Exciting moments in the history of Crucible continues
Andy Hicks – 1995
The left handed cueist from England turned professional in 1991 and qualified for the world championship four years later. It was at his first visit to the Crucible when he actually came under the spot lights.
Andy, nick-named ‘cream of Devon’ was drawn out against Steve Davis in the first match of the championship. By defeating the legendary multi-time champion Steve Davis, recording an excellent 10-7 win against the snooker’s all-time great, Andy progressed
to the last-16 round. He had become a favorite to look out for in the tournament, over night. Moving on to the next rounds, the English cueist met another old-hand, Willie Thorn. Despite losing his nerves against an experienced old-timer, Andy was hopeful
and not afraid of the clash. Playing in a marvelous fashion, Andy once again surprised everyone, as he sealed a convincing and dominating victory against Willie, with a score-line of 13-7. Snooker fans and critics were all looking out for Andy as he moved
ahead in a ravishing manner, destroying every one coming in his way and the trophy.
After the glorified win over Willie, Andy moved on to the quarter-final of the tournament, where he met Peter Ebdon. Peter at the time was very much on the roll, as he had been consistent in the game and was easily reaching the finals of ranking events.
All that was not enough to impress Andy and persuade him to stop his mission, as Andy beat Peter convincingly with a score-line of 13-8 and made his way to the semi-final of the event.
Andy had become the first cueist after Terry Griffiths to make it to the semi-finals on his debut. However, Andy’s dream-run at the crucible met its end at the hands of Nigel Bond. Andy had become the talk-of-the-town and gave a real challenge to Nigel in
the semi-final, allowing him to win narrowly. It was the best performance of Andy’s entire career and what a performance it was!
Matthew Stevens – 1998
The Welshman Stevens has been a successful cueist as he won ‘the Benson and Hedges masters’ in 2000 and the UK championship in 2003. Most of the people remember Matthew for those two World championship finals that he lost, after putting up a great fight.
Runner-up in the world snooker championships, twice in his career, the ‘welsh-dragon’ made a wonderful debut in the 1998 world snooker championship, as he advanced to the quarter-finals. Matthew’s first match was drawn against the Canadian rising star Alain
Robidoux. The Canadian cueist had made it to the semi-finals of the previous world championship but this time there was no chance for Alain. Matthew played astounding snooker in the first match to claim a 10-8 victory over Alain and moved on to the last-16
rounds, where he met Mark King. Matthew easily saw Mark off the Crucible with a 13-9 win, booking his place in the semi-final.
In the semi-final, Matthew ran into the defending champion Ken Doherty, who was not willing to let go off his titles easily. In the end it was the defending champion, who won the battle narrowly, with a score-line of 13-10. In the end it was a fine performance
by the Welshman, putting his career off to a perfect start. Matthew proved to be a consistent performer, as he came back twice to make it to the finals of world snooker championship.
Shaun Murphy – 2005
The twenty-eight-year-old English cueist, Shaun Murphy is nick-named ‘the magician’ for what he has done in the 2005 world snooker championship. Qualified for the tournament, Shaun was considered as an under-achiever, which he proved to be off-target contemplation.
Defeating former world champion and the man in great form John Higgins, with a score-line of 13-8, Shaun moved on to play Steve Davis. Shaun made a bunny out of Davis, as he smashed his way through to the next round with a smashing 13-4 win over the legend.
In the semi-final of the tournament, Shaun saw Peter Ebdon out of the Crucible in an astounding manner, pocketing another easy 17-12 win. He had become the first man after Terry Griffiths to reach the final of the world championship on a debut run. Will he
be able to win it and emulate Griffith after twenty-six-years, was the question on every mind.
The final of the 2005 world championship was played between the green-horn Shaun Murphy and the world number six Matthew Stevens. Shaun won the final in a fascinating manner, as the score-line for the first day gestured Shaun being four frames down with
a score-line of 6-10. Later Shaun made a great come-back by leveling the score 16-16, winning two frames further, Shaun raised the world champion title. Shaun made a total of 11 centuries which remained the highest number of centuries in the tournament.
At the age of twenty-two, Shaun became the second youngest player ever to win the world championship and he matched the achievement of Terry Griffiths. Shaun Murphy stands at the fifth spot in the world rankings to this day and is one of the most feared
adversaries in the game.
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