So far it’s been a cracking season. Resurgent players winning titles, three new ranking title winners, Ronnie rubbing Barry Hearn up the wrong way again (make up your own joke here) and many lower-rankers causing a few shocks every now and again.

Now it is time for a midseason evaluation – who has been flying and who’s been struggling? Who played the Hugh Jackman performance in Les Miserables on the green baize or the Danny Dyer performance from Run For Your Wife? There are probably much better comparisons: 1990s Adam Sandler or 2010s Adam Sandler? Petr Schmeichel or Massimo Taibi? Stephen Fry or Keith Lemon? You get the idea. But I digress. I will only mention a select few in each section otherwise, this will be a lot more wordy than usual. I mean, like an essay? Though this is already close to one, it’s not as if I’ve been ploughing through Cutracker or anything…. [1] [2]

THE HOT SHOTS

Mark Selby

He proved his worth as a World Champion by winning three ranking titles, including the Paul Hunter Classic (beating Tom Ford), thrashing Ding Junhui in the International Championship 10-1 and emerging victorious against Ronnie O’Sullivan in the UK Championship final and won a coveted spot in being only the sixth player to secure the World Championship and UK titles in the same calendar year. Out of eight ranking events he participated on, he got to at least the semis in five of them and he has been very comfortably No 1 in the past few seasons. He won 82% of matches this season and has already earned £374,400 so far. Seriously, what the hell do you want from him to NOT be ‘boring’?????

John Higgins

Four ranking quarter-finals. One ranking final. Two non-ranking titles. It’s a shame that those trophies contribute nothing towards his seeding, but to win the China Championship and the Champion of Champions consecutively, beating eight Top 8 players including beating Bingham and O’Sullivan in their respective finals is quite an achievement. His scoring boots haven’t wavered either. He scored the most centuries out of anyone this season (34) and came back against Trump from 5-1 down in empathic fashion in the Scottish Open, including three in a row in the final against Fu. His consistent form rose him to No. 3 in the rankings – as described by O’Sullivan, playing ‘perfect snooker.’ And he is 41 years-old. Will any youngsters break him?

Judd Trump

A more consistent player now, Judd Trump won his long-awaited ranking title since his 2014 Australian Goldfields Open victory in the land of Castle Dracula, People’s Palace and cigarette smuggling (2016 European Masters in Romania). He did it in wonderful fashion, pulling through three deciders (which is one of his weak points in his game – he has only won 47% of deciders in his career), including coming back from 6-8 down by potting a wonderful blue to win 9-8. He reached the final of the English Open, cruelly the semis in the Scottish Open and the International Championship and a quarter-final in Riga. People had to play well to beat him – will he finally win another Triple Crown event, I wonder?

Ding Junhui

Winning two events is a perfect response from Ding. He suffered a horror show last season until he fought against all odds to reach the World Championship final as a qualifier. He won the 6-Reds World Championship in a decider against Bingham and Shanghai Masters against Selby before a tearful reception. Okay, he isn’t in dominant form nor is sharing the limelight with the others, but the fact he has worked pushed himself back into the Top 8, which is hugely important for the upcoming Masters next year.

Anthony McGill

He rose 10 places to No. 18 in the world because of his consistency (he won the first round of every single possible ranking event so far until the German Masters) and for his first ranking title in the Indian Open. Beating three Top 16 players as well as two Top 32 players in Selt and Maguire (weird writing that Maguire is in the Top 16 no more) is no easy feat, no matter how critical the Indian commentators were. As well as three other quarter-finals, he now has a great platform to build on that. I reckon he will be in the Top 16 in two years!

Honourable mentions: Ronnie O’Sullivan, Marco Fu, Ali Carter, Stuart Bingham

THE HIGH-FLYERS

Liang Wenbo

His delight after winning his first ranking title in the English Open was clear! He managed to go through quality opposition in Dott, Murphy, and Bingham to deservedly beat Trump  9-6. He has only made one quarter-final appearance in the Scottish Open, but this was enough to propel him up six places to No. 11. He did what Michael White couldn’t do a few seasons ago and kept his Top 16 position, as well as his Masters place next year.

Mark King 

His incredible and emotional win was well documented and without sounding repetitive, here is the post I did on his Northern Ireland win footnoted below [3].  For this win alone, he rose fifteen places to No. 21, his highest ranking since the 2010/2011 season.

Zhou Yuelong

In only his third season, he is now at his highest ranking No. 40 of the year, an increase of fourteen places. For such a low-ranking individual to reach the Last 16 twice and the Last 32 twice, as well as beating top players in  Holt (6-1) and McGill (6-3) in convincing fashion. He couldn’t beat the top players through, losing to Higgins and Trump and had a few hiccups in losing to Jimmy White and Paul Davison. But he is showing to be a hot prospect for the future and soon a ranking title winner and received a lot of attention too.

Anthony Hamilton

After dropping out of tour last season and in his first year of his pro card via last year’s European Tour Order of Merit, he has… (looking through the Thesaurus) … stampeded (I watched Jumanji recently, give me a break) to No. 66, only two places from the golden gate of the Top 64. He seems to be a specialist in Home Nations tournaments, as he got to the Last 16 in the English Open, the quarter-finals of the Scottish Open, and the semi-final place in the Northern Ireland Open. It could have been more had he not heartbreakingly lost the decider against Barry Hawkins in the semis by feathering the cue ball. As well as two Last 32 places, he has won almost two thirds of his season’s matches (63%).

Yan Bingtao

My rookie of the year so far (and no, not Zhao Xintong), who has won two-thirds of his matches so far (66%), reaching at least the Last 32 SEVEN TIMES in his first season. He has won 75% of his first round matches and has the great temperament to win most of his deciders (64%). He has also succeeded in the Home Nations events, reaching the Last 16 twice. He is the second highest first-year tour-card player (behind Hamilton) at No. 70 and ended this year beating Murphy in the German qualifiers 5-4. And he is 16 years-old! When I was 16 I was drinking in Polzeath celebrating my GCSE’s. What have I done?

Honourable mentions: Ali Carter, Yu Delu, David Grace

THE SURPRISE PACKAGES

Akani Songsermsawad

Akani only turned up last season in the World Championship Qualifiers due to lack of funds. Since then, he won two thirds (67%) of his first round matches and came into the limelight because of his quarter-final place in the 2016 Indian Open, winning against Woollaston,  Burnett (who since then has become Lord Lucan and is nowhere to be seen), Gary Wilson and Mark Davis. He reached the quarter-finals of the 6-Reds World Championship. He is impressive in the best-of-7s format and recently beat Dott in the German Masters Qualifiers 5-2. Currently, the 21 year-old is occupying the Top 8 places in the one-year ranking to qualify for next season, so should be interesting!

Zhang Anda

I always thought that Zhang only turns up during the biggest event of the calendar, qualifying for the last two World Championships and never to be seen again. However, this season (pictured) he beat Zhou Yuelong in the non-ranking China Professional Tour event. He also reached the Last 16 of the UK Championship, beat Tian (6-2), McGill (6-3) and Mann (6-3) to lose to Selby 6-1. The 73rd seed is currently 38th on the one-year ranking list, which is surprising, yet impressive as he looks to be in the Top 64 for the first time.

Daniel Wells 

Wells seems to be around for a while and is having his third, separate crack at professional snooker. On his second year on his tour card, he has to qualify for the Top 64 or the Top 8 of the one-year ranking list. He currently holds the latter spot and is very closing to the elite at No.67. His Last 16 run in the World Open was impressive, whitewashing Tian and Kyren Wilson along the way, before losing a 4-2 lead be knocked out by eventual winner Carter 4-5. He also reached the Last 32 twice as well, showing his consistency and proved he can beat the top players, beating Mark Allen 6-5, despite leading 5-1.

Scott Donaldson

Donaldson has been on the pro circuit since 2012 and has been rather unlucky to not be in the Top 64, as he finished No. 65 on the tour in 2014, and qualified for another chance via last year’s European Tour Order of Merit. After suffering from a number of earlyfirst round exits, he reached the Last 32 of the Shanghai Masters. Things improved, as he got to the Last 16 twice in the European Masters and the Northern Irish Open, beating Bingham and Brecel in the deciders and against Ebdon and Milkins respectively. He is currently No.46 in the one-year ranking list, giving him a chance to get to the World Grand Prix.

Mei Xiwen

The 34 year-old had been fairly anonymous. After he failed to impress in the 2009/2010 season, he was participating in the amateur circuit before being handed a Chinese nomination last season to participate on tour. It was only when he whitewashed Dott 5-0 and then beat Mark Williams 6-5 to reach the Last 16 of the Shanghai Masters did people take notice of him. He reached the Last 32 of the UK Championship and Scottish Open. He seems to be the bogey player now because so many underestimate him.

Honourable mentions: Chris Wakelin, John Astley, Oliver Lines, Liam Highfield

THE STRUGGLERS

Tian Pengfei

Tian for me has been the biggest disappointment of the season. After returning to the tour in 2014, he raced to the Top 64 within two years and I had high expectations of him, especially getting far in many tournaments including the 2015 Ruhr Open final. But the 53rd seed has won only four out of sixteen matches so far, winning 25% of first round matches and losing to amateurs such as Chen Zifan and David Lilley. Excluding the money he has so far won in the German Masters, he has earned £5,050, which is the lowest amount of money earned by anyone inside of the Top 64. He is currently joint with one other person which is…

Dechawat Poomjaeng

Since his famous and comical 2013 World Championship appearance, his snooker career hasn’t been spectacular, but steady, with his highest ranking being No.37 last year. But he has also been in poor form, earning £5,050 this season because he lost to too many lower-ranked players who are on their first two-year cards such as Duane Jones, Borg and ITC nominee Wattana. He has dropped 14 places since the start of this season to No. 59, so he needs his past heroics to get out of this one.

Ken Doherty 

Ken seems to have been sinking very fast in the last couple of seasons. He was as high has No.27 at the start of the 2012/13 season, now he started this season at No. 57, the lowest in his 26 year professional career. And he is still dropping. Currently, at No.62, he admitted this year he is playing crap and wasn’t playing the way he was previously [4], but there is a serious danger of him dropping off tour, especially since he has points to drop while the likes of Burden, Burns and Wakelin can only get closer. This would be tragic for Irish snooker, as O’Brien and rookie Boileau aren’t setting the world alight yet.

Alan McManus

McManus seems to be struggling massively since his World Championship exploits last season. Of course, he is not in danger of dropping off – far from it! But being No.67 in the one-year ranking list suggests he is underperforming well below his current ranking of No.28 (even after dropping 9 places). He has been rather unlucky to be against many high-profile players in the first round due to the tennis draw format, such as Maguire, Higgins and Dale, but it doesn’t disguise the fact that he has only won 42% of this season’s matches and has been whitewashed more times than he has to his opponents.

Rory McLeod

Rory McLeod also seemed to be fighting every season to stay on the tour, despite his maiden win in the minor-ranking 2015 Ruhr Open. But apart from criticising World Snooker for not attracting enough black players [5], he hasn’t done that much, expect being in danger of relegation. He dropped eight places to No. 57. The only solace he has is that he only has £3,500 to drop unlike his struggling counterparts Swail (£15,583) and Lawler (£15,083). Though I was going to put Swail on this list, I honestly thought McLeod’s maiden title was going to be a breakthrough and this is quite disappointing.

Dishonourable mentions: Joe Swail, Peter Ebdon, Graeme Dott, Jamie Cope, Jack Lisowski

[1] World Snooker Ranking List:http://www.worldsnooker.com/rankings/1-year-ranking-list/

[2] Snooker.org Ranking List: http://www.snooker.org/res/index.asp?template=33&season=2016

[3] Cluster of Red’s post on Mark King’s victory in Northern Ireland: https://clusterofredssnookerblog.wordpress.com/2016/12/15/mark-king-the-rocky-road-to-his-first-ranking-title/

[4] Ken Doherty interview before the English Open by The Guardian: https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2016/oct/06/ken-doherty-snooker-was-on-its-knees-but-its-been-taken-to-a-new-level

[5] Rory McLeod criticising World Snooker over lack of effort to encourage black players to play snooker: http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/snooker/38031317