The Championship League Snooker concludes on Wednesday with the final two groups being played out inside the Mattioli Arena in Leicester before the two winners meet in the final to determine the new champion.
We have a nice mix of star names, seasoned campaigners capable of winning this and a couple of rising stars who could announce themselves to the world over the course of a busy day so we are nicely poised for a good final day.
Day 20 Recap
The last two spots in the final groups were filled on Tuesday and on the main table we saw an upset as David Lilley was the man to come through even though he was the lowest seed in it. Gary Wilson and Ryan Day where expected to battle it out for top spot but Lilley didn’t read that particular script. The top seed did come through on the other table though when Jackson Page saw off a very competitive group to take his spot on the final day.
We didn’t do a preview for the last two days because of time issues but the last preview we did write offered up was unfortunately not littered with a winner. We sided with Fan Zhengyi to win his group and even though he went unbeaten in it he found one too good in the form of Scott Donaldson so we will be looking to end the competition in much better shape than we offered on Saturday and hopefully we can do that.
Group I
Fixtures
Mark Williams v Martin O’Donnell
Ali Carter v Scott Donaldson
Ali Carter v Martin O’Donnell
Mark Williams v Scott Donaldson
Scott Donaldson v Martin O’Donnell
Mark Williams v Ali Carter
Preview
The main table action comes from Group I where we have two standout players on show and a couple of competent cueists. The top seed is Mark Williams. He is the highest ranked player left in the tournament but the second seed Ali Carter certainly isn’t going to go down without a fight. It isn’t necessarily all about those two though because Scott Donaldson has won the other version of this tournament so seems to like this set up while Martin O’Donnell goes in search of a first tour title on what could be a breakthrough day in his career.
Group II
Fixtures
David Gilbert v Long Zehuang
Jackson Page v David Lilley
Jackson Page v Long Zehuang
David Gilbert v David Lilley
David Lilley v Long Zehuang
David Gilbert v Jackson Page
Preview
The action over on table two should be nice and competitive but without a top 16 player in it all four players will be eyeing up the chance to make it through to the final. Dave Gilbert will undoubtedly be the favourite as the only player to have won a tour title and he has shown good form throughout the event but Jackson Page and David Lilley, the second and third seeds, only came through on Tuesday so they should be very sharp heading into this final day. Long Zehuang could make a real breakthrough in his career if he can win this title and book his place at the Champion of Champions later in the season.
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Group Betting
I’m going to leave the action on the main table alone because it is impossible to pick between the main two of Mark Williams and Ali Carter and there just isn’t enough difference in the price to pick one over the other. The other two players in the section probably shouldn’t be written off anyway given that they have won a couple of groups to get this far. I would be surprised if the group isn’t all about Williams and Carter though.
The other group could be much more straightforward though because Dave Gilbert is a clear standout in terms of the rankings and the way he has scored over the course of the campaign too. I noticed on the video that Stephen Hendry released on his YouTube channel over the weekend that Gilbert said he has the love for snooker back and he has been working hard with a goal of getting into the top 16 again. That has showed in his performances so far and with Jackson Page, David Lilley and Long Zehuang, while all capable, nowhere near Gilbert in terms of what they have done in the game, I’ll take the favourite here.
Match Betting
I didn’t think there would be a huge amount that I would like in the match betting stakes on Wednesday and that is very much the case. I still think that the main two in the group on the TV table will see off the lower ranked pair but that is more than accounted for by the bookmakers and by the time we get to the stage where they play each other it might not be all about winning so I won’t get involved in that.
The only player I really want to side with in the other group on Wednesday is Dave Gilbert but I’m already on him to win the group so I don’t really need to go in again on him. It might be worth taking David Lilley or Jackson Page to see off Long Zehuang given that they both played on Tuesday but the odds are fairly skinny with the draw involved so I think the best thing to do is to leave the match alone and stick with the group winner for a bet on the final day.
Tips
Back D.Gilbert to win Group II for a 2/10 stake at 2.38 with William Hill
Back him here:
