Here is the report ...
Anyway, that’s about us. Thanks for your company and comments – enjoy the rest of the weekend.
But he could just as easily draw someone good in the first round and lose, because snooker is like that. Shaun Murphy, Stephen Maguire and Mark Allen all went out at that stage - I should know, because I backed them – so Wilson will need to keep his head on. I’m sure he will.
Kyren Wilson, for example. It’s very clear what he needs to improve – his cue-ball control – and we can be certain that he will. He’ll also be better for the experience of making it to the final – how to handle the long days and nights, how to practise, how to recover.
So where does Ronnie go from here? It’ll take a monumental effort to win the next one of these, but perhaps he can work on a cue-action for then. He’s a huge danger in shorter tournaments, but it’s been a while since he looked capable of making it through 17 days of this. He can sure that Judd Trump will be better next season, and probably some others too.
There’s a feeling you feel when Ronnie plays that’s entirely different to the feeling you get when anyone else plays – the most obvious comparators are Mike Tyson, Michael van Gerwen, Serena Williams, Shane Warne and Diego Maradona, people who draw in not just eyes but soul. They express themselves with everything they have – all the love, all the joy, all the fury, all the hurt – and there’s nothing like it.
Ronnie won his first world title in 2001, and to still be getting it did now is simply astonishing – even if we forget the off-table difficulties with which he’s wrestled. He is just everything: a brilliant potter and a wonderful tactician, with work ethic and competitive charisma. There’s never been anyone remotely like him, and there never will be.
Ronnie kisses the silver lady and gently raises the trophy! What an incredible example of our species he is.
Now he’s back to ... cue-action. He says that when you practice every day, it’s not because you like the sound of the ball hitting the back of the pocket, but because you’re trying to see if you hit it straight.
He then goes on to praise Kyren, who he says is “a country mile above everyone his age”, has “that fire” and knows he watches all the great players to improve. He’s sure he’ll win this one one day and says that, though many are saying this title makes him indisputably the best, he says he’s glad just to have one. He also says that Hendry has won his titles in fewer matches, and he’d prefer that CV, but notes that he’s got longevity on his side even if his mind does sometimes wander when he’s playing.
Ronnie says he never dreamed about titles, and as a kid he played for the fun of the game and still does. He’s not won the worlds since 2013, and part of him felt he’d never get there again because it’s an endurance test and he’s not really an endurance-style player because he doesn’t play enough – course he isn’t. But during lockdown he got a lot of good practice in, though he still didn’t expect to win.
Kyren is so impressive. He talks about how lucky he is, at 28 to have the career he has and the family he has – he’s got the kop to win all the big ones, and his game is close.
He says it could’ve been McGill playing the final and that he got a bit lucky. He’d have liked to play to a finish last night, but reminds us that it’s Ronnie’s night.
Kyren says it’s been a dream come true, but he’s 28 and in his first final, so won’t beat himself up too badly. He says he’s played the greatest ever and you can’t give him too much respect, else you get walked all over, as he has. he says the two most important people are here with him – his sons – and they’ll learn from what’s happened to him too, which is a lovely thought.
Updated
Ronnie O'Sullivan beats Kyren Wilson 18-8
It looks a kicking and, ultimately, it’s been a kicking. But Kyren had his chances, the last frame last evening and the second and third this afternoon, in particular. Ronnie, though, has romped home with eight frames in a row, as the ravages of the last few days and the genius of the genius were too much.
Updated
Ronnie pots the pink and it’s a toughie on the black, which he needs for the ton ... and he miscues! But what did he mean by that?
Ronnie O'Sullivan is champion of the world for the sixth time! We are privileged to be living in his era!
Just in shot as frame-ball goes down, Kyren applauds. He’s shown throughout this competition that he’s an absolute mensch, and hopefully his time will come. Can Ronnie turn a break of 78 into another ton?
Updated
O'Sullivan 17-8 Wilson (52-1)
This will be embarrassing for Wilson, who loves his snooker and treats the game and his talent with the respect they deserve. But part of him will want out of there a-sap, and we’re two more red colours away from that happening.
O'Sullivan 17-8 Wilson (29-1)
The man with no cue-action drains a long pot like it’s nothing, which it is – which it isn’t? – for him. The balls are spread nicely now, and after working his way down to the business end with red yellow red yellow – try saying that after a trough of Aventinus – he’s back in command of the frame. Roughly 48 hours ago, he trailed Mark Selby by two, with three to play.
Updated
O'Sullivan 17-8 Wilson (8-1)
Kyren’s up, sharp as you like, and rolls in a starter, but he can’t get position on a colour so calls brown and plays a fair safety off it. He’s left a tempter, but...
Updated
O'Sullivan 17-8 Wilson (8-1)
A safety exchange to get us underway, but then Wilson leaves the ball too far from the top cushion and with a red available. Ronnie sinks it, the pink goes to the middle and, to quote a synagogue caretaker of my acquaintance, “This might be curtains”. But Ronnie overcuts a simple black to the corner!
Updated
Frame 26, Kyren Wilson to break...
The boyz are baizing...
Earlier this afternoon, Alan McManus predicted 18-17 Wilson. He’s sitting pretty.
Tell you what the between-session VTs have been absolutely brilliant this term. The When I Won the Worlds feature has had my eyeballs a-sweating on a reg, and the at home with the Wilsons did too.
A mate has just pointed out that BBC for the next five hours is snooker and Today at the Test. Good luck, lads.
Play the music!
TUNE!
“I can’t agree with Falco being on your list though, tweets @SW16Shadow. “Rock Me Amadeus was good but he went downhill after that.”
I always wondered why Rangers never sung Amoruso to your Falco. This is mine...
“And there was me thinking it stood for The Greatest Player Ever To Play Under Air Conditioning,” tweets Matt Sutton, contributing a timely guffaw about the altered conditions. I wonder if that’s helped Ronnie here, too - with less screwback and such, perhaps cue-ball control is even more important than usual, and he’s by far the best at that.
“He’s up there with Achilles,” says Meredydd Barker. “And we lived in his time. And if people think that’s hyperbole then they should try playing snooker. It’s a horribly difficult sport to play well. Maybe he is past his bestest Rocket best. But as Braque said of Picasso as they both hit middle age – and to put this on a suitable level – ‘He used to be a great painter. Now he’s just a genius.’”
Yes, I agree - the snooker he played in 2004 is the best I’ve ever seen, by far, though Trump’s effort last term is the best I’ve ever seen in a final. It is incumbent upon us to savour him while we still can, and tonight is all about exactly that.
“What’s TGPETPUAC?” asks Tony Garvey. “The Greatest Player Ever To Pick Up A Cue?”
No, that’s just a coincidence. It’s actually ... ok, it’s the greatest player ever to pick up a cue.”
“You’re right about Wilson not having a positional game,” emails Mike Powell. “Lots of examples from this match. Ronnie’s level of play in this match may not have sufficed against Trump or Robertson at their typical level of play, but it’s clearly enough at against a spooked Wilson. It gives O’Sullivan’s comment about the weakness of lower-ranked players pith. In the world of chess, players ranked 50 through 100 don’t stand a chance against players 1 through 5.”
I should probably say that I can’t claim this observation – observers far more august than me have been pointing it out for a while. I’m not sure Wilson is spooked, though, more knackered, and not good enough at any one thing to give O’Sullivan pause. We’ve actually seen qualifiers do well this term, and I’m not in a position to say whether Ronnie was right, but I don’t think Kyren’s performance here is evidence to say that he was, because he was talking about those ranked lower than six in the world.
Updated
Ronnie O’Sullivan is not only the best snooker player ever, not only one of the best sportspeople ever, but one of the best anythings ever. He’s not just up there with Bubka, Bradman, Biles and Bolt, he’s up there with Eliot, Van Gogh, Falco and Pryor. There are some who’ll say he’s not better than Hendry – Hendry not among them, though he’d fancy himself to outlast Ronnie over a best of 35 – but frankly, their top levels aren’t even close.
But in any sport, it’s not usually the top level that decides who wins. It did in last term’s final because Judd Trump not only hit the heights, but sustained them in a performance that was staggering precisely because of how unusual that is. In the main, though, players and teams who win do so because their bottom level is exceptional, and that’s been the difference in this match.
Kyren was always unlikely to win from behind, and his horrible performance in the first session gave him almost no margin for error. Ronnie, on the other hand, did just enough when he had his wobble – Kyren allowed him to, too, because his top level also isn’t high enough – and here we are. Two big mistakes from Kyren this afternoon, and here we are. Sometime in the next few hours, perhaps in the next few minutes, TGPETPUAC will draw level with Steve Davis and Ray Reardon on six world titles, hopefully fortified for a shot at Stephen Hendry’s modern-era record of seven. Relax, recline, and enjoy, because this kind of thing does not happen often.
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Anyway, join me at seven in order to celebrate one of the most ludicrous geniuses ever to illuminate our planet.
Elsewhere in sport this afternoon …
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Well actually a fair bit. Kyren has been well off his best, and also missed key balls. That’s not how you beat TGPETPUAC in a world final.
End of session three: O'Sullivan 17-8 Wilson
What can you do?
Updated
O'Sullivan 17-8 Wilson
Oh dear. Kyren jaws a black and already needs a snooker when Ronnie saunters back to the table. Very soon, it’s another frame in the bag for Ronnie, giving him a 7-1 session victory, and he needs just one this evening to win his sixth world title!
Updated
O'Sullivan 16-8 Wilson (61-0)
Ronnie is so easy around the table now. He’s not been at his very best, but 90 percent of him is enough to account for almost everyone. but have a look! Ronnie misses a black off his spot, with 67 points left on the table! The comeback starts here. Ahem.
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O'Sullivan 16-8 Wilson (34-0)
I wonder if that the absence of crowd has worked in Ronnie’s favour this last fortnight – he still seems compelled by the aspects of the game which he loves, and those are surely elevated if there’s less accompanying hassle. Meanwhile, he’s back at the table and very close to eight up with nine to play.
Updated
O'Sullivan 16-8 Wilson (29-0)
Kyren takes on an opening red, misses it, and Ronnie is in again. I got the impression yesterday that he didn’t think Kyren could beat him – he could only beat himself – but to impose the pressure able to provoke that, Kyren needed to be close to perfect. Meanwhile, Ronnie is picking at loose reds before a run into the pack doesn’t work out, meaning end of break.
Updated
O'Sullivan 15-8 Wilson
I hate to say this, but Kyren will be feeling a little embarrassed now. On the one hand he shouldn’t, because look at what he’s done, but on the other he should, because look at what he’s got to do. One day, he’ll look upon this afternoon as the making of him, we hope.
O'Sullivan 15-8 Wilson
“He’s not been up to it,” says Hendry in commentary, and you can’t argue with that. I guess doing Trump as he did and doing McGill as he did might’ve left his tank empty, but this is a chastening lesson in how much work he still has to do. I’ll tell you what, though: he has the stomach for it. But when Ronnie clinches his sixth frame in a row, a telling moment: Kyren thinks it’s the end of the session and gets ready to depart. I’m so sorry, old mate, but you’ve got one more to endure yet.
Updated
O'Sullivan 15-8 Wilson (43-15)
“In the olden days, they used to play all the frames even after one player had won the match,” says Andrew Goudie. “Surely time to bring this rule back, seeing that ticket-holders for tonight might not get to see much snooker.”
Gosh imagine trying to encourage that. Imagine trying to encourage that in 1989!
Updated
O'Sullivan 15-8 Wilson (24-4)
Ronnie leaves Kyren a tester from baulk to middle ... he cues it beautifully. And that’s the shame of this match really – it keeps looking like he got the tools, except he hasn’t. He’s been brilliant with the rest all tournament – he is brilliant with the rest – but he misses the yellow into the yellow pocket, leaving the white exactly where he wanted it, and Ronnie is quickly rattling away.
O'Sullivan 15-8 Wilson (0-4)
Kyren sticks an opening red down the the rail and begins removing balls. He’ll learn a lot from this match, but has to settle for a run of just four.
O'Sullivan 15-8 Wilson
Kyren gets back in and plays the last red – though he needs it for free balls. It’s falling apart for him, but in an unusual way. He’s not playing terribly, but he’s making just enough mistakes to ruin things. He needs a positional coach, reckons Steve, and he doesn’t know how you improve that aspect at this stage of your career while competing. John references Mark Williams as someone who managed that, but for the now, if Ronnie wins the next two, he needs one from nine tonight.
O'Sullivan 14-8 Wilson (71-4)
Ronnie runs out of position, and Kyren returns with 57 left on the table. Good luck, old mate.
O'Sullivan 14-8 Wilson (66-4)
Ronnie is absolutely cruising. I said earlier that perhaps Kyren lacks an outstanding attribute, and that makes him Chrissie for Ronnie’s Jaws. Selby has the safety, Robertson has the potting, Higgins the tactical acumen, but being not quite as good as Ronnie at anything, though still a serious level, is not what it takes to beat him in a Crucible final. More or less, that was what Ding and Williams found out too, though at earlier stages.
O'Sullivan 14-8 Wilson (43-4)
Against Trump and McGill, the length on Kyren’s safety was excellent, but he can’t hit that groove here. Looking to go back to baulk, he jaws the white in the middle, and Ronnie promptly cracks in a red he refused so to do. The reds are spread, the black is open, and Kyren can hear John Williams.
O'Sullivan 14-8 Wilson
That was very nice from Ronnie, who manoeuvres the cue-ball around beautifully, as if to underline Kyren’s inadequacy in that aspect. This is over, I’m afraid – you can’t give Ronnie O’Sullivan the chances he’s being given.
O'Sullivan 13-8 Wilson (32-12)
Kyren leaves Ronnie one to the middle, and his hopes are fading fast. Apparently Ronnie arrived at 9am to practise, and it’s showing – he looks composed and in nick. Clearly Bezos came through with the cue-action – he must be on Prime.
O'Sullivan 13-8 Wilson (5-12)
Kyren misses a cannon – that’s unfortunate – so has no colour on, playing off the cushion for the brown and missing. Ronnie, though, misses a pink along the top rail – it re-covers the pocket – so Kyren has to play safe.
O'Sullivan 13-8 Wilson (0-9)
It’s been possible to play a red in off the aofrementioned pink since the start of this frame, but with nothing on subsequently, it’s left alone until Kyren has no better option. He sticks it in then goes back to baulk off the brown, then Ronnie leaves him one.This is chance he must take.
O'Sullivan 13-8 Wilson (0-7)
A gorgeous yellow brings Kyren into the pack but he’s unlucky with the spread and awkwardly bridges home a red, disappointed, then overhits another pink to middle ... but the table saves him. The pink covers the top left, leaving Ronnie on nowt.
Updated
O'Sullivan 13-8 Wilson (0-4)
Kyren must win this mini-session and his break-off leaves ronnie a tempter ... which he misses by plenty, leaving Kyren one ... and he bangs it home, “right in the heart of the pocket”. But there’s loads to do to manufacture a telling contribution...
Off we go again....
Some entertainment for in between times, featuring the great Stephen Hendry:
Mid-session interval: O'Sullivan 13-8 Wilson
Kyren has played well this afternoon, but has missed two huge pots that have cost him the 3-1 session he needed. I was hoping – we were all hoping – for a late-night life-enhancer, but that looks a forlorn one now. See you in 15 or so.
O'Sullivan 13-8 Wilson
Parrott notes that against Trump, Wilson won nine frames in one visit. He’s not played as well as that since, and trying to prepare for the snooker he plans to lay, he misses a black and Ronnie does the rest. Kyren is in a lot of trouble, because there’s no tactical situation – he needs to improve his cue-ball control and that isn’t happening over a mid-session.
Updated
O'Sullivan 12-8 Wilson (73-0)
Kyren only has himself to blame. He takes the last two frames and Ronnie is doubting himself; he runs out of position twice and Ronnie’s thinking about most of the evening off.He finishes his break with the lead at 73, and Kyren returns to the table to seek the pair of snookers he requires.
O'Sullivan 12-8 Wilson (37-0)
Kyren leaves Ronnie a tempter – an absolute impossibility for a man with “no cue-action” - and he rolls in a red close to the blue spot on the diagonal, with plenty of space between white, object and pocket. A colossal pink follows shortly afterwards, and the goat is beginning to bleat.
O'Sullivan 12-8 Wilson (16-0)
I guess if Kyren can come out of this session with the same deficit as last night, that’s not awful for him, and ultimately, he doesn’t quite look ready to win this. Mentally he’s there, but technically, he keeps making things hard for himself mid-break, and there are only so many chasing pots any player can sink. As Ronnie said post-Williams, his “cue-ball control is unbelievable” which means that when he’s in, he’s in. As he is now, a red to the centre setting him away again. But the he misses another to the same pocket – who saw that coming?! – and we’ll now enjoy a safety exchange.
O'Sullivan 12-8 Wilson
Kyren has a lorra lorra work to do. He had huge chances to win the last two frames, and he can’t keep handing them back to the best to ever do it. Ronnie looks decent today, much better than yesterday, and if he wins the next one, this is close to done.
O'Sullivan 11-8 Wilson (91-33)
The phrase “playing catch-up” by the way - what a contribution to European integration from Henry Kelly (of Golders Green’s Old Bull and Bush).
O'Sullivan 11-8 Wilson (49-33)
Here we go again. Kyren’s achilles cue-ball control leaves him playing a harder shot than necessary, you can’t keep playing catch-up, and he misses a red, setting Ronnie off again.
O'Sullivan 11-8 Wilson (48-11)
A safety exchange ensues, Kyren playing down the table and Ronnie up. But has Ronnie left one? Kyren pokes one of a crowd of tightly packed reds into the middle, gets on the pink, and he’s away! Will this be the steal he couldn’t manage last time?
O'Sullivan 11-8 Wilson (48-0)
Ronnie picks are the reds to corner and middle and after six of them, needs to go into the pack off the black. But he hits an outside lurker full-ball, not the one for which he was aiming, and has to return to baulk.
O'Sullivan 11-8 Wilson (24-0)
Ronnie leaves Kyren another long one, across the table from close to the yellow to the top left. No way he’s refusing this given how nicely he’s cueing and he strikes it lovely ... but clips the far knuckle and it wobbles out! That looked in, it really did, but Ronnie rolls an opener into the middle and quickly has three reds and blacks....
O'Sullivan 11-8 Wilson
Ronnie sorts the frame and nips out. That’ll sting for Kyren, because he had the chance to skank a frame in exactly the way he needs to to have a chance.
O'Sullivan 10-8 Wilson (64-15)
Kyren leaves himself bottom side of the blue, so has to get the white in and out of baulk to come down for the next red. He plays the shot well but it runs slightly too far, so it’ll take another good shot to redeem things ... and he glides a beauty into the middle. He’s cueing and potting really well this afternoon. But then he misses the pink into the middle, and that’ll be that.
O'Sullivan 10-8 Wilson (64-8)
There are six reds left when Kyren attempts another long red ... and he nails that one too! A kiss on the black then another red leave him in decent position, and this frame is now in his gift!
O'Sullivan 10-8 Wilson (64-0)
A poor safety from Kyren, who fouls, should allow Ronnie to clear up. But again he finds himself stuck to his object ball, this time the black, the Kyren is back at the table.
O'Sullivan 10-8 Wilson (59-0)
I may have spoken prematurely – there’s a cluster of reds beneath the pink, so Ronnie makes do with 50 and we’ll now have a safety exchange to see who wins the frame. Ronnie leaves Kyren a cross-double, he underhits it and almost gets it on the third bounce, so Ronnie taps it home. But he rolls into the reds post-brown, and has to go back to the bottom cushion.
Updated
O'Sullivan 10-8 Wilson (46-0)
Ronnie goes to baulk and winds up forced to take a long red into the top left. Despite his missing cue-action, he cues it beautifully, nice and slow to leave him on the red. Ordinarily he might’ve stunned that, but the shot wasn’t working for him last night so he dragged it instead and this is a now a chance.
O'Sullivan 10-8 Wilson (14-0)
Stephen Hendry is lowkey one of the best commentators and analysts in sport, a fountain of stuff he sees that we don’t. Nor does he go about being Stephen Hendry – and he could – but acclaims and criticises as deserved, revelling in the players’ successes. Between frames, he notes that Kyren needs to create his own chances with long pots – something he said Ding couldn’t do against Ronnie – then Ronnie flukes an opening red with the black available. Kyren grins ruefully as the compilation begins.
O'Sullivan 10-8 Wilson
Bada-bing! Kyre sinks frame-ball, there’s applause, cue John Parrott: “The knowledgeable Crucible crowd as even, good on their maths.” Kyren then runs out of position so plays safe following a run of 73, leaving Ronnie in need of two four-point snookers, but is quickly back at the table, sinking one more red before laying a snooker. It’s enough to keep Ronnie sat down. What a pot that opener was.
O'Sullivan 10-7 Wilson (0-68)
Here’s what I wonder about Wilson: is he outstanding in any one area? He’s good at almost everything and perhaps that’ll be enough because not many are, especially once the class of 92 have disappeared, there are titles to be won. Perhaps he can become nails at matchplay.
O'Sullivan 10-7 Wilson (0-28)
Kyren quickly errs and has to change his choice of red – it’s complicated out there – but he recovers well and eases around the table compiling.
O'Sullivan 10-7 Wilson (0-6)
Ronnie sticks Kyren tight on the baulk cushion, leaving him no option but to attempt a long red into the top left ... AND IT’S THERE! That’s a great starter, and the way the reds are spread, this is a really good chance. A blue and a red follow.
Updated
Right then, here we go. Kyren to break!
One of these days Kyren is going to hear his walk-on music, turn on his heel, and say you know what, sod this, I’m off to the kluhrb.
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Let’s get the boyz on the baize!
What a boon it is to have a crowd in. Despite being the greatest television show of all-time, sport is not a television show, but an all-body immersive, interactive experience, and the Knowledgeable Crucible AudienceTM have been much missed. Here’s to much tittering, much applause on frame-ball, and plenty of post-frame shouting.
And yes, we are on first-name terms. That’s one of the things with snooker – and darts for that matter: because there are relatively few players who stay a long minute, if feels like a family. We grew up watching the commentators play, and the obvious affection with which they discuss the players of today – and their families – is contagious and beautiful. Come on Kyren, come on Ronnie.
If this stays close, I’m sure we’ll see some more fluctuations this evening. But it’d be nice to see some better snooker in this session than we saw yesterday. For that, Ronnie will need to have revitalised overnight – who knows if that’s happening? – and Kyren will need to have adjusted.
“Good afternoon Daniel,” begins Dean Kinsella. “I would love to read your 5,000 words on that semi-final. One of the mad things about it was how the quality of play swung between sublime and ridiculous so quickly. Some of the big breaks McGill made towards the end I just didn’t think he was capable of. Unforgettable match.”
Yes, I think what we saw with McGill is a player whose top level isn’t as high as the best, but who was able to maintain a steady level, which Wilson fluctuated above and below. And the stones on the pair of them, dearie me.
Preamble
How are we all? I ask, not out of general politeness else all such blogs would begin this way, but because these world championships have been such a harrowing, thrilling, exhausting, inspiring experience. Every year I say there’s nothing like the Cruce and every year it feels justifiable because it feels like we’ve added a new wrinkle, but this time we’ve added a whole-arse face, so, with feeling: there is nothing – nothing – NOTHING – like the Cruce.
There’s a phrase, popular in screenwriting, that writers frequently ask themselves: have we earned it? Roughly, it pushes them to make sure that the big emotional beats and speeches, any redemption their characters experience, have been set up by the groundwork they’ve put in. Do we know who they are and why they are; do we care about them and what happens to them?
When it comes to Ronnie O’Sullivan v Kyren Wilson in August 2020, these are questions we can answer emphatically and unequivocally. O’Sullivan has been seeking a sixth world title since 2013, and time has passed, it’s looked increasingly as though it’s left him behind, the long format too much for him. But this year, he stamped on the gas when he needed to and beat Ding Jinghui, just about stuck with Mark Williams and won from behind, then just about did the same to Mark Selby, his Crucible nemesis. He’s not playing that well, but his not that well remains a fair standard.
Wilson, meanwhile, has looked a future winner for a while, and after a relatively quiet start to things, played brilliantly in eliminating the favourite and defending champion. His reward for that was a can’t miss semi against a qualifier, except Anthony McGill played the match of his life and together they crafted the match of all our lives, which Wilson somehow won after an extraordinary afternoon – the magnitude of which I request demand 5000 words to do justice. As such, it was unsurprising to see him suffer an emotional dump in yesterday’s first session, but as Ronnie undermined himself with cue-action obsession, he schlepped his way back last evening to set up a frankly delicious day of dramatic derring-do – and rightly so, because given the last five months, we’ve earned it too.
Start: 1.45pm BST
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