been slightly embarrassed by his level of

performance today. His highest break was 17 in the match. We know Fergal

is a proper buyer, but he has had a bad day at the office. Scoring 181

points in the match so far, the lowest in any match at the Crucible,

191. He has ten points work to do to avoid another record. How do you

assess the damage from Fergal's point of view? What is it like to

sit in your chair, because you have been there and you know what it is

like. Horrible. It feels like the game is slipping away from you. You

feel helpless about it. You are trying hard to get back into the

game. The hardy you try, the worse it gets. Somewhere down the line,

the embarrassing factor comes into the equation. You don't want to be

in the room and you want to go home. Fergal in the last frame, still grit

and determination. Others will have slung their cue at it more. But

Fergal played the right shot at the right time. That is why, over the

years, he has been so successful. Your Crucible record remains, the

only whitewash in Crucible history that you have configured. Against Mr

Charlton. I am quite glad about. Still intact, there aren't many of

them. They will return as the champion 's prerogative on the first

day, they come back and complete their match in the Saturday evening,

that is at 7pm. Jason Mohammad will be here for that one. Former world

number two Stephen Maguire hasn't won a match at the Crucible since

2012. He beat Stephen Hendry in the quarterfinal here in a match that

effectively retired Stephen. But it seems Maguire's record at this great

championship has suffered as well. He has lost in round one in the four

years between then and now. He is a qualifier this time. How will that

affect him? Is the writing on the wall again? Perhaps even on the

page. This writing is capital letters.

Capital letters are usually somebody trying to protect themselves from

allowing anybody to get a feeling for who they are. It is called

putting on a uniform. He is somebody with a lot of willpower. There is no

right margin. If you look at the difference between the left margin

and right margin, it is quite a narrow margin. This is somebody that

wants to get on with things. There are one or two points that show

defiance. Look at the K. You have an enormous aggressive shooting up to

the right. That is a defined structure. This site, the curve is

right over to the left. He is somebody that is quite protective.

If it curved in the other direction, it would be someone more open to

symbolically to the outside world. This is somebody quite define.

Capital Os have these angles. Again, quite a tenacious person. Where you

have angles where there should be curves, it is like a fist. He is

putting a fist in place. The words have a number of twisted letters in

them as well. If you look at the slander of some letters, they are

going the opposite direction to the letters next door. This is known as

twisted writing. Here is somebody who needs to be in control. They

need to verify and take arguments a stage further. Somebody like this

might start quite strongly, but then his writing flattens out. The way he

pursues his aims starts with a flourish and then there is a

flattening out. There may be difficulties in long-range planning,

but a nice bit of aggression, and checking, and fighting. So a

reasonably good competitor. Defiant, protective, tenacious,

aggressive. Spot on for Stephen Maguire. Anthony McGill winning in

India and the snooker shoot out. He is the automatic qualifier this

time. A different feeling to the last two years when he has inflicted

pain on leading seed, knocking out Shaun Murphy, and sending Stephen

Maguire back to Glasgow with a super cool performance on his debut in

2015. This time, as the seeded player, the pressure is on And.

I have had a breakthrough season. I wasn't a winner before and I have

managed to steal a couple of tournaments. I am coming here with a

lot of confidence. I am high in the rankings, which happens when you are

doing well. Yeah, as years go by, because it is a game of experience

as well, really. I think the more experience you get, the better plate

you become. As the years go by, the better you get. I have played

Stephen here before two years ago. The draw came out, I watched it

live, and I couldn't believe it. We used to practice together. You would

like to maybe play someone who you are not familiar with. You don't

want to play your mate or your practice partner. You want him to do

well, I want Stephen to do well. Stephen wants me to do well. But it

is what it is, and that is the draw. At 2:30 we live with Ronnie

O'Sullivan, but we will update you on progress in this one. We join

them at 2-2. This is frame five, Willie Thorne and Peter Ebdon

commentating. COMMENTATOR: A good opportunity for

Anthony McGill. He might play ace workshops to the right-hand side, a

lot of swerve, and that is the reason why he missed it. He had to

play that with lots and lots of right-hand side. Lots of right-hand

side on the cue ball. The right-hand side, throwing the cue ball to the

left, hitting the object ball thick. That is the reason why he missed the

Quins. He looked amused to say the least. He couldn't believe that the

cue ball through so much. Through so much and didn't come back. Usually

you get some movement to the right. He had no movement at all. He played

it a fraction too hard. Yes, absolutely. And was very fortunate

in the end not to leave the red. This is a really tough red to take

on. Wow, what a shot that is. Cued that

really well. He can get onto the pink in the middle without any

problems. If that goes in, he has an excellent chance of scoring well

with the black to both corners. I mentioned in commentary in the first

four friends, doing well with little breaks, but no player as yet, apart

from in the opening frame when Maguire made 66. We always say

instead the com if you get a chance a friend, you are happy because you

have had a chance. At this point in time, you are the getting three or

four. It has been interesting so far, we

have seen both players now miss balls when they have been using

extreme side and hitting the object ball thick. Obviously, this cloth is

throwing considerably with side. Which is one of the reasons why

players like to play as much playing ball as possible. Could it be the

fact that the tables, the first match is on this morning, and they

to had heat on the tables, the table heaters on the days, and there may

be dampness in the cloth? Could that be a problem? Normally, if there is

dampness, you tend not to get so much throw. You tend to get more

grip. I would say the conditions are playing very good out there this

morning. That's a lovely shot from Stephen

Maguire Hebert. Really well controlled. Played the screw shot

through the red. Very, very well controlled. That was an excellent

shot. The first morning session of any

tournament, the tables all ten to be different to how they are on the

second day. Table heaters on for a couple of days, the television

lights on, everything gets dried out. I will be surprised in the next

day or so, if the table is pushing as much. An opportunity to play into

the pink. Play video screw. Just needs to miss the pink. He

played the cannon into the pink. I am surprised, Maguire usually plays

the aggressive shot. And that wasn't the aggressive shot. That does

surprise me. Screwing back through and opening them up. Yes, as you

say, Stephen usually takes the first opportunity to open the balls as

much as he possibly can. He plays very aggressive.

But if he could take these two loose reds, and perhaps leave himself an

angle on the blue, it would leave a nice pack to go into from the blue.

He made play for the red nearest to his hand now to finish on it

straight. He could have the half bald pink into the corner. In which

case, it would open the reds up. And he can't do it from that shot.

Does he have the angle for the buck to go into the reds? If the pink is

available, he will play-off pink for the next red.

We will know after this shop. Because he is plumb on this red.

Having another look now to see if the pink is available. He needs to

leave the cue ball low on the pink. This could be the frame with this

shot here. If he gets nicely on the pink, it would things up far and

wide. The shot that we saw a few seconds ago, this pink is actually

quite tight. It doesn't go clearly. There's a slight gap there.

Not quite as straightforward as it looks, this. If he plays with top

spin, he could end up finishing on the black. He needs to make sure the

cue ball is out in open play. Push them towards the middle, but hit it

too. He has been fortunate, the red up near the yellow, because he

didn't play for that. I wasn't expecting him to play a shot into

the baulk pocket, that's the shore. But 54 and counting. -- that's for

sure. Stephen's also got some insurance if

it were to go wrong. With the red being on the baulk cushion between

the yellow and the brown. But if he cannot this long red in,

there are a couple of loose reds that go as well.

Very good shot on the red. He's on a nice angle on the blue as well, just

to knock this in for the red to the right-hand pocket.

And that should really be the end of the frame. Stephen Maguire on the

verge here of going 3-2 up. 75 remaining, 63 in front. Just this

comes to make a frenzy. Red and colour, and we may see our first

century of the match now. The highest break previously was 66 from

Maguire. 52 competitive centuries Stephen

Maguire's had in his career. Not any players have got past the 400 marks,

but he is a very, very good break-builder. Making sure of that.

Making the frame safe. You also just get the feeling that

the smiling and joking that both players were sharing before the

interval has now stopped. The smiling assassin, Anthony McGill, is

no longer smiling in his chair. And personally, I think it will be a

better match for it as well. The way it started, it looked like being

commended, 58, 66 from either player. I thought we would get 60

and above every frame. I think the record will be broken

this year, Peter, as far as centuries are concerned. We could

see very close to 100 centuries at this tournament, because there are

so many players scoring heavily. I have no idea who's going to win the

championship this year. If I had three pics, I wouldn't necessarily

find the winner. -- free picks. The break goes to 91, which is

unfortunate, because he is going to need the last consumer. What he

needs to do here is pay for a baulk colour, or even half bald blue. That

is quite clever. One lucky. -- unlucky.

It looks as if he has the angle on the green for the red if he cuts the

green in but he decided to pot the fantastic long blue instead. He

would have been very unfortunate to finished rate on this red. This is

going to take some shot to pot this at pace and get on a colour. What a

shame, no century, but fantastic break. 3-2.

36-year-old Mogwai won frame six as well with a knock of 60, his fourth

half-century of the match so far, so he has that two frame gap at last

4-2 as we head into the seventh, it is McGill to play.

There is a lot of pressure on this long red.

And that is what can happen he put a lot of unwanted side on that, he

flicked a bit of right-hand side on unintentionally and the cue ball

turnover and hit the red half ball, glaring error. As we mentioned

earlier, with Anthony being so strong in his sighting underneath

his right eye there is a natural tendency to come across the ball.

With right-hand side. The fact he was missing everything thick he may

have thought if I put a bit of right-hand side on it it will be OK

but he completely mis-hit it and it could be very costly the way Maguire

has started the second session of four in this match.

This is the one thing you can be absolutely certain love with Stephen

Maguire when he's playing well, he scores heavily amongst the balls.

And there you have a fantastic example of his cue power, the cue

ball to avoid the reds and get perfect on the blue. He is timing

the ball very well. And he has upped his pace as well, which is very

noticeable. Does he play a little cannon into the pink at pace? I

think he will go into the reds, for sure, he will want to win this frame

in one visit if he can. And there is you answer. He has not played that

very well, to be honest. He did not get the cannon he wanted there. It

was one of those packs where there was only one red behind the pink and

if you didn't catch the pink full ball as we see here he would not get

any movement and that is what has happened. He could pot this red and

use the pack to screw back for, but could he run back for the black?

Otherwise he will have to go for another colour. Where is the cue

ball going? This table is very quick, isn't it? Yes, very, very

quick. He will take the green into the Green pocket and play for the

red into the right centre. Yes, Stephen has certainly upped the

tempo now, scoring very heavily in this match, breaks of 66, 50, 44, 97

and 60. 32 and counting hear. This is two frames in front at double the

points in front. He is outscoring McGill by some 200 odd points by

this match so far. This all happened after the third frame that McGill

should have won when Maguire was all over the place and somehow Maguire

managed to pinch it. He needs to be very careful with this cannon

because if it goes wrong he could go in off. He played that really well,

that was a beautiful shot, decided not to play with pace. He knew

exactly what he was doing with the cue ball. The danger of playing with

pace, if he had caught the top red he could have gone in off into the

corner but he worked that out very well.

He is just a couple of shots away from making this a frame-winning

opportunity. Has that gone up the table or did he

get a bad contact? It sounded like a kink, it sounded like it just went

straight. Let's have a little look at this as we see it for the second

time. Yes, just straightened up, pushed it to the corner. It wasn't

his fault, just a little unlucky. Once again, when you play with side

you can see the difficulty playing on these cloths sometimes, he is all

at sea at the moment, Anthony McGill, lost his way in this match.

But I think he'd be happy to get out of it 6-3 in the way things are

going at the moment. Not sure if he could avoid the case on the pink and

get the red closest to the cue ball, that goes into the corner. He would

have to play with a tiny bit of left-hand side. The natural angle is

to play where the pink is an hit the cushion but he can't do that.

He will play a little bit of stunned and try and play onto the side, he

didn't quite get it but he is on the red no problem.

Once again, the speed of the table fooling him. What a massive

difference that is. If he finishes two inches short it is frame over.

Where he is now he can power in the blue and finish on the red in the

left-hand corner, taking on the slightly more difficult green to

finish on the same red, playing off one cushion now. How is the pace

this time? He lost the cue ball a little bit, could have done with a

bit of left-hand side to straighten the cue ball, dead straight, no

problem. This is a real test of cueing now

for Stephen. That is a lovely shot. That is Ephraim winner. -- that is a

frame-winner. He has a nice angle on the black to screw in the reds.

Although it looks as though the bottom red in the cluster will go

providing he gets on it correctly. Just depends how he sees it. Decided

to screw through them, not really got into the white at all what he

has a choice of reds in the centre. Didn't get as much spin as he would

have liked to have done there. Very similar to a red he refused

earlier, he could have played a little screw back, he overscrewed it

this time by six or seven inches. But he can still Part this black.

Missing the cannon but he will be on the other reds, hopefully, but he

hit that too hard as well. Service frame is still not in the balance.

The favourite with 66 in front and 67 on.

This is good stuff from Stephen Maguire hear.

He played a little exhibition shot to try and get the red into play.

Didn't control the cue ball nicely enough. Power the cue ball to get

back down to the red cushion. There is the cue ball, but he missed the

blue. McGill will stay in his seat. Maguire now leads 5-2.

And a break of 59 in the next, and yet another win in the ninth means

that Stephen owns a 7-2 advantage going into tonight's concluding

session and needs three more. For those of you watching the match on

the red button you may have heard colourful language in commentary and

we apologise for that. Tables have certainly turned between

these two men in this particular situation. Two years ago McGill was

a qualifier inflicting the damage and now it's the other way around.

It could have gone the other way because at the start they were bit

ropey and it was the first person to get a grip on the match, Stephen

Maguire. The difference from two years ago when Anthony McGill was

the qualifier coming through and was not necessarily looking over his

shoulder like if you are a seed the tables have been turned. Anthony

McGill has a bit more to prove as a seed and perhaps from Stephen

Maguire's perspective, coming in as a qualifier with extra matchplay has

taken the load off his shoulders. He looked largely untroubled in the

qualifiers, smooth progress to this point. That's right, and even though

he had a bad start, he missed some awful boards in the early part of

the match, now he's playing with a lot more freedom and certainly

hasn't got that in aggression of beating himself up if he plays a bad

shot. If Stephen Maguire gets off to a good start in this match and

converts that and gets a run in the tournament, you see the best in

Stephen Maguire, the competitive, gritty, determined player. He has

the session tonight, they have their second session this evening, Mogwai

needing three more to get over the line for the first time in five

years here at the Crucible. Now it is time for Ronnie O'Sullivan. It is

very much the Ronnie O'Sullivan show this afternoon, in his 25th campaign

he is trying to become a joint legend. He is already a legend, he

has five world titles but only Steve Davis and a certain Stephen Hendry

have won six or more in the modern era involving matches here at the

Crucible and he could join them. He has had his ups and downs at the

Crucible, as you know, he has been tortured soul at times and has

wonderful triumphs too but it appears he's very much looking

forward to this campaign. It's quite nice to be here really, I

like Sheffield, it's a good place. It's like a home from home really

because I've got friends here, and I know all the people at the

restaurants, so when I come here we are always happy to see each other

so it's a nice place to come. I think life is good, I'm really

enjoying stuff, I have a variety of things going on, so it's not just

about playing snooker. So, it's probably the best year I've ever had

in my life. This a big moment for Ronnie to break Stephen Hendry's

record of six Masters titles. It is a big thing to Ronnie.

I've had to bring in Steve and say, you need to help me out, I am a busy

guy, how can we deal with this? Sometimes you have to just work

around it and that's great, you are always learning. It is a new task

for me to learn, managing time. I was ready to jack it in and I met

Steve and it's his fault I'm still playing. You go to the master and he

gives you a few lessons and you have to go away and work it out for

yourself. He has helped me tremendously and with Steve, he told

me I can show you what to do but unless you go away and actually do

it yourself, like if you start going to the gym you have to motivate

yourself to do it and I am good like that. It works for me, I keep on top

of it and we have a good relationship.

I just think I've got a busy May, June, July, August, September, so

much going on, it's amazing. And if you get a few pages in between,

happy days. Many Stooke watchers would like to

thank Dr Steve Peters for prolonging Ronnie's career but he placed

31-year-old newcomer Gary Wilson, he has fulfilled an ambition to play

here, one he has held since being a nine-year-old schoolboy coming to

the Crucible to watch. Many would have thought you would want to avoid

Ronnie in round one but not Gary, he has been in impressively high

scoring form in qualifying and what of this will be for the player

ranked 59 in the world, no more time to think about it, it is time for

action. He has been hugely impressive in qualification, Gary

Wilson, eight centuries including a 147 maximum in his first match, and

the seniors world champion Peter Lynas, but the last match to qualify

was impressive, Michael White from Wales, 10-3, magnificent score to

get here. He is a good score and he will have to be today, it is a

baptism of fire at the Crucible against the Rocket, five times

champion of the world and when the big players, for the big tournaments

Ronnie O'Sullivan is one of those, winner of the Masters in January,

finalist in the UK, you could not ask for a tough opening match. Let's

get the players out there, the crowd is in full anticipation, it is all

yours. Thanks, John, good afternoon, ladies

and gentlemen, day one at the 2017 Betfred World Snooker Championship,

and as always the Crucible crowd in this very special 40th anniversary

year are in fine voice and ready for the drama to come.

Please welcome a player emerging for one of the biggest matches of his

career so far, superb run to the semis at the UK champion last season

but this is his first appearance here at the Crucible, all the way

from Leeds, it is Yorkshire's very own David Amazing

Graceful stop and his opponent, back after a great run to the quarters

here last year, winner of last year's Shanghai Masters, he made the

final of the Indian open at the start of the current campaign, now

established in the world's top 16, The Warrior Kyren Wilson.

And on table one, please welcome another player who has done it the

hard way through qualifying to make it here for the very first time, and

a magnificent 147 along the way at Ponds Forge, he will have massive

support from the north-east this afternoon, the Tyneside terror, Gary

Wilson. And finally, a player emerging for

his 25th Crucible campaign, here after a record-breaking seventh

victory at the Masters in January, five times a champion of the world,

blink and you'll miss in The Rocket Ronnie O'sullivan.

So, the Rocket approaches the launch pad up against Gary Wilson,

fantastic, the thing to local hero, the chosen track for Gary. I wonder

if he will be so today. Don't worry if you want to watch the Kyren

Wilson, David Grace match, it is live online via connected

televisions on BBC Two and the red button. For the moment we will be

watching this one. Good luck to both, and hello to Stephen Hendry

and Dennis Taylor. COMMENTATOR: Good afternoon everyone, and a warm

welcome to the Crucible Theatre. Ronnie gets the first frame underway

and a pretty good break off. And a fairly new player to your screens,

Gary Wilson. What an achievement to get here for the first time after

trying for seven years good player. Very interesting to see what former

Ronnie O'Sullivan brings to this World Championship. He has not been

at his best in the previous few months. He won the Masters but since

then he has not been too impressive. Will know if he can bring his A-game

here he will win, his best game is better than anyone else's. But that

is easier said than done. Yes, just gone a little bit awkward, the

opening frame, with the red up at the other end of the table.

This is the second time they have played. He has played Ronnie wants

and Ronnie Peter 5-3. So he took three frames off the Rocket. --

Ronnie Peterson 5-3. That gets the frame of back-up to normality, the

red coming back up this end of the table. It hasn't come up far enough.

That will be very difficult. He could take on the pot but in the

first frame he might just decide on the safety shot off that red. That's

what he's done. He has just knocked the black onto the side cushion so

that has made it a little awkward. He doesn't take many risks these

days, Ronnie O'Sullivan. He's not, perhaps, as aggressive as the likes

of a Judd Trump. He prefers to wait and get chances from his opponent's

mistakes. That is an excellent long pot. That will make him feel really

good. No matter who you are it's always nice to get your first long

pot in. His first pot at the Crucible and it was a cracker.

Just travelled a little bit too close to the blue and he needs to

get past agreement to take him self back up to the reds. And a lot of

our older viewers watching here, when they see Gary cueing up, it

will remind them of twice Pot Black Champion, Graham Miles who passed

away a couple of years ago. He holds the key similar to Graham, down the

sides of his chin. -- he holds the cue.

Make no mistake, Gary is a great player. Can he produce his best on

the big stage? That's the question. That last qualifying round John

Parrott mentioned against Michael White, very impressive result. Eight

centuries in three matches is pretty good scoring as well.

This is a tricky little shot. Hit it slowly to give it more chance of

going in. He played it at pace to go for the red into the same pocket.

That wasn't easy. Maybe would have been better just dropping in the

black for the red to the left corner.

I think he has left enough angle on the black to get out for the red

near the pink. It pops into the right corner. He will have a look at

the one at the back of the pack, because if it goes, he did have a

glance at it, but it would open a ball the reds if he does decide to

take this on. One shot here and you know what Ronnie is like, he likes

to get the ball is open as possible. That is unlucky, although I think

the pink may go into the middle but he's going away from the reds now. A

bit unlucky for that red to cover the pocket. The pack was a lovely

shape, as long as he struck it where he did he would be on the black but

for the red covering the right pocket.

You heard Ronnie talking about Steve Peters, that's the gentleman that

has helped Ronnie for quite a few years and he has certainly worked

wonders with him. He a sports psychiatrist. Not a psychologist. He

has worked with the England team, Liverpool football club he has a

great respect for Ronnie and vice versa.

He will go for the little one into the middle pocket to get nicely on

the black again. No problem. Handy, the plant is on. That's the

number he is looking for, 65. He is doing, Stephen, what you used

to do throughout the 90s, and what Steve Davis did in the 80s. Always

able to get off to a fast start. What was the mindset, is that what

you were after? We all want a fast start, but you two gentleman seemed

to do it all the time. Ron Lee just looks very comfortable out there,

very composed. -- Ronnie. The top players in the game, they step into

the groove so quickly. You hear a lot of players talking about nerves

in the first round and want to get the first round over. They don't

look comfortable. But the very top two or three in the game don't think

like that. It looks like he might have overrun this to the right

corner. Just a couple of inches too far. So

he's not going to clinch the frame with this visit.

Just a little bit too much pace on it. Such fine margins, this game.

The only bad thing is he's put two of the reds on the cushion. Already

one safe on the left cushion. If he wants to get a chance, it won't be

an easy one. Ronnie catching that safety shot far too fig. So that

excellent safety shot has provided an opportunity. -- far too thick. A

chance for Gary Wilson to get right back into this first frame.

He's got an angle he can can become to the black. I think it is worth

the risk. He may choose to play the red nearest the corner first. I am

surprised he played that way. And he's ended up in a bit of no man's

land. Well, either red is very, very tough

indeed if he's going to take the pot on. He has two fully commit. This to

give him a possible chance. If it doesn't go in, the frame is gone.

Well played. Very good. I am not sure if you can get an

angle on the pink to get onto the red. As we show you this delicate

slip along the cushion. He has still got the guns and Mac near the left

corner, but I don't think has the angle to move to the one on the side

cushion. He might have. -- he has still got the red near the left

corner. Didn't have the angle to move it, that's why he just dropped

it in. A little bit tempted by the double,

looks like it. If you missed it, you have no idea where the red is going

to go. In the end, he was so far away from the double. He certainly

hasn't left an easy opportunity. This is interesting, I don't think

Ronnie wants to take this safety -- take this on.

He might only be able to tie, but as you say, Stephen, he seemed to be

looking at the safety shot. That maybe tells me, he's got some sort

of game plan not to risk too many, which is unlike Ronnie. I must

admit, I'm shocked he hasn't already taken this red on.

He struck it well. He couldn't have got much closer, but maybe he's just

not feeling that confident. He was looking for an alternative

shop, but didn't see one. He forced himself into taking it on.

That red seemed to fly off the top vision. In fact, it's gone past the

middle pocket, but it seemed to come off the cushion very quick indeed,

Stephen. Divinity. When Ronnie went out opposition, that was the reason

as well. He was shocked he got a big bounce. -- definitely. When Ronnie

went out of position. He will want a thin snick here. He

doesn't want to develop both these reds.

There's that style I was telling you about, cue right down the side of

his chin, as you can see. Didn't play it to get the white back

in the baulk area, he wanted to make sure that he didn't push a red

towards a pocket. Money can get the advantage here and quite easily

swing this around. Ronnie can get the advantage. That has left Gary in

a of bother. This is a test of the cue action,

long pot. These type of shots are what you call confidence boosters.

It tells you how well you are cueing. That's the distance he has,

6'8", cue ball to object ball. No, cueing across it slightly.

You could see the backhand there moves slightly.

What's he done here? He needs the pink to come to his rescue and it

might just. Just the black needed, so he can

just concentrate and drop the black in.

Just one snooker needed. He could chip this in past the brown. Yeah,

it could. Not quite, but look at the cue ball. He can and the black. That

means but Gary could take this on, but he'd have to get up for a high

value colour. If he had of taken the pot on, he

could put pink or black to have one snooker.

He could do with that black off the cushion a little bit. It is totally

out of commission. Well, he tried to develop a black

and pushed it right over the pocket. He's got a good cue ball, but I

think he's going to find the gap, is he?

If he could get a chance, he would pot the red and the black, and he

would still only need one snooker. But that's far too Finn from this

position. -- to not a bad effort. He is able to bend

it around the brown. You have the perfect picture to see the little

swerve shot. Always nice to see a swerve shot

executed. Seeing Ronnie's swerve their, it is

a lovely shot to watch. -- seeing Ronnie's swerve there. We can show

you how it is executed, striking down lest I come you can see the

ball bounce and start to turn to the left. -- striking down left side.

Now then, Pogba red, pop black, he's far from out of this first frame. --

pot the red, pot the black. And the balls are now nicely placed

for that snooker that he needs. Yeah, if he can pot black and then

pot the you, leave the cue ball behind the blue.

Yeah, that's what he's looking at Stephen. And I think he can still

get to that position that you suggested. He has got to avoid the

pink and get back up into the correct position to play your shot.

From here, it comes if it misses the brown. A bit too heavy. But he can

still play that shot and still get in behind the blue.

It's one of those, if you can get it tight in behind the blue, it is

very, very difficult to get away from. If he tries to get the cue

ball in tied behind the blue, the Green could come off the cushion and

double-kiss. He just decelerated a little bit.

It's a snooker, but he didn't get enough side to just come off the

cushion and clip the green. A little but harder there and it would have

been difficult for Ronnie. He doesn't like the swerve, by the

looks of it. He is coming off one or two cushions, possibly three, in

between the pink and black to hit the green.

The only problem here, if he rolls tight in behind the blue, he's going

to be putting the green right over the corner pocket. But Arles told

you what, that might not be a bad thing. -- but I will tell you what.

It's a pretty straightforward one. Off the top cushion, if he hits the

cushion where the G is, he will go back and hit the green.

He hit the capital L instead, but that will do. That was an 'ell of a

shot. Can he slot this in behind the black

off two or three cushions? He's going to have to do it with the

pink. Didn't quite judge that. That was a decent chance there to get a

smooth. One good pot on the brown, and the friend, a friend that looks

like it would be over 10-15 minutes ago, and Ronnie was in, and just

overran the positions likely. -- overran the position slightly.

Looked as if he didn't even take a pot on there.

He's certainly making Ronnie work for this first frame, Dennis. Not a

bad thing. First time at the Crucible Theatre, he's certainly

playing himself in here, and getting used to the conditions.

I know they are used to playing on multiple tables now, but there is

nowhere like the Crucible. Look how tight it is and how close the crowd

are to the tables. And what great news that was, to hear that it's

going to be at the Crucible for another ten years. The cheer that

went up last night when Barry Hearn announced that, it was tremendous.

Almost got it tight to the black. This is not easy off the right side

cushion. Just one cushion, this is very difficult to judge.

A tap on the table from Gary to acknowledge that. Yeah, it's a

problem when playing the top players. One snooker, you probably

need to lay about six or seven just to get that one foul.

Ronnie's good friend, Damien Hirst in the audience.

And what Gary's doing here when attempting the snooker is, he is

making sure he keeps the object ball safe -- attempting the snookers. He

will probably roll this into the pocket after saying that.

Ronnie just attempting to put the black out of commission, and didn't

quite manage it. This might turn out to be the longest frame of the

match, this opening frame. Just over 35 minutes.

As I say, it looked like it was going to be over in a matter of 11

or 12 minutes. Can he knock this long round in? --

long brown in. Can he get the snooker behind the

pink? Lucky boy. Can he hit this, and can he not it's

safe? He's hit the blue. Bit of a schoolboy error there. The fact he's

hit the blue, he's now 29 behind. Just lost a little bit of rhythm at

the moment, Ronnie, because of all the tactical play here.

Could screw off the cushion and back over the black. Not

I don't think it will go in the middle pocket. Well, it might do.

No, played the snooker. How many cushions is he going to

have to let? One, two, three, maybe four four. That's the end of the

opening frame. Gary turned to the referee and said, that's enough. He

looked like he was going to clinch, ran out of position, but has taken

the first frame. HAZEL IRVINE: In the end, a

competitive frame. Positive from Gary Wilson, he looks like a

positive young man. An interesting first frame in many ways. Perhaps

significantly, the value of being able to win a frame in one visit and

kill your opponent off so that he doesn't come back to the table to

get those snookers. The difference usually with the top players, but

you can't always guarantee it. Ronnie O'Sullivan would have loved

to have got off to a quick start. But he had to work for it

afterwards. Gary Wilson, I think, is decent among the balls tactically as

well. So it should be interesting. He is a heavy scorer, runner-up to

Mark Selby in the China open, getting to the final a couple of

years ago. He has beaten some good names in the past. He knows his game

stands up, but the thing today will be scoring. He will be tested on

that today. I was looking at him, some people when they have done a

piece to camera before, some looked like rabbits in headlights, he

didn't. He looked up for it and looked forward to going out. Also an

interesting story. I don't know the ins and outs of it, but was a pro,

dropped off out of the game, gave it up to some degree, then started taxi

driving, followed another path. But somewhere down the line, decided to

give it another go. You know what it is like to be retired, you don't

think too much about that, give it your second goal and you asked on

for -- you are stronger for it. He need to win qualifying matches to

remain on tour. He is currently ranked 59, but he sailed through.

Eight centuries in three matches. He can clearly play, and he has clearly

played himself into good form. He can clearly play under pressure as

well. If he needed that to keep his card, credit to him. If you have

dropped off or retired, and you come back, it is not so much of a fear

factor looking over your shoulder, thinking you might drop off, so you

perhaps don't worry so much about that. He has ensured himself another

season and is certainly in a positive impression in this match.

Crucible debut, back we go, frame two.

COMMENTATOR: Not a bad break off but the only problem is the rednecks to

the black which has tied up the black. That shot hasn't really freed

up the black completely but it was a good return safety shot from Ronnie.

That's certainly freed the black up now, other end of the table in the

open. He might even be able to take the

pot on, there is a path down the table back to this red. Nice flick.

Has he covered the ones to the right corner? May be the middle one. The

straight one will pot but it's not very exciting. The other one is a

bit tight. This needs good cueing. That wasn't easy, and he knew there

was every chance he was going to put Ronnie in and look at the way the

reds have split up. In a few shots time it could be a very good chance.

He did not really fancy taking that on but decided to give it a go.

Looking at the table I can tell you one thing, this frame would be as

long as the opening frame. He just needs to work around the

blue, the pink is not possible so he needs to get the black back on its

spot. Clever shot. The red to the left middle automatically takes him

onto the black. Very clever positional shot there.

Looking at his body language, is he on the black? He is dead straight.

As long as he cues this right he will have to try and avoid the end

off with the screw shot. Just the wrong side of the blue

line. He's having to work a little bit harder for these. He has not

been in prime position just yet. But as long as you keep potting them

it doesn't matter which colour you take.

You see, he has had five reds and a couple of Yellows and three blues.

This has been an excellent break. He has had to work really hard, as you

said, the pink has not been available and the white was at the

baulk end. I'd be shocked if he didn't win this frame this visit.

Gary Wilson knows what's going to happen most of the time when he

misses long pots most of the time and leaves the cue ball down this

end of the table. You heard an audible groan there

from that shot. Still needs a colour. That might be end of break.

50 ahead, 59 on, so black safe. REFEREE: Ronnie O'Sullivan, 58.

Didn't quite clinch the frame before and he's done exactly the same

again. With 58 he is almost there but just enough for Gary Wilson. As

Stephen mentioned with the black save the old sigh heavily in

Ronnie's favour of taking this second frame.

99 times out of a hundred, on that score you would win the frame but it

is just the frustration now it could last another 20 minutes.

It is almost worth leaving a pot because he needs four blacks.

He is just thinking about risking playing the cannon to bring the

black interplay. It's a good idea as long as you keep everything else

safe. -- into play. That has turned out very nice indeed. That is a

pretty good shot bringing the black into play.

Advantage Ronnie O'Sullivan with that very good shot. Might just be

able to get past the yellow. It's very tight. He's having a good long

hard look at it. He has got to be careful if he plays

off the red that is tight on the cushion. That's why he's thinking.

He knows if he hits that thick he could open the frame up so he needs

a thin contact on this. He played it well. And what a little flick that

is. I don't think it is a snooker, though.

There was no easy safety shot on and Ronnie thought I will have a go at

the long one. He pushed the cue through in a perfectly straight line

there. He has missed two or three long pots by longwave but that was

the most difficult and he cued it so well. -- by a long way.

Gary just looked at the referee and said, "That's enough", and concedes

the frame. Steady start from the Rocket winning Beatty opening

frames. Breaks of 57 and 58 for Ronnie

O'Sullivan, they make him third favourite this year -- both opening

frames. He's in the same half as the world number one and one of the

greatest players to play the game, Mark Selby. If he was in Judd

Trump's position at the bottom of the draw he would probably be

favourite for the event but he has to get through a few tests before he

comes to that, but the bookies think he has more to do in the top half.

He's had an interesting season, won the Masters for the second

consecutive time, lost the other three finals in which he has

performed, not the easiest of run-ins to the Crucible but does any

of that matter where running O'Sullivan is concerned at the

Crucible? I don't think it does. Remembering the fact he led off a

whole season and came to the world and won, and the fact he seems to be

able to, more than any other player, peak when he wants to peak, you have

a player that if he decides to give it his best shot he will do. Using

Steve Peters is there in round one, I would not say that is necessarily

a panicked phone call, he's just professionally going about his job.

He tweeted earlier in the week, good training run, but of boxing and gym

work. Feeling great physically. The major championships are the ones he

wants to Ben Gummer those are the ones you are remembered by so the

World Championships now has become even more important. -- the major

championships are the ones he wants to win. He's in the final of the UK,

won the Masters, the World Championships, he still wants

another one of these. A couple of shots in the first frame he turned

down chances to pot the red to contain the situation. That somebody

not trying to win pretty, he just knows he is here for a job, trying

to win the best way possible and not give his opponent away back in by

missing a careless red and giving his opponent and easy snooker.

Clever tactical play as well. Back we go. Ronnie O'Sullivan, winner of

17 major titles, one shy of a certain Stephen Hendry.

COMMENTATOR: no point putting it back here really. In fact, he is. He

got down to play the shot and then decided it looks a bit awkward. He's

just hoping that Gary can misjudge the escape. It's not

straightforward. Much of the pack to nestle into. Coming off the two

cushion is. It's the pink this time, it's the reds. Well judged. I say

well judged, as we show you it again, it was going to hit the pink

and then glanced off the reds. He could see enough of the red to pot

it. It was a good decision that Ronnie took to let him back in.

Four reds are loose but they are not easy, covering each other into both

corner pockets so this is not straightforward. I wonder if he will

go into the bunch off two cushion is. That was close to being sublime

positional shot. I thought he was going off two cushion is into the

left-hand side of the bunch. If he doesn't clip this red he would be

absolutely perfect on this red. He still should get it.

When he plays for the next red after this one he wants to finish low on

the red, just that little gap in the bunch so he can screw off that, pot

the red and open the bunch at the same time. That is perfect, he

couldn't have placed that with his hand any better, screw off the bunch

for the black into the same pocket he just came off the bunch a bit

quicker than I think he expected there. He got a lot of action on the

cue ball. He has gone a bit further than he

wanted, he cannot go into the bunch. He had to play for the one over the

middle pocket. Key shot coming up here. He needs an

angle. He doesn't want to be straight on the black otherwise it

is the end of the break. I think he has finished pretty strict. There

might be won at the end of the bunch that he could play for. One to the

left of the group of reds. This time, stun. He could try and

cannon that one. He had it absolutely perfectly but very

unlucky not to be on one. I think he just wanted to hit the right-hand

side read without the first one. -- hit the right hand side red without

the first one. Just awkward cueing. It's following the same pattern as

the two opening frames. A very good break of 58, not enough to secure

the frame. The shake of the head tells you. Listen, if you keep on

winning the frames. That's two breaks of 58 and one of 57 and all

three looked like he could go on to take it in one visit. It doesn't

matter how many visits, as long as you win them. And really we have not

seen Gary, he has not had a chance in amongst the balls, it has all

been tactical play he has had to play. He hasn't really had a chance

in amongst the balls. He has only potted 13 balls and bits and pieces.

Yes, it is starting to follow a similar pattern to the match ICAO

commentated on this morning, Mark Selby up against Fergal O'Brien in a

similar situation. Gary Wilson needs to get a frame on the board very

quickly. He was a strong outsider at the start to win this match but

unless he does something this match is going to slip away very quickly

in this first session. He has one more frame before the

mid-session interval and he could do with taking that, Gary. But as I

mentioned he just hasn't had a chance in amongst the balls.

You just cannot see him winning. Top players don't make that many

mistakes as we saw in the match this morning. You are not going to get

gifted any chances, not very often anyway.

It doesn't matter about the pink. 58 followed by 63, and Ronnie

O'Sullivan now leads Gary Wilson 3-0.

Put in perfect time for the fourth frame, a frame that Gary could do

with -- back in perfect time. 94%, that's terrific. Gary at 76%.

As I mentioned before the end of the last round, he hasn't had much of a

chance in amongst the balls as of yet. Now, this might be a chance.

Where is that red going to finish up? Doesn't pass brown, so it's not

an chance. I don't think it passes the brown.

He is again having a look at it, but I think it's far too tight. Only

half a pocket. You can see the black tied up only

in this fourth frame. It's not tied up now. Ronnie taking a chance to

bring it into play. He needs the cue to pull up. It has. He has got to be

careful here, Gary, the red is near the cushion. If he plays back down

the table, to the reds, he had to make sure he doesn't cannon into

that one. That is why he is taking this one. But that isn't

straightforward either. Well, he did have a look at the

possible plant. He's playing a safety shot, but he double checked

to see if he could make it into a plant.

It wasn't far away. As you can see, concentrating on the cue ball. If

the plant had gone in, he would have rolled up tight behind the yellow.

I think that one confused Ronnie. In fact, he almost hit back. He got

close to the black coming off two cushions and hitting a red. It is

worth giving four points away, rather than hitting fit. He is

nowhere near them. He needs a little bit more side on

the cue ball to create the angle. Third time lucky in...

APPLAUSE It was worth giving the eight points

away. To make sure he got it right. Very rarely, if ever, does Ronnie

O'Sullivan play a safety shot, plain ball. Always putting some sort of

side on the cue ball to develop the angles.

Such a good target in behind the brown and the yellow.

Ronnie anxiously looking there to see, well, everybody's having a look

now. He's taking the pot on by the looks

of things. Oh, how's your luck, Gary? Maybe not

too bad. Cutting into the right corner. Once he missed that pot, he

could quite easily have put money in amongst them as we show you the

attempt again. It was very difficult. Still, Gary can't get a

chance in amongst the balls with an easy starter. -- putting Ronnie in

amongst them. What's the word I'm looking for,

that was a little bit wild from Ronnie. He is not happy with that, I

can tell you. This is Gary's first proper chance,

believe it or not. The pink's awkward, the black's not too badly

placed. It's not an easy opening. The amazing thing is he was driving

a taxi around not long ago. Here he is, at the Crucible, playing Ronnie

O'Sullivan. The red to the right middle, he

could actually play for the black. He's not entertaining that, at the

sooner he gets the black on its spot, it becomes a good opportunity

to win the frame. He's playing the easier shot.

He's not playing it that well. Wanted it a bit straighter on this

blue. If he plays the same shot now, he

will play for the black to the left corner. He had a decent shot on the

blue there. Yeah, well played. APPLAUSE

Straight enough so that he can screw back and play the red and the blue

to the same bug. He has got a bit of an angle. Putting the black back on

its spot, this is a good chance to win the fourth frame.

Very important visit to the table, this, from Gary Wilson, in this

match. You can see the side bar, 70 points

required to put the frame beyond his opponent.

As I've already said, eight centuries in the three qualifying

rounds he played to get here. This is going to be one of his strengths,

scoring. He should feel confident. Gary... As soon as I said that, that

was a poor shot. He will be very disappointed. What an opportunity.

Yeah, just a bit of a nervy one there. Normally, he would never miss

that type of pot. But at 3-0 down, mid-session interval coming up in...

It was a thin one, but he still should have, that's what he thinks

about that. Giving the table a good, old wrap.

I think he forgot about the pot there, Ronnie, he was thinking about

which way he should get onto the black. And in the end, he forgot to

pot the red. He is very disappointed, Ronnie. He

was frustrated about the previous shot as well. Giving the table a

good wrap. Quite unusual to show that much frustration when you are

3-0 up. What a time to get a kick.

Definitely a heavy contact, he is still on the black, but he was in

the perfect position. You can see that red jump there. He has now got

to use one of the other reds as a stopper here.

Safely in. Not that many pots away from winning a frame that he badly

needed. Well, all of a sudden, Gary Wilson

will be heading to the mid-session interval and, really, he won't be

that disappointed. He never really got a chance in the three opening

frames, opening breaks of 57 and 58, 58, 63. But he looked a little

frustrated there when he gave the table a good, old wrap.

And we always say, you never, ever settle until you get your first

frame on the board. While, Gary has certainly done that. And it is going

to make it an interesting second session. This match will be played

to a conclusion tomorrow afternoon. I think he got another kick there,

but it doesn't matter. Ronnie says that's enough. Showing a little bit

of frustration there. Gary will be pleasantly happy going to the

mid-session interval. Although he still trails 3-1.

HAZEL IRVINE: A confidence boosting break of 54 from Gary Neville stop

there was a touch of frustration from Ronnie. Again, the competitive

juices appeared to be flowing. Getting a future answers and he

wants to get the match over as quickly as possible. He let a couple

of chances go. Everyone misses balls from time to time. He is in front,

so there is nothing wrong with the scoreline. We have had actually 5/2

centuries in this matter. Good quality what we have seen so far.

That's right. Looking at Ronnie's smack of the table, the frustration

of knowing you have got your opponent on the ropes and you have

let them, that is not a happy thing to do. You know that games can on

things like that. He knows a chance went begging. These first round

matches are best of 19, and they will play line frames in the opening

session with the second session to come. But on the other side of the

curtain today, Kyren Wilson, who was a debutant here last year, making it

all the way to the quarterfinals. In fact, he had a very, very good show

here, beating Joe Perry and Mark Allen before going out to the

eventual champion Mark Selby in the quarterfinal. And he couldn't wait

to get back here, he had a run to the semifinals of the China open,

good form coming in. Not sure of his chosen method of arriving, the

transport situation in Sheffield is very dodgy.

Hello, Steve, you all right? Not bad, how are you. I'm all right,

thank you. Put your seat belt on. It's very important. Safety play,

it's underrated. You spent time with Peter Ebdon in practice? Yeah. Well

done. How long does a session take? Talk us through it. Peter, did he

make a break in 12 minutes and five seconds with you? I don't know about

that. He plays well in practice. He's given me a fewer hiding is. Has

he got a ponytail in a glass case was that when I first played him, he

came on the scene with the big ponytail. He looks like My Little

Pony, looking like it had been taken off a horse. What I remembered was

his breakneck speed. The ponytail evaporated, but we wondered whether

it is in a glass jar. It is like Samson with the hair. It could be

the same scenario with Peter, maybe he has two grown about the ponytail

and he could have another world title. How is it going for you? Have

you swerved it? I can't quite go down that route. I love my steak too

much. Chicken fan as well. The chickens don't like that. No, yes.

Robertson on it now, Anthony McGill. As well? He was even looking at long

leather shoes and tips. Peter is using an avocado tip. A non-leather

tip? So he says to me. Non-leather tips, do they exist? Peter found

one, and organic avocado. Fantastic. He has lost cube power. Doesn't take

the chalk to well PB you power. Roll your sleeves up. Let's have a look.

The tattooed. How much is there, is it a sleeve? Right the way up. Let's

have a look. See if I can get this shirt open. You have got the man

walking down the street. I have got a big saying, don't wait for the

storm to pass, learn to dance in the rain. Profound. It is a family

motto. One of my family members staffers with MS, unfortunately.

Don't wait for the storm to pass, learn to dance in the rain, it means

to just get on with your problems and live life to the full. Yeah,

yeah. I've been thinking about going down

the Peter Wright route, darts player. Fancy trousers, fancy shirt,

Mohican, snake on the side. It would be difficult to get a warrior on the

side. You could become a figure of fun, rather than serious play. If

you keep winning, that's OK. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Get a deal for some

clothes, you never know. If you had one superpower, what would it be?

What would it be? That is a tough one. They are all good, obviously.

You know what I would have, I would like to fly. The amount of time we

have, you could have your dinner and fly to China. I think very, very

close after, or even ahead of flying, for me, would be

invisibility. Right. You could be a fly on the wall. It would be quite

good to be invisible. Yeah, yeah. You could have fun. You could nudge

someone's cue. On Dennis! On the black ball, you could have nudged

him. I think he did it to me. That's got to be the most surreal of

the series so far from an avocado tip to invisibility. Warrior's

opponent is David Grace, the Yorkshire men that had a stunning

run to the UK Championship semifinals. He is six this fella.

Last night, David was in the audience for the gala celebration,

and he tweeted that he was in snooker heaven watching it all. Now

we get to see him pay. David ahead in friend one, but Kyren Wilson

trailing by 46 point the opener which we will see first.

COMMENTATOR: The light fantastic pop from Kyren Wilson.

Very, very good. Nicely on the black, too.

The red above the pink will put into the left middle after he pots this

red and black in. The guns and the bunch of three par putt to the left

centre, too. He would love to have an angle on

putting this one. He could nudge the reds close together into pot able

positions, too. Going for the red above the pink

this time, so maybe getting on a colour after putting this red.

It's important, if you can, getting on this next red, he has a nice

angle to bring the other two reds into play.

He hasn't found that angle. But he will leave the cue ball high on the

back here, a nice angle on the black to try to disturb them. Potting this

red, nice angle on the black. A good cannon would bring the two reds into

play. It would be a great chance to steal this frame.

That's OK. Could have been a little bit better. Pot into the right

centre and into the top right-hand pocket. This is a big shot.

Excellent pot. What about the pace on the cue ball? Even if he drops

the black in dead weight he might end up perfect on the next red. I

wonder if you could play a little cannon on the pink to slow the cue

down. He played the cannon on the red instead to slow the cue ball

down and he has played that beautifully. He is right back into

the frame now, trails by 11 points. If he is on the brown in four shots

time and then onto the blue there is no problem. This would be a bit of

it body blow for David Grace because he had a chance of attempting to pot

the brown in the little pocket and rolled up to be yellow and I said

that was the shock that could end up costing him the frame. We will see

what happens here because we may be able to show that choice of shot. It

is all about brown to blue here, isn't it?

I didn't see that one coming. There was a deceleration on the backswing

trying to miss the brown. That is the end of the break now.

He has had a bit of good fortune. The fact there is nowhere to cue

over the ball it is tough to get safe. Can't put pressure on Kyren

Wilson's next visit to the table. Just about as good as he could have

done from there. What a result that is. It was always

dangerous playing the brown up into the area of the pink and black but

he decided he could get away with it. Seven points in front. This is

not an easy safety shot. Usually a fluke is a good thing but I'm not

sure it has done him any favours because there is no way Kyren Wilson

would have been able to get onto the blue from the brown, would have been

able to get right over the pocket. I can't see a safety shot here, can

you? It certainly is very tough, the black is in the way as well. Trying

to knock the blue around the ankles and try and just missed the black

and leave it up here somewhere. He could do it. It needs to go, though,

the blue needs to travel, otherwise he has left it. It was one of those

occasions where the fluke didn't do him any favours. If you just had to

pop the blue you would save no problem but he has to negotiate

position for the pink -- if you just had to pot the blue. Coming off

three cautions. This looks very, very good. What they shot this is,

excellent shot, well played. He couldn't have hit that much better.

If ever you could say a positional shot was played to the inch, that

was it. Excellent. So, after that fabulous blue, this

straightforward black for the opening frame for Kyren Wilson and

in it goes. Excellent from blue to black. Kyren Wilson wins the first

friend, and leads 1-0. In fact he has just gone 3-1 up at the

mid-session interval, that's the situation in there. How much do you

like watching Kyren Wilson? We saw last year with the way he attacks

the game and approaches the game, he is very positive and seems to have a

lot of confidence around the table. That probably comes from practising

and proven to himself he is good but the shot he played on the blue it

wasn't that hard to pot if you don't have to play the position. What a

beautiful positional shot. Grace is like a kid in a sweet shop. I had to

apologise to him because I didn't recognise him at the do, he's lost

five and a half stone and it has made him taller. I didn't recognise

him, I said sorry, we didn't realise it was you. I saw him when he was

beaten by Liang Wenbo and he was five and a half stone heavier and I

didn't recognise him. He is a problem player. They have played

twice and David Grace is 2-0 ahead so this is somebody Kyren Wilson

must pay attention to. It is interesting when somebody loses a

lot of weight and they are used to playing with the cue and rubbing it

on their chest and all of a sudden their chest isn't there and it is a

different position for the cue. At the mid-session interval and it will

continue on BBC Two, we are nearly there. Golf has its legends to, it's

called the champions tour, for players over 50 and snooker has its

legends tour as well, it's very popular amongst the fans and

extremely popular with the players of old.

When I created snooker legends I wanted to create an event that I

would like to go and see as a snooker fan. When I was looking at

creating my idea I was looking at creating a tournament I would love

to play in as a player. I never thought I would play snooker again.

When I retired and put the cue away I did the odd exhibition but didn't

really play for ten years. For the senior players, retired legends,

they have been forgotten a little bit and all desperate to put on that

Dickie bow tie and go out and compete in front of a crowd. I woke

up this morning and I've got match date nerves, unbelievable. At

breakfast this morning with Cliff and Dennis and it was quieter than

normal and Cliff said, its game day. We know what that means. It is a

strange thing to get your cue out and play and all of the butterflies

come back. We were pretty serious about it when we got to the table,

you only have to watch people practising to see how serious they

were taking it. It's going to be interesting to see how it goes. I

tell you what, when you get out into that arena and a sort of match

situation when you haven't done it for a long time it's scary. You can

do it in practice and in the exhibitions but when you are back on

the match table it's tough, but it's a lot of fun. I've got to say, Joe

Johnson, in his first match, gave the whole event a validity and

credibility by beating Patrick Wallace. I think he proved that we

can have some real snooker and it does mean something. For the first

time in, he said 30 years, he walked out of a theatre and felt a foot

taller and people were coming up to him and wanted photos and wanted to

shake his hand and wanted an autograph and to say well done.

These guys just don't want to be forgotten.

It's what we've been saying all along, that something like this is

needed, not just on an entertainment basis, but even opening doors for

snooker around the world and playing some of the legends who still want

to play and entertain, and also play a bit of match play in with that as

well. It was great of our association to give the winner of

the legends a wild card with the chance to get to the Crucible

Theatre. They would have to go through the qualifying rounds but

the chance is there for some of the top amateurs playing in the world

seniors, the chance is also there for someone like the seven times

former world champion Stephen Hendry. It would almost be like my

first time again when I was like 18 or whatever, my first time I played

Willie Thorne, it would be almost like that again because I've been

away from the game for four years. Walking through the stage door and

going into the practice room with a cue in my hand and not a microphone.

When they asked me to play in this tournament about two months ago I

said I could play but I've got it gets sunglasses, I've had five pairs

of glasses, slab on, slab of, prism in and prison out and contact lenses

and unfortunately not have them work. The draw when I could possibly

play Willie Thorne in the first round who I played my first match at

the Crucible with, that would have been fantastic but unfortunately

Willie Thorne lost so I have to play somebody who I've no idea who he is.

There were a lot of people over the years, I've seen faces I haven't

seen for 20 years over the last few days and it's good, they are playing

again and enjoying it. I think it can only help and improve snooker.

We're hopefully at the start of a journey that moves into a seniors

tour. That would be the ultimate goal and if the association

continues to support and give places in tournaments, because no doubt the

guy who wins will play well. I have not played much because there has

not been much to play in but if we get the series of events through the

season we will keep playing and getting our cue out and enjoying it

but you can't keep practising when there is no end product. We have

enjoyed getting our cue out and rolling back the years. Time stops

for no man so in a few years, if I can be part of a vehicle that is

therefore Jimmy White, Ken Doherty, eventually Ronnie O'Sullivan, John