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Ssb - you missed again
Stephen Maguire today criticised the miss rule after he was called for ten successive misses - four off the record - when snookered on all the colours in his totesport.com Welsh Open semi-final against Ali Carter.
"It's a stupid rule and could have cost me the match," said Maguire, who trailed 5-2 at the time but ultimately won the frame despite giving away 40 points in fouls.
He did not criticise the match referee, Pete Williamson, who correctly applied the rule. Maguire could easily have hit the black off the top cushion but would have left a red on to a corner pocket had he done so.
Instead, he nine times attempted the green and had a go at the yellow as well. His attempts weren't helped by the fact that the side cushion was sliding.
The miss rule as it now stands was never intended to illicit 30 or 40 points from a single snooker.
However, before it was changed players were guilty of not making good enough attempts to get out of snookers.
The way out of all this would be the bold move of simply allowing players to put the cue ball where they liked after a foul. It would also considerably speed up play.
I don't believe this should ever happen in a ranking event because it would negate much of the skill - and drama - associated with top level match snooker.
But you could bring it into a new event as a novelty. I'm sure the new regime running snooker have already considered it.
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"It's a stupid rule and could have cost me the match," said Maguire, who trailed 5-2 at the time but ultimately won the frame despite giving away 40 points in fouls.
He did not criticise the match referee, Pete Williamson, who correctly applied the rule. Maguire could easily have hit the black off the top cushion but would have left a red on to a corner pocket had he done so.
Instead, he nine times attempted the green and had a go at the yellow as well. His attempts weren't helped by the fact that the side cushion was sliding.
The miss rule as it now stands was never intended to illicit 30 or 40 points from a single snooker.
However, before it was changed players were guilty of not making good enough attempts to get out of snookers.
The way out of all this would be the bold move of simply allowing players to put the cue ball where they liked after a foul. It would also considerably speed up play.
I don't believe this should ever happen in a ranking event because it would negate much of the skill - and drama - associated with top level match snooker.
But you could bring it into a new event as a novelty. I'm sure the new regime running snooker have already considered it.
More...
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