ROSB Awards - 2016/17

Welcome to the second edition of the ROSB Awards. I started it last season, and my intention with it is only having some fun awarding things like best match, best performance, best pot, etc...

With 99,99% of the season gone and only the World Championship left, it's time to give away the so prestigious (lol) ROSB awards, here's your list:

Fluke of the Season goes to... DING JUNHUI!
(Watch here) The crowd never bothers with a bit of a fluke, in fact different from the players they seem to quite enjoy them. But it was in exchange of Mark Joyce's place in the China Open that I picked this fluke from Ding. Joyce had beaten Ronnie in a decider the previous day for a place in the Last 16 with Ding Junhui in his hometown - it doesn't get any bigger than that.
But despite the fact Joyce trailed the match 3(9)4 and Ding led by 27 points at the time with only 1 red - 35 points - left, he had Ding snookered and still had a chance to force a decider against a top player in front of a huge crowd. However his chances vanished when Ding hit cushion first to send the red towards the black, which it flicked off then hit top and right cushion just to go in the left center. That fluke was the opening pot of a clearance that would give Ding the match win - and this award of course.

Long Pot of the Season goes to... MARK ALLEN!
(Watch here at 6m35sec) Mark Allen simply had to win this award! Not just because of how good the long pot was itself, but because it came at the Masters when he was playing against John Higgins and the match was levelled at 4(11)4. It was also a very important moment of the match, because the long pot happened after the black had been re-spotted and whoever potted it would go one ahead with two to play.

Result of the Season goes to... MARK SELBY!
Not many have the guts to play Ding Junhui in front of the Chinese crowd, nevermind if a month earlier Ding had won a title in Shanghai. But Mark Selby this season was simply above everybody else and he got his revenge for a 6-10 defeat in the Final of the Shanghai Masters in September with an outstanding performance to beat Ding Junhui 10-1 in October for the International Championship title - and that more than earned him this award.

Surprise of the Season goes to... MARK KING!
Mark King deserves all respect of the World for his win at the Northern Ireland Open this season. However, I gave it the Surprise of the Season award because I had never seen in King enough technique to bring him a Ranking title - and it wasn't like he had been getting some good results prior to winning the title (like Anthony Hamilton before he won the German Masters), he had been really struggling for a while and it all seemed to change in one week when his long pots started to go in and he started to score heavy enough to lift the trophy.

Safety Shot of the Season goes to...  MARCO FU!
(Watch here at 3m31sec) It's been a great season for Marco Fu (which just got massively better now he's won an award), he's reached two Ranking Finals, winning one, and if it wasn't for the fact he played Ronnie O`Sullivan in both Semi-Finals he might had won a Triple Crown event already this season.
But despite losing both matches against O`Sullivan, Fu had time to play a great safety in the 4th frame of the UK Championship semi-final which earned him this award. He needed snookers at the time, with only three balls remaining, and managed to judge a great shot behind the black (a very difficult shot for itself, nevermind to play it with the amount of side he used). And then of course he got his prize with O`Sullivan failing to hit the blue afterwards.

Break of the Season goes to... MARK DAVIS!
(Watch #1 here & #2 here) It might not have been very well reported by the media (probably because the Championship League isn't such a prestigious event), but Mark Davis made history becoming the first player to make multiple Maximum 147 Breaks in the same tournament and that more than deserves to get him a double Break of the Season award.
The first of his 147's came versus Neil Robertson in the decider of Group 3's Final, and the second came in the decider of a round-robin match against John Higgins in the winner's group. To make two Maximum Breaks in deciders playing legends of the game speaks for itself, but it also has to be said that those were the first two Maximum Breaks of Davis's career - the 3-times World 6Reds Champion has become the oldest player to ever produce a Maximum Break, at the age of 44.

Comeback of the Season goes to... JOE PERRY!
(Watch the decider here) It might be true that over the years Barry Hawkins have lost some matches from far ahead his opponents, but at the Masters this year Joe Perry would never imagine that he'd be in the Final when he was needing a Snooker to get back to the match in frame 8 of his semi-final.
Hawkins led 5(11)2 and had potted frame and match ball in frame 8 before Perry came to hunt him winning that frame after needing a Snooker. After that Perry felt he had nothing to lose as he should've already shaken hands, and all the pressure was in Hawkins - who was seeking a revenge versus Ronnie O`Sullivan in the Final after losing the previous year's Final 10-1 (a result that won the Result of the Season award here in the Blog last year). It looked like we all knew what was coming when the match went to a decider, however Hawkins looked strong when he built himself a 50 point lead. Nevertheless a superb 70 clearance (a contender for Clearance of the Season award) gave Perry the steal in frame 11 and a place in his first Triple Crown event Final.

Best Final of the Season goes to... DING JUNHUI AND STUART BINGHAM!
(Watch here) For a 6Reds match, it had already been an encounter full of drama when Ding Junhui led Stuart Bingham 7(15)5 in the World Championship Final, in Thailand. But it wasn't all, Bingham brought the game to a decider and then, with the black tied up, he led by 29 points with 35 on until he missed a pink that would've virtually meant he'd won the title. From there Ding Junhui produced an amazing 33 clearance developing the black after potting the brown to seal his maiden World Title.

Clearance of the Season goes to... DING JUNHUI!
(Watch here) I heard people suggest that this clearance even overcame Alex Higgins' legendary 69 from 1982. I don't quite agree with that, not just because of the pots' quality but also because any miss from Higgins would mean he'd lost the World Championship Semi-Final. However, you've got to put Ding Junhui's 54 from the Players Championship this year up there with one of the bests, nevermind deserved winner of this award.
Even though it wasn't as important as Alex Higgins' clearance in 1982 or John Higgins' clearance to win the Masters in 2006, Ding's clearance came very timely for he had won frame one but then had frame two stolen from him before seeing his opponent hit a Century Break in frame 3. Ding Junhui certainly wouldn't've liked to trail Marco Fu 3-1 in the interval of that semi-final clash, and to win frame 4 by one point with that clearance was certainly a boost for him.
The fact that he ended up losing that epic match 6-5 in the end might've spoiled it in terms of where it's ranked in an all-time list, but it tops this season's list no problem.

Match of the Season goes to... MARK ALLEN AND JOHN HIGGINS!
(Watch here) The first round match between Mark Allen and John Higgins at the Masters this year was epic.
Never a player had a two-frames lead over their opponent, but it was after an amazing long pot (which won our Long Pot of the Season award) from Mark Allen in frame 9 that we thought we'd seen the key point. He had gone 5(11)4 in front in a way that would've hurt most opponents, and he tried to help it when he brought his hand to his ear to tease the crowd - a compliment though that was returned from Higgins after he produced a Break of 77 points to level the match.
In the decider, it was Mark Allen who came out on top after a very scrappy frame.

Performance of the Season goes to... RONNIE O`SULLIVAN!
(Watch here) Coincidentally, all my four contenders for this award happened in semi-finals, and three of them came from the cue of Ronnie O`Sullivan.
I could've awarded Joe Perry's 6-2 win over Neil Robertson at the World Open, Ronnie O`Sullivan's 6-2 win over Mark Allen at the Champion of Champions or O`Sullivan's 6-4 win over Marco Fu at the Masters, because they were all great performances. However I've picked the flawless one - Ronnie O`Sullivan's win over Neil Robertson at the European Masters.
What made me choose this one was the fact that it was a whitewash, where O`Sullivan bullied Robertson with breaks of 118, 79, 92, 63 and 96 for a 6-0 win.

Shot of the Season goes to... DING JUNHUI!
(Watch here at 5m42sec) Ding Junhui's 54 against Marco Fu in the semi-final of Players Championship already earned him Clearance of the Season award, but one shot in particular have earned him another award.
It could've been the last red he played with a lot of side to create an angle to get on the black as he needed it, but I'm giving this final and most important award to the double he played on the blue. Many thought he'd play safe, but he ended up potting it and bringing the pink out of the cushion. The pink was still difficult and under that pressure the pot might've earned him this award too, but by potting that blue and moving the pink has brought him the statue all the same.

This is it for now then, I hope you liked it and thanks for reading. There are a couple more texts coming up here in the Blog as part of the warm-up for the Crucible, which begins on Saturday 15th, stay tuned!
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