07/12/2013 UK Snooker Championship

Hello. We are at the semifinal stage of the UK Championships. We are

intrigued to see who will be playing in the final tomorrow. Will it be

Mark Selby? He has been embroiled in a scrappy match so far. He is up

against Ricky Warren -- Ricky Waldron. Mark is on a seven break of

49. Let's get back to the action. He is on all rates and blacks. Just

look at how they are placed. ?59,000 if a player cannot imagine them in.

-- can knock a maximum in. I am sitting next to a gentleman who has

done it on 11 occasions. That equals the record along with Ronnie O

Sullivan. He has a chance here. Absolutely. The only obvious problem

is the red on baulk but that is not too difficult. This is possibly what

Mark Selby needed, to really focus his mind. He has been breaking down

in not in the 50s and 60s in this match so far. -- breaking down a

lot. That is the frame is safe. He can concentrate 100% on the big

prize. The reds are in a nice position. You

would think the cue ball anywhere you would be in a good position to

get back on the black. He is just playing in that area all the time.

He has achieved a maximum break on one occasion in 2009 in China.

What a place to do it in the UK Championships semifinal!

If I were Mark I would be looking to play that read on baulk. If you do

not get on it properly, you have the insurance.

It would be interesting to see if he takes your advice.

You made a great call. He has done exactly as you predicted. A key shot

coming up. It is fair. It is there. If the

brown passes the blue, if he gets that far, it may not be a problem.

A good shot to make sure he was high on the red.

Absolutely perfect on the black. Even Ricky Walden would love to see

all these balls disappeared for that magical 147.

He is clearing the colours for 147. It still is very magical. When you

have been struggling a little bit with your game, this is something

very special we are watching. Smiles from Mark. He knows he has

come up a little bit short. Oh, dear! He has a slight problem.

That was a fabulous shot. dear! He has a slight problem.

side cushion or drop it in of one condition.

The old Jeff Death From The Crowd. -- Jester from Leicester

has a bit of fun with the crowd. Get in! He will have two roll it to

the middle pocket. He is not on the black. What a shot he will have two

take! Come on! Everyone is urging his on. Roll this black into the

middle pocket. -- urging him on. Get in! Well played, Mark Selby! That

was absolutely fantastic. The defending champion as everyone gets

to their feet. He has made the magical 147. What a special moment!

Absolutely brilliant that was fantastic. You have just

witnessed the one hundredth professional break in professional

snooker. I do not think I have ever seen anyone put a black into the

middle pocket for the 147. He has held himself together so well. It

has gone right in. There is one point when you think it is going top

knuckle and in it goes. As you said to me, we told you he was

struggling. Where did that come from? He has pulled it out of the

bag. He was totally focused. What about the brown? He missed the

middle pocket and it was perfect. The 99th was against Mark Selby. We

had another one from Neil Robertson in the qualifiers. He was watching

every ball. Like everyone now is, he was willing Mark to make the 147.

There we are! He was not sure whether we were going to get the

last couple. Pink to black as well. Neal was not clapping. He was

absolutely gutted if truth be known. ?50,000 in the bank account. It is a

nice moment for Mark. He has missed one on the black. You have missed

one on the black. It is a rotten feeling to get over. It might give

him inspiration that he might need. I do not know where it came from. He

picked that up from his shoelaces. Hats off! It is a great milestone.

With a big tournament as this, it is a marvellous milestone. You will not

forget it. In the overall shape and context of this match, clearly it

puts him in the driving seat. Now he needs to refocus. He has another

frame to play and a match to win. I do not blame him going out and

trying to compose and south again to win the last frame. That will be

difficult to do. Tell us about the spectators from Ricky 's point of

view. He will be pleased with the history value of it. How does it

affect the players? If he loses this frame, it'll be very hard to see him

coming back. If he wins it, he will still be in the match. Quite a few

people in the audience are very happy with the odds.

Congratulations! One more frame to play.

Obviously, Mark Selby is a BBC Two player. We were on BBC One all

afternoon and he struggled a little bit. Switch channels and he knocks

in a maximum break. Fantastic! I have never seen a player get an

ovation like part after coming back from a comfort break. The crowd was

still buzzing. Ricky has a job to do in the last frame.

Mark is an experienced campaigner. He will try to put that last frame

in the back of his mind. This shot into the middle pocket. That was

very special. Go on, my son! He is looking at the pink. Take the

black! Why not make back-to-back maximums?

That was a bit of a stretch to try to reach that. It was not easy.

If Ricky Walden can get out of this numeric 5-numeric three, he will be

feeling OK for this evening. -- 5-3. It is the first time in a long time

in this match that he has the chance to get points first in a frame.

It is awkward because the pinks are so far away from the bunch.

A bread at the back of the bunch will pot. -- red.

What a shot for Ricky Walden to take on.

He knocks a pressure pot like that in.

He underscrew that, he should be okayed but you want to keep it as

simple as possible. If he was further out into the table, stun the

blue in, a couple of reds. That is what can happen, the

previous shot where he didn't get nicely on the blue. You have to play

that cannon, he was a bit unlucky to push through the bunch but he

wouldn't have had to play the cannon had he been nicely on the blue.

He potted a difficult red into the middle pocket to get this break

going. This is even more difficult to the opposite middle pocket.

That is a golden chance that slipped away.

Those are the chances you have to take to have a chance of winning

these semifinals. A bit of difference between those

highest breaks. ?59,000. That will buy a few presents for Vicky this

Christmas. buy a few presents for Vicky this

Christmas. built up over the tournaments,

?5,000 for a built up over the tournaments,

Ricky will be disappointed with the will know

Ricky will be disappointed with the way he played but his long game has

been poor. As I said earlier, if you're potting long balls, you are

getting in to the frame first. That is what you talked about, the

long pot success rate. 36%. He has only potted four out of 11.

If you watched Ricky Walden practice and other matches, he knocks a high

percentage of the long pots in. A glimmer of hope for Ricky. A bit

of a stretch. He should be OK. It should have been easier.

You could see the cue in that loop bridge. The Canadians used to play

with that sort of bridge. Looking good now, 30 ahead. If he

takes the baulk colour would be red he only needs the red in the corner

pocket to secure this final frame of this session.

He will know exactly what TE needs and Ricky knows what Mark requires.

He requires the green and the red that is near the pocket but tight on

the cushion. He would like to get a bit closer to it but is he dead

straight on the green? He is. A slight angle.

If he tries to force it to get closer to the red he might miss the

green! He is going to the yellow. He can get closer to the red by taking

the yellow. Made at salute is certain of that.

-- made absolutely certain. You would think that makes absolutely

sure... It should be enough for Mark Selby,

you would feel. 36 the difference. That is one of the three snooker is

one of the three snookers he needs. -- snookers.

He could have taken the chance previously to pot yellow, green and

brown anti-would only need to macro snookers. -- two.

Ricky comes forward to shake Mark 's hand. A great afternoon 's work from

the Jester from Leicester. He has made a fabulous maximum break. Ricky

Walden has his chances but did not take them. That suddenly becomes a

very good advantage for Mark Selby. The match was pretty tense and

tight. It was error stream. Out of the blue, maximum entertainment!

Particularly on the colours, this was a fantastic shot. He missed the

middle pocket. You must always be careful of the middle pocket.

Anxious watching but he played it perfectly. He could have come down a

lot further than he did. He would have been disappointed to finish.

Which is the most difficult shot for him? The black into the middle

pocket. They are so difficult. You cannot see the pocket from his

angle. You need to try to drop it in. He gets the extension at with

this. He has got into the blue to match. He has gone into it a little

bit. He has had to mess about with getting the extension. When you see

him play the shot, he has a massive bridge. You have never seen anyone

laugh and joke with the crowd like him. The concentration and

estimation mark I thought he was going to lose his concentration. --

the concentration! It was a lovely moment. This shot was fraught with

danger. It never went anywhere else but the middle. Because it has the

cue extension, it is not like playing with the same weight of your

own cue. No doubt in my mind what would have crossed his mind. Just

this second of the black he missed. I am sure for a split second, he

probably thought, not again! He missed one in the China open earlier

this year. There he goes! That was for ?59,000. That was it fabulous

snooker shot. Magnificent excavation mark you have rarely seen one with

the black to the middle pocket. -- magnificent! The camera angle was

perfect. To get the black in, you always aiming to the far shore. It

fell in just perfectly. Having been scrappy at the start of the match,

it has been fantastic entertainment. We will be back with the remainder

of this semifinal. It remains to be seen if the Jester from Leicester

has the last laugh. That is what is important for him this evening. He

wants to go on and defend his title. Do join us again at 7pm. We are off

to get our breasts breath back.