Day Two at the 2016 World Championship and although we saw two more big names topple ,for a certain generation there is one story today that outranks all others,the official retirement of Steve Davis.
Steve of course has been all but retired since he lost his tour place in 2014,but now in the light of the recent passing of his father Bill he has made it official.
To fully document just what Steve Davis has done for snooker both on and off the table over the last 38 years would take far more than a mere blog post so lets today just simplly say thank you to "The Nugget " and wish him a long and happy retirment from the table.
Back to the action on the table and after yesterday seeing last years champion bow out,today we saw the man he beat in that final also exit the event as Shaun Murphy went down 10-8 to Anthony McGill.
McGill was the story of the tournament here last year when he knocked out Mark Selby,before falling to Murphy in the quarters.On the back of that then it must be said he's had a disappointing season,but there s something about this venue that agrrees with him and he starting this morning 5-4 behind,he recovered from losing the first frame this morning to reel off the next four,with some superb all round matchplay to lead 8-6.
From here,in typical Murphy style, Shaun twice got back within one with runs of 88&70 ,but could never just get level and it was McGill with breaks of 117 & 97 who closed out the match to win 10-8.
In the other match to finish today Alan McManus got the better of the battle of the Scots as he beat Stephen Maguire 10-7.
This is McManus's 20 appearance at the Crucible and the 45 year old needed all that experience as Maguire threatened a comeback comeback when the score went 7-6 from 7-3. at the mid session interval.Maybe it was a case of the break in play coming at the right time as McManus took the next two to go 9-6 and although maguire won the next,it was the veteran McManus who closed out the win 10-7.
In other actiuon Ronnie O'Sullivan somehow finds himself leading 6-3 against David Gilbert who was playing superbly at time.They play to a finish in the morning.Mark Williams is in an even stronger position against his fellow former world champ Graeme Dott,the Welshman leading 7-2.
The other two games that started today are much closer affairs with two more seeds in some trouble as Ricky Walden & Michael White both trail their respective opponents Robbie Williams & Sam Baird by the odd frame 5-4.
All of those matches finish tomorrow as two more big guns ride into town to start their camapaigns in the shape of John Higgins &Mark Selby. Another great days action ahead.
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