Tweet
Ssb - a century of maximums
From Oldham Civic Centre to the Barbican in York with many stops in between it has taken just under 32 years since Steve Davis made the first official 147 break for Mark Selby to compile the 100th.
Fittingly, it was dramatic. Selby played a great shot to go round the table from brown to blue but was left needing the rest for the pink. He potted it but was left with a tough black, which he dropped in dead weight to the left middle.
It was a moment of magic and a moment of history, a milestone that was thankfully achieved in a televised match.
Selby had missed the final black on 140 in last season’s China Open but, with the pressure on and £59,000 available for the maximum, was cool and deadly accurate in sinking the final ball.
When Davis made his 147 at the 1982 Lada Classic in Oldham it was a significant first. The maximum has enlivened many an event since.
Of the 100, Stephen Hendry and Ronnie O’Sullivan have each made 11. John Higgins has made seven.
A total of 42 players from 13 different nations are on the list of 100 maximums. Selby’s was the 50th on television.
Maximums became more common as the professional game expanded with more players, became more attacking and playing conditions more conducive to heavy scoring.
There were eight compiled in the 1980s, 26 in the 1990s, 35 in the 2000s and 31 so far in this decade.
But when you consider the thousands and thousands of frames that have been played – from World Championship finals down to the lowliest qualifier – 100 isn’t that many.
There were 11 in 2012 but for all the snooker played this year there have been four in 2013.
It is still an achievement worth celebrating, as Selby and the Barbican crowd did with sheer joy.
The maximum break, made under the pressure of tournament play, is that rare thing – perfection in a very exacting sport.
More...
Fittingly, it was dramatic. Selby played a great shot to go round the table from brown to blue but was left needing the rest for the pink. He potted it but was left with a tough black, which he dropped in dead weight to the left middle.
It was a moment of magic and a moment of history, a milestone that was thankfully achieved in a televised match.
Selby had missed the final black on 140 in last season’s China Open but, with the pressure on and £59,000 available for the maximum, was cool and deadly accurate in sinking the final ball.
When Davis made his 147 at the 1982 Lada Classic in Oldham it was a significant first. The maximum has enlivened many an event since.
Of the 100, Stephen Hendry and Ronnie O’Sullivan have each made 11. John Higgins has made seven.
A total of 42 players from 13 different nations are on the list of 100 maximums. Selby’s was the 50th on television.
Maximums became more common as the professional game expanded with more players, became more attacking and playing conditions more conducive to heavy scoring.
There were eight compiled in the 1980s, 26 in the 1990s, 35 in the 2000s and 31 so far in this decade.
But when you consider the thousands and thousands of frames that have been played – from World Championship finals down to the lowliest qualifier – 100 isn’t that many.
There were 11 in 2012 but for all the snooker played this year there have been four in 2013.
It is still an achievement worth celebrating, as Selby and the Barbican crowd did with sheer joy.
The maximum break, made under the pressure of tournament play, is that rare thing – perfection in a very exacting sport.
More...
Comment