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Re: All-time ranking list

Postby chengdufan

All-time rank 198
Name: Simon Bedford
d.o.b.: 08/02/1976
Years as a professional: 1995 - 2001 | 2002 - 2006 | 2008-2014

All-time ranking points: 196789

Number of days ranked: 5076
3650-day ranking range: 42-97
Highest rank: 42
Days at highest rank: 35 (06/02/2005-13/03/2005)
Age at highest rank: 28-29
Full ranking events played: 108
Minor ranking events played: 30
First event: 1995 Thailand Classic (aged 19)
Last event: 2019 Indian Open (qualifiers in 2018) (aged 42)
Best ranking finish: Last 32 x4 (1998 World Championship (aged 22) | 2004 European Open (aged 28) | 2008 Grand Prix (aged 32) | 2013 World Open (aged 37))

Best three events by rankings revisit points:
1. 586 - 1998 World Championship
L286 w 5-3 v Scott Kearney
L224 w 10-7 v Paul Davison
L160 w 10-4 v Justin Buckingham
L128 w 10-6 v Mark Johnston-Allen
L112 w 10-2 v Jason Wallace
L104 w 10-9 v Mark Gray
L96 w 10-3 v Euan Henderson
L64 w 10-7 v Tony Jones
L48 w 10-9 v Gary Wilkinson
L32 l 6-10 v Steve Davis

2= 244 - 2001 World Championship
L160 w 10-5 v Da Hailin
L128 w 10-8 v Leo Fernandez
L96 w 10-3 v Paul Davies
L64 l 9-10 v Patrick Wallace

2= 244 - 2009 World Championship
L96 w 10-6 v David Grace
L80 w 10-7 v David Roe
L64 l 8-10 v Jamie Burnett
Last edited by chengdufan on 21 Oct 2021, edited 2 times in total.

Re: All-time ranking list

Postby chengdufan

All-time rank 197
Name: Graham Cripsey
d.o.b.: 08/12/1954
Years as a professional: 1982 - 1986

All-time ranking points: 197405
Number of days ranked: 3100
3650-day ranking range: 32-124
Highest rank: 32
Days at highest rank: 197 (29/11/1987-02/05/1988 | 11/9/1988-23/10/1988)
Age at highest rank: 32-33
Full ranking events played: 84
First event: 1982 International Open (aged 27)
Last event: 1994 UK Championship (aged 39)
Best ranking finish: Last 16 (1987 Grand Prix (aged 32))

Best three events by rankings revisit points:
1. 275 - 1987 World Championship (aged 32)
L96 w 10-9 v Jim Meadowcroft
L64 w 10-4 v Matt Gibson
L48 l 7-10 v David Taylor

2. 233 - 1985 UK Championship (aged 30)
L110 w 9-4 v David Greaves
L96 w/o v John Dunning
L64 w 9-7 v Cliff Wilson
L32 l 2-9 v Dennis Taylor

3. 230 - 1986 UK Championship (aged 31)
L96 w 9-6 v Roger Bales
L64 l 7-9 v Neal Foulds
Last edited by chengdufan on 13 Nov 2021, edited 2 times in total.

Re: All-time ranking list

Postby chengdufan

All-time rank 196
Name: Craig Steadman
d.o.b.: 14/07/1982
Years as a professional: 2009 - 2010 | 2012 - 2020 | 2021 - Present
Current rank: 116

All-time ranking points: 198699
Number of days ranked: 4558
3650-day ranking range: 39-92
Highest rank: 39
Days at highest rank: 14 (08/02/2015-22/02/2015)
Age at highest rank: 32
Full ranking events played: 118
Minor ranking events played: 56
First event: 2005 World Championship (aged 22)
Best ranking finish: Semi-finals - 2021 Shoot Out (aged 38)

Best three events by rankings revisit points:
1. 359 - 2015 World Championship
L144 w 10-5 v Rhys Clark
L80 w 10-5 v Michael White
L48 w 10-6 v Jamie Burnett
L32 l 3-10 v Ronnie O'Sullivan

2. 338 - 2014 European Tour - Event 5
L128 w 4-1 v Shaun Murphy
L64 w 4-3 v Kyren Wilson
L32 w 4-3 v Joe Swail
L16 w 4-0 v Stuart Bingham
QF l 3-4 v Mark Davis

3. 309 - 2009 UK Championship
L96 w 9-5 v Andrew Norman
L80 w 9-7 v Barry Pinches
L64 w 9-8 v Marcus Campbell
L48 l 5-9 v Graeme Dott
Last edited by chengdufan on 13 Nov 2021, edited 3 times in total.

Re: All-time ranking list

Postby chengdufan

All-time rank 195
Name: Marcel Gauvreau
d.o.b.: 09/01/1955
Years as a professional: 1983-1993

All-time ranking points: 198969

Number of days ranked: 3093
3650-day ranking range: 17-126
Highest rank: 17
Days at highest rank: 45 (17/01/1985-03/03/1985)
Age at highest rank: 30
Full ranking events played: 72
First event: 1983 Professional Players Tournament (aged 28)
Last event: 1993 World Championship (aged 38)
Best ranking finish: L16 x3 - 1984 International Open (aged 29) | 1986 Classic (aged 31) | 1986 International Open (aged 31)

Best three events by rankings revisit points:
1. 426 - 1984 World Championship
L96 w 10-7 v John Campbell
L64 w 10-1 v Graham Cripsey
L48 w 10-6 v Murdo MacLeod
L32 l 5-10 v David Taylor

2. 340 - 1984 International Open
L64 w 5-1 v Frank Jonik
L48 w 5-4 v John Parrott
L32 w 5-1 v Kirk Stevens
L16 l 3-5 v Willie Thorne

3. 327 - 1984 UK Championship
L64 w 9-8 v Roger Bales
L48 w 9-6 v Perrie Mans
L32 l 5-9 v Tony Knowles
Last edited by chengdufan on 13 Nov 2021, edited 2 times in total.

Re: All-time ranking list

Postby chengdufan

All-time rank 191
Name: Joe Delaney
d.o.b.: 04/08/1972
Years as a professional: 1991 - 1997 | 1998 - 1999 | 2000 - 2001 | 2003 - 2011

All-time ranking points: 202449

Number of days ranked: 4011
3650-day ranking range: 39-106
Highest rank: 39
Days at highest rank: 21 (21/10/2007-11/11/2007)
Age at highest rank: 35
Full ranking events played: 130
Minor ranking events played 12
First event: 1991 UK Championship (aged 19)
Last event: 2011 PTC Event 9 (aged 39)
Best ranking finish: Last 32 x2 - 2007 World Championship (aged 34) | 2010 Shanghai Masters (aged 38)

Best three events by rankings revisit points:
1. 491 - 1998 World Championship
L160 w 10-8 v Michael Holt
L128 w 10-8 v Gary Lees
L112 w 10-8 v Munraj Pal
L104 w 10-1 v Peter McCullagh
L96 w 10-8 v Jamie Burnett
L64 w 10-8 v Gary Ponting
L48 l 7-10 v Dave Harold

2. 388 - 2007 Grand Prix
Qualifying Group (last 96):
w 4-0 v Barry Pinches
w 4-1 v David Gray
w 4-2 v David Gilbert
w 4-3 v Lee Spick
w 4-2 v Issara Kachaiwong
l 2-4 v Leo Fernandez
l 3-4 v Ben Woollaston

Main Group (last 48):
l 3-4 v Peter Ebdon
l 3-4 v Matthew Stevens
l 1-4 v Dave Harold
l 1-4 v Mark Selby
l 2-4 v Liu Song

3. 334 - 2007 World Championship
L80 w 10-7 v Ian Preece
L64 w 10-9 v Barry Pinches
L48 w 10-9 v Alan McManus
L32 l 2-10 v Matthew Stevens
Last edited by chengdufan on 21 Oct 2021, edited 2 times in total.

Re: All-time ranking list

Postby chengdufan

10 days in, a recap of the players covered so far:

...
191 Joe Delaney 202449
192 Marcel Gauvreau 198969
193 Craig Steadman 198699
194 Graham Cripsey 197405
195 Simon Bedford 196789
196 Gary Ponting 196058
197 Noppon Saengkham 195109
198 Cao Yupeng 193099
199 John Read 192870
200 Zhao Xintong 192355

Re: All-time ranking list

Postby chengdufan

As I've mentioned further up, the thing that has struck me so far is how few players there have been at the top of the game.
While I think it's great that some of the forgotten journeymen have been given some due attention (as well as a few younger players who will no doubt move quickly up this list), I did think the 150-200 group would consist of those players who spent a lot of time ranked 20-30, rather than those who were generally ranked 50-70.
Can you imagine being among the 200 best players in your sport over the last 40 years and basically having scraped a living out of the game and being unknown or forgotten to the vast majority of the fans?

Re: All-time ranking list

Postby chengdufan

All-time rank 190
Name: Yu Delu
d.o.b.: 11/10/1987
Years as a pro: 2011-2018

All-time ranking points: 202564

Number of days ranked: 3527
3650-day ranking range: 37-127
Highest rank: 37
Days at highest rank: 43 (06/04/2014-05/05/2014 | 10/08/2014-24/08/2014)
Age at highest rank: 26
Full ranking events played: 88
Minor ranking events played: 43
First event: 2006 China Open (aged 18)
Last event: 2018 World Championship (aged 30)
Best ranking finish: Semi-finals - 2016 Scottish Open (aged 29)

Best three events by rankings revisit points:
1. 344 - 2012 World Championship
L96 w 10-9 v Patrick Wallace
L80 w 10-2 v Michael White
L64 w 10-5 v Matthew Selt
L48 l 6-10 v Stephen Hendry

2. 338 - 2016 Scottish Open
L128 w 4-3 v Josh Boileau
L64 w 4-3 v Mark Joyce
L32 w 4-3 v Daniel Wells
L16 w 4-3 v Sean O'Sullivan
QF w 5-4 v Liang Wenbo
SF l 1-6 v Marco Fu

3. 309 - 2012 German Masters
L96 w 5-4 v Barry Pinches
L64 w 5-2 v Alfie Burden
L48 w 5-3 v Jamie Cope
Wildcard w 5-3 v Chris Norbury
L32 w 5-3 v Ding Junhui
L16 l 2-5 v Stephen Lee
Last edited by chengdufan on 21 Oct 2021, edited 1 time in total.

Re: All-time ranking list

Postby LDS

chengdufan wrote:As I've mentioned further up, the thing that has struck me so far is how few players there have been at the top of the game.
While I think it's great that some of the forgotten journeymen have been given some due attention (as well as a few younger players who will no doubt move quickly up this list), I did think the 150-200 group would consist of those players who spent a lot of time ranked 20-30, rather than those who were generally ranked 50-70.
Can you imagine being among the 200 best players in your sport over the last 40 years and basically having scraped a living out of the game and being unknown or forgotten to the vast majority of the fans?


Don't forget, you're leaving out 10-20 players who were bigger names prior to rankings becoming a thing. So these guys you're going through now are kinda there due to the luck of the ranking system's introduction date.

Also, your perception might be heavily influenced by football, which is much more of an anomaly sport that requires lots of big names every season to promote itself and has a marketing budget equivalent to a small country.

Most sports are quite similar to snooker and wont have produced many top tier players that are well known even within the fans, even other team-based sports, in just 40 years of competition.

Re: All-time ranking list

Postby chengdufan

All-time rank 189
Name: Paddy Browne
d.o.b.: 01/04/1965
Years as professional: 1983-1997

All-time ranking points: 203935

Number of days ranked: 3443
3650-day ranking range: 36-125
Highest rank: 36
Days at highest rank: 14 (13/08/1989-27/08/1989)
Age at highest rank: 24
Full ranking events played: 90
First event: 1983 Professional Players Tournament (aged 18)
Last event: 1995 World Championship (aged 30)
Best ranking finish: Quarter Final - 1989 Classic (aged 23)

Best three events by rankings revisit points:
1. 391 - 1989 World Championship
L96 w 10-9 v Steve Meakin
L64 w 10-6 v Murdo MacLeod
L48 w 10-0 v Steve Longworth
L32 l 5-10 v Willie Thorne

2. 374 - 1989 Classic
L96 w 5-3 v Ian Williamson
L64 w 5-2 v Mike Hallett
L32 w 5-4 v Steve James
L16 w 5-1 v Tony Chappel
QF l 3-5 v Doug Mountjoy

3. 275 - 1986 Grand Prix
L96 w 5-4 v Dessie Sheehan
L64 w 5-2 v Joe Johnson
L32 w 5-0 v Mark Bennett
L16 l 3-5 v Stephen Hendry

Re: All-time ranking list

Postby gmg

Interesting thread. However, I'm not sure where you're getting your highest ever ranking positions from? Gary Ponting only ever got as high as 49th in the World and Marcel Gauvreau's best was 38th. Graham Cripsey was never in the World's top-32 either so think some of these stats need double checked.

Re: All-time ranking list

Postby gmg

Ok, fair enough. But it just goes to show that no ranking system is without its flaws. How on Earth, for instance, could Graham Cripsey ever be regarded as the 32nd best player in the World when he only ever reached one World ranking event last-32. The old system was a more accurate representation of where he stood overall IMHO. I'll still keep an eye on your list with interest as it unfolds though.

Re: All-time ranking list

Postby chengdufan

gmg wrote:How could Graham Cripsey ever be regarded as the 32nd best player in the World when he only ever reached one World ranking event last-32.

He reached the last 16 of the 1987 Grand Prix, but it's a good question nonetheless. I think the best way to answer that would be to pick a player who I've ranked below him at that time and who you think maybe should be higher, and compare their results leading up to that point.
I've got him at number 32 after the 1987 UK Championship.

Here are the next 5 on my list at that time:
33 Tommy Murphy
34 David Taylor
35 Joe O'Boye
36 Tony Meo
37 Ray Edmonds

Who shall we do the comparison with?

Re: All-time ranking list

Postby gmg

Ok, I thought the three events you listed were his best three performances so didn't realise he'd reached a last-16 as well. Still hard to imagine how he was ever higher than Tony Meo though.

Re: All-time ranking list

Postby chengdufan

gmg wrote:Ok, I thought the three events you listed were his best three performances so didn't realise he'd reached a last-16 as well. Still hard to imagine how he was ever higher than Tony Meo though.


So I've had a look at the 12 months up to and including the 1987 UK Championships.

Here are the results of the two players:
Cripsey
1987 Classic
L96 5-0 v Derek Mienie
L64 0-5 v Cliff Thorburn

1987 British Open
L96 5-4 v Paul Watchorn
L64 5-2 v Bill Werbeniuk
L32 2-5 v Cliff Thorburn

1987 World Championship
L96 10-9 v Jim Meadowcroft
L64 10-4 v Matt Gibson
L48 7-10 v David Taylor

1987 International Open
L96 5-4 v Ian Anderson
L64 1-5 v Bill Werbeniuk

1987 Grand Prix
L96 5-2 v Matt Gibson
L64 5-3 v Barry West
L32 5-4 v Paul Gibson
L16 1-5 v Peter Francisco

1988 British Open Qualifiers
L96 5-4 v Jim Donnelly

1988 Classic Qualifiers
L96 5-4 v Matt Gibson

1987 UK Championship
L96 9-6 v Paul Gibson
L64 6-9 v Cliff Thorburn

Meo
1987 Classic
L64 5-4 v John Rea
L32 5-0 v Steve Longworth
L16 2-5 v Steve Davis

1987 British Open
L64 1-5 v John Spencer

1987 World Championship
L32 8-10 v John Parrott

1987 International Open
L64 5-2 v Jon Wright
L32 3-5 v Steve Davis

1987 Grand Prix
L64 0-5 v Steve Newbury

1988 British Open Qualifiers
-

1988 Classic Qualifiers
-

1987 UK Championship
L64 9-1 v Paul Watchorn
L32 5-9 v Mike Hallett

Re: All-time ranking list

Postby chengdufan

Neither had amazing results in that period, but Cripsey did consistently beat the lower-ranked players and had a couple of decent wins against Werbeniuk and West.
He tended to lose when faced with one of the top players.

Meo had hit a poor patch, winning only 4 matches. His win over Jon Wright was probably the highlight. As he was seeded through to the later rounds, he didn't really have a chance to get going after being paired early with a top player in most events. Losing 0-5 to Newbury must have been a bit of a shock.

Re: All-time ranking list

Postby chengdufan

It looks clear to me that a ranking for both players at that time in the 30s was about right, with Cripsey having the slight edge.
I'd completely understand if you disagreed though :-)

Re: All-time ranking list

Postby chengdufan

The comparison above is of course just for that one point in snooker history. In the all-time list, Cripsey is down at 194, and Meo is much higher up.

Re: All-time ranking list

Postby gmg

Cheers, interesting stuff. Meo did go through a phase of doing well in non-ranking events without being able to produce the goods in ranking tournaments. At that time he was the reigning English Professional Champion, World Doubles Champion and a Masters semi-finalist. He also had a few other good victories in non-ranking events at that time. It always felt strange that he was never higher than 10th in the official World rankings at any stage. Defo an underachiever in that sense til 1989 when he won the British Open and reached the World semi's.