World Snooker Championship awards and reflections as Luca Brecel lights up the Crucible

Brecel takes the lead from George Best

It has been said there are no characters left in the game, but Luca Brecel is most certainly an interesting character who epitomises much of what the likes of Alex Higgins and Jimmy White stood for. A real George Best-style approach. Brecel drew consternation from many when proclaiming after his opening win over Ricky Walden that he had only practiced for 15 minutes in six weeks before the World Championship.

He then admitted to being ‘drunk as hell’ the night after beating Mark Williams in the next round, following another bender that lasted until 6am. Hardly ideal preparation for facing defending champion Ronnie O’Sullivan, but in true Best style Brecel reeled off seven frames in a row to down the Rocket 13-10 having began the final session trailing 10-6.

He pulled off another Houdini act against Si Jiahui in the semi-finals, recovering from 14-5 down to win, and then outgunned Selby in the final. The expected late wobble did come, but his class won out, just as it had throughout the 17 days, and this supremely gifted young man is a worthy world champion. Sometimes, talent just wins out.

Wilson’s 147 wonder

One gets the sense that Kyren Wilson, more than most, takes great pride in being part of snooker history. He respects the game and those who have come before him, so making his own mark is important. Wilson created his own piece of history when registering the 13th 147 maximum break at the Crucible in his first-round win over Ryan Day. It wasn’t all plain sailing. The 15th black was uncomfortably difficult, with the cue ball in line with the pink, before a poor shot on the blue meant there was still work to do until the celebrations could begin.

The other maximum moment

As if one wasn’t enough, a World Championship that gave us just about everything served up another slice of history in the final. Though he would ultimately fall short, Mark Selby’s magical 147 maximum break was another snooker treat. In fact, it was snooker perfection – a break that only once threatened to break down when Selby was faced with a tricky rest shot on 72.

Once that was overcome, it was plain sailing as Selby completed the job in surgical fashion, in the process breathing new life into a match that appeared to be slipping away from him. The late drama we enjoyed on Monday might not have happened were it not for Selby’s fight back 24 hours earlier, and the maximum was the centrepiece of that.

The big disappointment

It’s hard to get away from Neil Robertson for whom hopes were high after he trounced Wu Yize with the aid of four centuries in the first round. The Crucible hasn’t been a particularly happy hunting ground for Robertson since he was world champion in 2010, but following an usually quiet spell this term, there was genuine belief that he would arrive in Sheffield this time fresh, hungry, and well prepared having enlisted the help of close friend Joe Perry to aid his preparation. With his dad also arriving early from Australia to offer a helping hand, no stone was left unturned, but Robertson was again left frustrated when comprehensively outplayed by Jak Jones.

Changing of the guard

Snooker fans have been expecting it for a while, but this year’s World Championship really does appear to have ushered in a changing of the guard. Luca Brecel, a 28-year-old, high-octane, all-out-attack type of player is world champion, having beaten the tactical master, Mark Selby, with bombs and bullets, not craft and guile. Shock and Awe, as ond former US President once infamously said. Before that, Brecel did the same to fellow former world champions Mark Williams and Ronnie O’Sullivan. Try as they might, and both found themselves in strong positions in those matches, they just couldn’t live with the Belgian Bullet.

Also in the top half of the draw, Si Jiahui beat Shaun Murphy, another former Crucible winner, Welsh Open victor Robert Milkins and perennial Crucible slugger Anthony McGill. For once, it really did feel like a young man’s game. In the bottom half, John Higgins’ impressive early form disappeared against Selby, while Mark Allen very nearly came a cropper against rookie Jak Jones. Two Crucible debutants made it to the last eight this year, one the last four, and Brecel, winless here until he beat Ricky Walden, picked up the trophy. Pang Junxu looked full of potential in his first match, while Joe O’Connor, though missing out in qualification, has been one of the success stories of the season.

Snooker might look a whole lot different in a year or so, and though O’Sullivan should be able to win more tournaments, possibly even this one, it’s hard to be confident that Messrs Higgins and Williams can. The former missed a host of good opportunities to do that last term, and Williams as recently as January at the Masters. For the Class of 92, it’s not over, but the good days will become less and less frequent as their candles eventually burn out. Enjoy them while we can would be my message, while embracing snooker’s new dawn.

Clearance of the tournament

Had Mark Selby gone on to claim his fifth Crucible crown on Monday, I’m sure he would have looked back on the second session of his semi-final victory over Mark Allen as one of the decisive moments. Allen was beating Selby at his own game when closing in on a 7-3 lead, leaving Selby needing a snooker to just keep the frame alive. He laid a tough one, but even when Allen failed to pull off a tricky escape, Selby was left with an improbable clearance from green to black.

Add the pressure of the match situation to a series of difficult pots, and Allen would have been hopeful it wouldn’t cost him. But it did – Selby battling the cue ball and his form to somehow pinch the frame on the final, thin cut black. It changed the course of the session, one he eventually finished in front, and Allen was always second best thereafter.

Pot the tournament

There are so many contenders, but context is always the most important thing. Luca Brecel was staring down the barrel of a 4-1 deficit against Mark Williams in the second round when at the table and trying to mount a counter-attack, faced with a tricky black and yellow and brown tied up on the side cushion. One crunching strike later and the black was gone, the white arcing round the table before the side fizzed the ball off the baulk cushion and into the yellow and brown. The rest, as they say, is history.

Safety shot of the tournament

Mark Allen's safety escape in the seventh frame of his semi-final with Mark Selby will take some topping. It took the Northern Irishman four minutes to think of a way out of the mountain of trouble Selby had left him in, but he somehow he found way. I’ll let Eurosport’s Alan McManus explain the rest.

The defining session

Luca Brecel might have a different take on this – and I’m happy to come to one of his all-night parties if he wants to discuss the matter further – but the session that won him the tournament was the third of his match with Si Jiahui. In fact, I’ll go further and say that the ball that changed the course of the championship, and indeed his life, was the simple green Si missed in the final frame of Friday night.

Si had just watched Brecel rally from 14-5 to 14-9, winning four frames in a row with a fearsome blitz of big breaks, but the Chinese youngster had the chance to stop the rot and end the session six clear and still firmly in the ascendancy. When he missed, Brecel reduced his deficit to four and crucially, went to bed that night smelling weakness in a previously unflappable opponent. Si never recovered and Brecel finished the job the following afternoon. How different things could have been.

Protesters and pockets

The right to protest is a fundamental part of democracy and we in Great Britain are lucky to have that privilege. But there are better ways to make your point than disrupting the lives of ordinary working people who have waited all year and spent hard-earned money on a social event – in this case a night at the Crucible. It seems protesters don’t really care about that, or about spoiling someone else’s special event. And that’s probably why there is so little care in return for the protesters and their cause, however just it may be. There are better ways to make your point.

It's ironic that one of the protesters attempted to glue themselves to the middle pocket. So big were the pockets at this year’s World Championship, the lady in question was very lucky she didn’t fall down it. I’m all for entertainment and big breaks, but we want to see a proper test and I don’t believe the best players in the world need that much help to produce top-class snooker. They shouldn’t, anyway. No more buckets, please.

Respect

The last 12 months have been tough for snooker, but the 17 days at the Crucible have gone a long way to repairing some of the damage. The snooker was outstanding throughout and we were treated to a final worthy of its stage.

But the thing that stood out for me was the spirit in which the final was played, and the respect both men showed to each other across four sessions of battle and then after the match. Luca Brecel’s congratulatory hug to Selby after his maximum break was a wonderful moment, as was Selby’s to his opponent at the end of the match.

There were hugs too for Brendan Moore in his third final and last match as a referee, and the words Brecel and Selby had for one another and their families were well-judged and seemingly from the heart. These are class acts on and off the table, and snooker should be proud of them.