2017/2018 SNOOKER AWARDS – PART 2 – Cluster of Reds Snooker Blog

Part Two of the Snooker Awards are right here! Here they are and I don’t care how empty this ceremony actually is!

For Part 1, here it is: 2017/2018 SNOOKER AWARDS: PART 1

SURPRISE PLAYER OF THE SEASON – CAO YUPENG

Cao broke onto the scene in the 2012 World Championships by beating Mark Allen in the first round. Since then he rose as high as No. 46 before he dropped off the tour at the end of the 2015/2016 season before immediately qualifying for a fresh two-year card via Q School. At the end of his first season, he earned just £6,525, finished No. 118 in the world with just 10 wins to his name and three of them are from the Snooker Shoot Out. Damn.

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At the end of his second season, he earned £126,000 (19 times over!), finished in his career high position of No. 38 in the world and won two thirds of his matches. What is even more amazing his that he reached his first ranking semi-final in the European Open and his first ranking final in the Scottish Open and made his second in the Gibraltar Open. Okay, he failed to cope with the pressure from 8-4 up to lose 9-8 against Neil Robertson in Glasgow but it is incredible how one season can transform a player. If he carries on the form he was on, he will break into the Top 32 or even the Top 16 because he will drop just £6,525 worth of points next season. Looking forward to this man!

Nominations: Elliot Slessor, Lyu Haotian,

BIGGEST PLONKER – STUART BINGHAM

This is a special award to someone that is not only careless but has completely buggered up massively, otherwise known in England – a plonker. And I can think of no deserving snooker player than Stuart Bingham.

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Last year’s nomination went to Alfie Burden because not only he bet on snooker matches including his own, but he lost money those bets (maybe he’s really awful at betting?) This season has been marred by a number of betting controversies. Kurt Maflin and Joe Perry have been reprimanded for their betting past for betting on matches in events they competed in and thankfully, NOT on their own matches. Bingham on the other hand, “admitted a small amount of betting on snooker using two accounts in his own name, to limited betting on snooker using three proxy accounts and to betting with a third party on high break scores.”

Bingham denies that he bet on his own matches and accepted a six-month ban. But for a player of his stature and reputation and the number of cases relating to betting, including Stephen Lee’s 12-year ban due to fixing his own matches, he should know better.

Nominations: Kurt Maflin, Joe Perry

PERFORMANCE OF THE SEASON – RONNIE O’SULLIVAN (ENGLISH OPEN)

Dear god, Ronnie was absolutely relentless that week. He scored 12 centuries that tournament – that is one century for every 4.17 frames as well as 17 +5 breaks. This includes three centuries against Zhang Yong, winning 4-1. He swept though class players in Jack Lisowski, Anthony McGill and came back to win the decider against John Higgins at 4-3 when in that particular match, he made a +50 break in every winning frame. In the final where he demolished Kyren Wilson 9-2, he enjoyed the potting success rate of 98%. This is when he had ankle injury as well. Utter madness.

Normally, I would dabble on maybe stick in an ambiguous reference, but it’s not necessary here!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y80KSn4qL4s

Nominations: Luca Brecel (China Championship), Aaron Canavan (World Seniors Championship), Ryan Day (Romanian Masters)

MAGICAL MOMENT OF THE SEASON – MARK ALLEN WINNING THE MASTERS

There aren’t too many players as passionate on the snooker tour as Mark Allen. Through roars to the crowd to swearing and wear duct tape at some of his press conferences, he is an absolutely brilliant player. It is surprising that he was only won three ranking titles and he mentioned a number of times how he has underachieved. As well as on the table, he does like a lot of craic and will be happy to stay back and sign autographs with loyal supporters.

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Mark Allen deserved to win the Masters. Beating Luca Brecel, Ronnie O’Sullivan and John Higgins just to reach the final is impressive enough and he wen’t through a hard-fought match against an emotional Kyren Wilson to clinch the Paul Hunter Trophy at 10 frames to 7.

So why is this a magic moment? This is Mark Allen’s first Triple Crown victory, seven years since his last Trip Crown appearance (UK Championship vs. Judd Trump). This will be the straw that broke the camel’s back, if you like. What is wonder is the press conference with both players clearly showing how much they care about the game. Kyren Wilson was emotional after the match – he may have lost but this proves that he can compete at the top level. Some have said that grassroots in Northern Ireland is lacking. However, after Mark Allen showed off his trophy in Antrim, I don’t think it will be lacking in years to come: https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/snooker/42782397

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Nominations: Georgiou’s ShootOut victory, Mark Williams’s press conference, Luca Brecel’s first ranking event win

PLAYER OF THE SEASON – MARK WILLIAMS

To me, it’s obvious but to others it is a little of a conundrum. Would you choose either Mark Williams or Ronnie O’Sullivan?

Ronnie O’Sullivan won five ranking titles in a single season. This is a feat very few snooker players have done and joined an exclusive club in Stephen Hendry, Ding Junhui and Mark Selby. This is even more impressive since he won all five ranking finals he had participated in. Indeed, he did lose two non-ranking finals but it’s incredible that he managed to do this with little practice and juggling his Eurosport responsibilities. This time it wasn’t the case where Ronnie won on his D-game. His performances in the English Open, Shanghai Masters and the World Grand Prix is a testament to that. He did this while missing seven ranking events. Is it a bit unfair that his loss to Ali Carter in the World Snooker Championship glosses over this? As I mentioned previously, his “numpty” comments didn’t help, especially since he lost to “numpties” such as Elliot Slessor twice.

Mark Williams had a phenomenal season in a completely different context. Mark hadn’t won a ranking event since 2011 and admitted he was seriously quitting the sport altogether last year, until his wife convinced him to carry on. Since then, he showed tremendous consistency – four finals (winning all of them), two semi-finals and five quarter-finals. Whether this is all thanks to SightRight will be debated will the cows come home but we all saw how brilliant he was at the World Championship and yet he acts cool, calm, collected and laid back. He bet that he would be naked in a press conference if he won the Championship – he is sporting enough to keep his promise to do so!