Craig Steadman ends pro tour hopes of Mike Hallett, sets up a clash with Phil O’Kane: World Snooker Q School 2011
Craig Steadman will meet Phil O’Kane in the second round of the World Snooker Qualifying School (Q School) 2011 Event 3 on Thursday, May 26 at the World Snooker Academy in Sheffield. Steadman defeated
Mike Hallett 4-3 in the first round after a thrilling clash that ended in a decider fame.
At the end of a successful second day of the Q School Event three, most of the favourites have stormed into the second round to hold the glory card of the upcoming season. Hallett missed his last
chance to make to the quarter-final stages of the qualifying event. However, O’Kane surged into the second round after he nudged Michael Wild down with the score line of 4-3.
Hallett started with a first frame victory over Steadman with a score of 34-72 and lead by 0-1. Steadman’s 73-point knock brought him level at 1-1 with the 51-year-old Hallett, as he grabbed the second
frame at 86-23.
The third frame was a tussling encounter as the Englishmen tried their best to take the lead, but the former Hong Kong Open champion, Hallett, made it 61-68 and led 1-2 in the match. The suspense
and thrill didn’t end here as the pair went into another nail-biting clash in the fourth frame but in the end, Steadman clinched the frame victory by 64-60, pocketing a decent 44-point run and pulled level at 2-2.
The 28-year-old Steadman continued his dominance in the game as he moved one frame ahead of Hallett after winning the fifth frame 81-57 with an impressive half-century clearance of 58. An easy win
for Hallett in the sixth frame, as he took it convincingly by 16-74 with a fine clearance of 46, pushed the match into the deciding frame.
The Farnworth-born potter, Steadman cued a couple of small runs as he took the decider frame quite easily with 89-7 and paddled himself into the second round against compatriot, Phil O’kane, who knocked
out Michael Wild, 4-3 in his first-round clash.
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