Steve Davis turned his back on the BBC cameras and refused to continue a segment during coverage of the World Snooker Championship. A break between frames during Judd Trump’s second-round match with Shaun Murphy saw Davis try and replicate a shot attempt by the Magician, only to backfire spectacularly.
Trump claimed his first frame of the match to half Murphy’s deficit to 2-1, having put his opponent in a difficult snooker behind the black ball towards the start of the affair. It was a 30-minute frame and atypical of the two English stars, who are heralded as some of the most exciting to watch on the tour.
Davis felt that a turning point in the frame was Murphy’s attempt to get out of a snooker, which required expert cueing to play with a bit of side onto the bottom cushion, changing direction and still managing to play safe.
“What I am going to do is I am going to explain it, which is far more important,” Davis began as the pundit stood in the practice room trying to recreate the moment. “So he is aiming in this [bottom of the table] direction so once he hits the cushion he has got to, somehow, change the direction of the cue ball, swerve it.
“So if I had my fingers to play the shot [flicks the cue ball around the black] like that, that’s how you do it. Sort of a spinner in cricket.”
Davis then picked up a cue in the practice room and attempted the same effort, this time with the cue rather than his fingers. It did not go to plan, however, and he botched both shots and refused to continue the segment. He instead turned his back to the camera while host Richi Persad laughed awkwardly.
“You’ve got to put left-hand side on and play it with backspin and then change direction on the cushion. I’ve borrowed Ben Woollaston’s chalk… OK this is how you play the shot…”
White failed to get the correct swerve, however, as he sighed and took a look at the tip of the cue. He then tried again and resulted in a much worse effort, prompting the pundit to drop the cue on the table, fold his arms and face away from the camera.
Persad continued to laugh and said: “I am trying to stay focused, we are going back to a very important match, Shaun Murphy and Judd Trump and… [laughs]… we will have a third go shall we? What a lovely way to spend a Sunday morning.”
Davis then fired back: “I’d rather run the [London] Marathon!”
Murphy was, in fact, successful in front of the Crucible crowd and six-time world champion Davis could not replicate the shot he said he “loved” from the 2004 winner. He then continued to be goaded by commentator Dennis Taylor, describing it as a “wonderful display” amid chuckles.
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