Ronnie puts on maximum treat for ‘hellhole’ crowd

Two days after Ronnie O’Sullivan described the venue as a “hellhole”, the five-time world champion treated the crowd at the K2 Leisure Centre in Crawley to the 15th maximum break of his career.

The 147 sealed O’Sullivan’s 4-0 win over Allan Taylor in the second round of the English Open.

Earlier in the week O’Sullivan complained that he could smell urine in the player interview area and criticised event organisers for not separating the tournament from other sports being played at the leisure centre.

But the TV table at least seemed to be playing perfectly as the 42-yearold potted blacks with each of the 15 reds before clearing the colours, despite claiming to be “twitching” on shots.

“I did think about it from the first red because I thought I’ve got to try to do something to get myself excited,” O’Sullivan said.

“From about 40-odd I was in bits, I was twitching all over the gaff. My back arm was like a bit of fish, flapping all over and then they’ve (fellow players) all gone quiet to watch the max and I thought, ‘That’s the worst thing you can do, just carry on playing, make some noise’.

“When it went too quiet you felt the pressure on even more. I didn’t even fancy potting that (last) black to be honest with you, I was feeling it.”

O’Sullivan, who also made a break of 135 in the second frame, added: “I felt sorry for Allan out there because you could see he was struggling. He’s a lot better player than that. I think the conditions and being on the TV table got to him a bit.”

O’Sullivan will play either Jimmy White or Matthew Stevens in the third round.

Three-time world champion Mark Selby crashed out at the secondround stage as he went down 4-3 to fellow Englishman Ben Woollaston.

There were wins for four Scots – John Higgins saw off Nigel Bond 4-1 while Stephen Maguire neat Yan Bingtao 4-2.

Anthony McGill and Alan McManus registered 4-0 victories over Thailand’s Akani Songsermsawad and David Lilley respectively.

Ronnie O’Sullivan has scored 15 maximums.