The Championship League Snooker tournament continues on Thursday as another two groups compete with eight men looking to take one of the two spots that are up for grabs in the second stage of the event at the Marshall Arena in Milton Keynes.
We are starting to see the bigger names begin to appear in the tournament more regularly and we have another potential champion on show on Thursday in the form of Dave Gilbert. This format almost guarantees some great snooker and that isn’t going to change on Thursday.
The Format
The whole tour were invited into the tournament with it now getting ranking event status. The 128 man field have been split into 32 groups of four in the first round. Each group is a round robin with everyone playing everyone else over the best of four frames with two points for a win and one for a draw. The player who tops the group goes through to the second stage where the 32 remaining players are split into four more groups of four over the same format. Those eight winners then go into two more groups where the winner of each will battle it out in a best of five frame final for the title. Two groups will be played on each day until the final day when the Championship group and final is played. The first stage of the tournament is on Free Sports.
Day 4 Recap
It was a day where both the highest ranked players came through on Wednesday. On the main table Shaun Murphy progressed courtesy of winning all three of his matches even though he was limping by the end. Over on the other table it was Matt Selt who came through with a couple of wins and a draw on what was a largely poor day standard wise but which offered up some competitive moments mixed in with some ordinary stuff.
It wasn’t the best day for us betting wise. It looked like Si Jiahui was going to be in position to win his group when he thrashed Ben Woollaston 3-0 in the opening game but he couldn’t get the better of Selt. Woollaston came from 2-0 down to get a 2-2 draw in out match bet on the day which meant that we had a push out of that so it was another annoying losing day for us but one which would have been level if we hadn’t taken on a longshot.
Group 10
Fixtures
Liam Highfield vs Nigel Bond
Zhao Xintong vs Oliver Brown
Zhao Xintong vs Nigel Bond
Liam Highfield vs Oliver Brown
Zhao Xintong vs Liam Highfield
Nigel Bond vs Oliver Brown
Preview
All eyes will be on the supremely talented Chinese youngster Zhao Xintong as he bids to make it through to the next round. When you look at the group he is in he is very much the favourite to progress. Liam Highfield is one of the weaker second seeds in the group and hasn’t really offered much at all in recent times. Nigel Bond is a trier and that will never change but he isn’t getting any younger and his game isn’t going to improve now. Oliver Brown is one of the Q-School top ups who has an invite into the tournament.
Group 21
Fixtures
David Gilbert vs Aaron Hill
Lu Ning vs Xu Si
Lu Ning vs Aaron Hill
David Gilbert vs Xu Si
Xu Si vs Aaron Hill
David Gilbert vs Lu Ning
Preview
Dave Gilbert will be the man expected to come through here and when you look at the rankings it is hard to see him not being the qualifier from this section. Rankings don’t always mean a lot in this format but Gilbert is so far ahead of the next player Lu Ning who has been on the scene for a while and hasn’t really hit the top heights. Xu Si has found consistency hard to come by but has shown at times the quality that he possesses. Aaron Hill makes his debut on the tour at this event after winning his card recently.
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Group Betting
We have odds on shots in both groups on Thursday and in truth it is hard to oppose either of them. I guess you could argue that Zhao Xintong isn’t the most reliable player in the world but he is so much better than the three he is in a group with and there isn’t anyone who is even close to being in form that opposes him. This is Xintong’s first tournament since lockdown which is a concern but even if I wanted to take him on there is nobody to do it with.
In the group on the main table it has to be all about Dave Gilbert and having backed him outright I’m more than happy to watch him do the business without investing in him again at odds on. He should have just as strong a time of it as Xintong because again there is little to nothing in his group in terms of ability that matches Gilbert or form to give him huge problems. The outright bet on him is enough for me here though.
Match Betting
I will take one bet in the match betting though. That comes in the form of the early match between Nigel Bond and Liam Highfield where Highfield looks a little too short to me at the prices and has to be taken on. Neither of these men were great in the previous Championship League but to be fair to Bond, he was in a section with Mark Allen, Martin O’Donnell and Michael White, players who should all be in the top 30 in the world.
It is only nine months ago that Bond was beating Judd Trump in the UK Championship on his way to the quarter final though so it isn’t like he’s useless and he had a bit of extra match practice in the World Seniors where he played alright before losing to Stephen Hendry. Highfield is undoubtedly talented but he hasn’t looked up for it for a while. That’s something you never get from Bond and with his tactical game as good as it is, if he can score he should go very well here.
Tips
PUSH – Back N.Bond to beat L.Highfield (DNB) for a 3/10 stake at 2.63 with Betway
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