Two more groups take place in the second stage of the Championship League Snooker competition on Wednesday when another two men will secure their spot in one of the final groups inside the Morningside Arena in Leicester.
We already know half of the field for the final day on Friday and on Wednesday we will move another 25% closer to knowing the full lineup for the title showdown as eight more players look to progress.
Day 18 Recap
There were upsets in both the groups on Tuesday as the big name in both were sent packing. On the main table it was Shaun Murphy who was expected to make it through but Ali Carter never read that script as he won all three of his matches to move through to Friday’s concluding day. Over on the other table Stuart Bingham was the man expected to make it into the final day on Friday but it was Ryan Day who came top of the group and progressed instead.
We didn’t do a preview for Tuesday’s action as there was nothing we fancied but the bet we had on Monday let us down although it was slightly annoying that the goalposts were moved before a ball was hit when Ronnie O’Sullivan withdrew from the group which meant that Dave Gilbert could relax knowing he would have to mess up quite badly not to make it through. That told when he beat Chang Bingyu 3-0 although things might have been different had Chang cleared up to win the second frame. It wasn’t to be though.
Group C
Fixtures
Mark Davis vs David Lilley
Noppon Saengkham vs Bai Langning
Noppon Saengkham vs David Lilley
Mark Davis vs Bai Langning
Noppon Saengkham vs Mark Davis
David Lilley vs Bai Langning
Preview
There is a wide open group over on Table Two where four men have the chance to earn plenty more dosh and a place in the final group stage when they compete on Wednesday. Noppon Saengkham is the leading player in the section in terms of the rankings and he will probably be the one expected to come through but Mark Davis is a seasoned campaigner in these things and will fancy his chances too. David Lilley and Bai Langning are the lower ranked players in this section but they shouldn’t be written off.
Group D
Fixtures
Kyren Wilson vs Ken Doherty
Matthew Stevens vs Oliver Lines
Matthew Stevens vs Ken Doherty
Kyren Wilson vs Oliver Lines
Oliver Lines vs Ken Doherty
Kyren Wilson vs Matthew Stevens
Preview
The defending champion Kyren Wilson looks to make it back to the final groups on Wednesday when he headlines the action on Table One. He won both Championship League events last season so has a wonderful record to extend here and on the face of it he’ll be expected to do that too with Matthew Stevens a very inconsistent second seed in the group. The other two players aren’t too shabby though in Ken Doherty and Oliver Lines so Wilson will still need to play well to make it through.
Special Offer
OPEN AN ACCOUNT WITH 888SPORT AND BET £10 TO GET £30 IN FREE BETS PLUS A £10 CASINO BONUS! PERFECT OFFER TO USE ON THIS TOURNAMENT! CLICK THE IMAGE BELOW TO JOIN. USE CODE 30F. NEW ACCOUNTS ONLY. 18+ T&Cs apply (See image for significant terms). Gamble Aware.
Group Betting
I thought all along that these second groups would be harder to bet on because the standard will inevitably go up and fewer players will be taking it less seriously as they might have done in the opening group stage when for some it was just a day to oil their cue arms in a relatively competitive fashion once again. Now everyone has two days of action out of three and could be walking away with a sizeable amount of cash and a ranking event trophy.
I certainly don’t think the action on Table Two is easy to bet on. There you have four men who will all fancy their chances of going deep in the competition now battling it out so I would imagine unless someone is on absolute top form that the whole group will be tight. That shouldn’t be the case on the main table where Kyren Wilson is a pretty warm favourite but when you look at those opposing him he probably isn’t easily opposed either. I’m happy to sit the groups out.
Match Betting
I’ll go with one in the match betting department though and that comes fairly late in the day over on Table Two where the two main seeds meet possibly to determine who wins the group. As you would expect the bookmakers have this as a pretty close match but I think the outcome is on the cue of Noppon Saengkham. I think if he plays his best snooker in this match then he will come out on top because his best is perfectly good enough.
That isn’t to dismiss Mark Davis by any means but when you look back at their opening groups Saengkham won all three of his matches, including a win over John Higgins, and banged in a couple of tons and a 90 over the course of the day whereas David was a lot more level in terms of his scoring and nowhere near as strong. He also drew one of his matches so there is enough there to make me think the Thai without the draw in play is a good bet here.
Tips
Back N.Saengkham to beat M.Davis (DNB) for a 3/10 stake at 1.83 with Coral
Back him here:
Copyright secured by Digiprove © 2021
