case_master wc wrote:Witz, I am liking how high Alex is up on your list. Bags full of natural talent, sadly ahead of his time, his game would be far better suited to today’s playing field and I think he would stand a chance of winning more.
Yeh having viewed a lot of footage of Alex recently, im starting to re-assess my opinion of Alexs true level of ability.
I dont honestly think he was far off Ronnies level. Obviously the game was different then and winning in 1 frame visits werent what the game was all about. Higgins positional play wasnt great, but thats what made him more exciting to watch, he always knew hed the ability to rattle in the pits from anywehre, no better illustrated than in his legendary 69 break v White in 82.
Higgins had 100x more problems than Ronnie with a major battle agaisnt alcoholism, bouts of depression too, relationship problems, run ins with the law and WPSBA officials on an almost weekly basis hampering his career prospects.
To think he could play so well under the influence, and with his twitchy cue action is amazing.
If Ronnie struggles these days against players who play negative, imagine what it was like for Alex battling it out with the likes of Charlton, Griffiths, Thorburn and numerous other hit and run, safety tacticians of the game.