Ben Harrison 147 at Northern Snooker Centre, Leeds, 11/02/12
To set the scene: Ben had just finished playing his group matches in the Paul Hunter Open and qualified for the final stages to be held in late March. He was hitting the ball beautifully and in his last match broke down on 72 when going for a 147 (which at one stage contained a silly plant to keep it going). He finished off with a 113 "clearance" (hammered the black for 120 as you do).
So after the obligatory McDonalds, myself, Ben and his friend Ashley hired a table for a few practice games. Right from the off Ben stated his intentions of getting a 147, and it was a mission for me and Ashley to get that first red down to try and stop him, which we did for the first few frames much to Ben's annoyance.
Then in one frame he broke off and left me 1mm from the baulk cushion. I told him he'd overhit the shot because the white bounced. In effort to thwart a 147 attempt I went for the "dump shot, Cliff Thorburn etc etc" to stick a red in baulk. I dogged it and got the double kiss something like this leaving Ben an easy red to get on the black.
Early on in the break Ben left this red on purpose (obviously all the other reds are approximate), I thought he must be playing for blue before he played the shot:
He went into the reds on about 40 and the pink went up the table past the middle pocket. Ben was clearly annoyed, I was amused; still over 100 to get, plus he's not good on the next red and how's he going to get on the next black cueing down over other reds? Like this at pace:
Fast forward about 2 minutes and suddenly he's on 97 with 2 reds to develop (this was following a succession of precision positional shots, picking off the previous two reds with no margin for error). At this point he was giving every shot due care.
But he was too straight on the 15th black and chose to leave a difficult yellow:
Which he duely nailed...
...but landed awkward on the green. I looked at Ashley, he looked at me and shook his head - "Left-handed?" Yep, left-handed green to yellow pocket and perfectly on brown.
Then on the blue Ben was still working out how to play the pink. He was about 1cm off dead straight:
I had a walk around the table but couldn't see how best to play it, and I didn't want to put him off. It was quite funny with adjacent tables in play oblivious to the 147 attempt. Anyway, Ben hard stunned the blue which the pocket nearly spat back onto the table, but thankfully it stayed down:
Myself and Ashley were sitting in line with the pink, both willing Ben on. I thought he was taking it to middle but instead he nailed it to the corner. Great shot, both of us knew it was home before it was half way to the pocket.
The black wasn't the easiest, but it was duely potted. My first ever live 147 and to make it even more special, I was the opponent.
Ben, come on here and take a bow son.
So after the obligatory McDonalds, myself, Ben and his friend Ashley hired a table for a few practice games. Right from the off Ben stated his intentions of getting a 147, and it was a mission for me and Ashley to get that first red down to try and stop him, which we did for the first few frames much to Ben's annoyance.
Then in one frame he broke off and left me 1mm from the baulk cushion. I told him he'd overhit the shot because the white bounced. In effort to thwart a 147 attempt I went for the "dump shot, Cliff Thorburn etc etc" to stick a red in baulk. I dogged it and got the double kiss something like this leaving Ben an easy red to get on the black.
Early on in the break Ben left this red on purpose (obviously all the other reds are approximate), I thought he must be playing for blue before he played the shot:
He went into the reds on about 40 and the pink went up the table past the middle pocket. Ben was clearly annoyed, I was amused; still over 100 to get, plus he's not good on the next red and how's he going to get on the next black cueing down over other reds? Like this at pace:
Fast forward about 2 minutes and suddenly he's on 97 with 2 reds to develop (this was following a succession of precision positional shots, picking off the previous two reds with no margin for error). At this point he was giving every shot due care.
But he was too straight on the 15th black and chose to leave a difficult yellow:
Which he duely nailed...
...but landed awkward on the green. I looked at Ashley, he looked at me and shook his head - "Left-handed?" Yep, left-handed green to yellow pocket and perfectly on brown.
Then on the blue Ben was still working out how to play the pink. He was about 1cm off dead straight:
I had a walk around the table but couldn't see how best to play it, and I didn't want to put him off. It was quite funny with adjacent tables in play oblivious to the 147 attempt. Anyway, Ben hard stunned the blue which the pocket nearly spat back onto the table, but thankfully it stayed down:
Myself and Ashley were sitting in line with the pink, both willing Ben on. I thought he was taking it to middle but instead he nailed it to the corner. Great shot, both of us knew it was home before it was half way to the pocket.
The black wasn't the easiest, but it was duely potted. My first ever live 147 and to make it even more special, I was the opponent.
Ben, come on here and take a bow son.
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