BINGHAM HOLDS NERVE TO BAG BIG PRIZE

BARRY HEARN couldn’t have scripted it better at a time when snooker’s relevance has been questioned. Thirty years on from the final between Dennis Taylor and Steve Davis, Stuart Bingham and Shaun Murphy did their best to recreate the drama and tension with a game that ebbed and flowed at Sheffield’s Crucible Theatre. And it was 38-year-old journeyman Bingham who held his nerve to fulfil his life’s ambition with a superb 18-15 victory over Murphy, who had been attempting to become only the sixth man to win the game’s biggest prize on more than one occasion. The afternoon session had belonged to Bingham and he played with the poise you would associate with a world champion. Resuming play trailing 9-8, he swiftly restored parity and then began to move relentlessly clear. Before the first interval, Bingham had rattled off four unanswered frames. Here was a role reversal. When the final began on Sunday, Murphy had looked like he was ready to blow Bingham away and administer the kind of thrashing he received from Ronnie O’Sullivan 12 months ago. Bingham even raised the prospect of a first maximum when he sank 14 reds and blacks before his dream of 147 was extinguished by a tight red on the cushion. His 112 was the 85th century break of this tournament, a record. Murphy claimed two of the next three frames with breaks of 59 and 87 but Bingham emerged on top in frame 25. When they returned for the final session, however, it seemed as if the realisation of what he might achieve had got to Bingham. His first shot was a complete miss, while his second was as scruffy as a novice and left a chalk mark on the baize. Murphy duly ground his way to a 73-6 success to reduce the deficit to two. But Bingham was in no mood to collapse. Having negotiated thrilling battles with O’Sullivan and Judd Trump to reach the final, he responded to Murphy’s challenge with an unanswered 102. Still Murphy would not go away. When Bingham left a black hanging over a pocket having moved serenely to 55 in frame 28, ‘The Magician’ conjured a magnificent clearance of 75. The session was now under Murphy’s control and he clawed another frame back as he forced a string of errors from Bingham. Murphy then made it 15-15 and it was now a question of whether Bingham had anything in reserve. He certainly did and his perseverance paid off as he won an epic 64-minute frame to lead 16-15 before seeing out the match in style.