Mark Allen hits 147 then loses as Barry Hearn warns Crucible ‘not fit for purpose’

Mark Allen wrote his title into Crucible historical past with a most 147 wreck on the World Snooker Championship – however fell to a 13-6 defeat in his second-round fit in opposition to Chris Wakelin.

Resuming 6-2 at the back of, Allen persisted a nightmare first part of the morning consultation, shedding all 4 frames to fall 10-2 down and vulnerable to going out with a consultation to spare. Wakelin hit breaks of 119, 71 and 75 as his opponent didn’t pot a ball for 3 frames, right away heading to the observe desk on the period.

In the following body, Allen sank a protracted purple to finish his drought and briefly manoeuvred his option to a most likelihood. After potting 15 reds and 15 blacks, the sector No 8 nearly snookered himself at the back of the blue, however was once in a position to dispatch the yellow – and a difficult red – earlier than rolling within the last black to very large cheers.

Allen’s 147 is the primary on the Crucible since 2023, when Mark Selby and Kyren Wilson each completed the feat. His is the 15th most to be made on the international championship, and can earn him a £40,000 prize cash bonus. In qualifying, Jackson Page earned a £147,000 cheque for hitting two 147s in the similar fit.

Wakelin, who warmly congratulated his opponent on his fulfillment, was once nonetheless within the using seat at 10-3 forward and took two of the consultation’s ultimate 3 frames to steer 12-4.

In the night time Allen got here out combating and rattled off the primary two frames. In the second one he potted 10 reds and 9 blacks to provide himself an opportunity of some other 147 however ran out of place and ignored a skinny lower at the black. Wakelin took the following to finish his win.

On the opposite desk, the three-time international champion Mark Williams and Iran’s Hossein Vafaei ended a gruelling, three-hour first consultation stage at 4-4. One fan who may well be forgiven for buying distracted via information from the opposite desk was once Brian Nicholls. The 75-year-old gained the consultation’s target audience lottery, and knew he would win £25,000 if there was once a most wreck on both desk. Seated at the improper aspect of the partition, Nicholls ended up looking at Allen’s most wreck on a observe.

John Higgins and Xiao Guodong stay locked in combination at 8-8 on the finish of the second one consultation in their second-round fit, which concludes on Saturday.

The four-time champion Higgins appeared set to start out pulling clear of his opponent once you have two snookers he required to drive a respotted black when he led 7-6. But after showing to have carried out sufficient to clinch the body with a superb lower, he went in-off handy the body to Xiao and the remaining two of an interesting and hard-fought consultation had been shared.

Hearn warns Crucible days may well be numbered

Since first website hosting the sector championship in 1977, Sheffield’s Crucible theatre has been the religious house of snooker – however Barry Hearn has once more warned the venue is not “fit for purpose”.

With the website hosting contract expiring in two years, Matchroom, which has in large part managed snooker since 2010, is closely fascinated with negotiations and Hearn says preferably the World Snooker Tour (WST) needs to stick. But the 76-year-old, whose son Eddie is the Matchroom chairman, has known as on Sheffield town council to increase the venue or face shedding the development.

“It’s black and white: we love the Crucible, we love Sheffield, but the Crucible and Sheffield have got to love us,” Hearn, the previous chairman of the World Professional Billiards and Snooker Association informed BBC Radio 5 Live.

“We want to stay but the financials have to be taken into consideration. The facilities where the Crucible is are no longer fit for purpose, that’s the key issue. The Crucible’s been a big part of my life and a big part of snooker’s life. But it has to move with the times and someone, whether it’s government or Sheffield, have to come up with a way of showing us that they’re going to treat us with respect and give us the type of facilities we require. It’s as simple as that.

“Maybe we should take this worldwide. Maybe it should be one year in Beijing, one year in Saudi and one year in Sheffield. We have to move with the times,” Hearn added. “I’m concerned with increasing the prize money as we have done with darts. Snooker needs to be more commercially viable.”

Hearn warned: “The contract period ends in 2027 and we need a decision soon. We want to stay in Sheffield, so show me the way.”

Last week the WST, Sheffield town council and Sheffield Theatres mentioned that because of the “sensitive and commercial nature of these ongoing discussions”, no announcement can be made all through this 12 months’s tournament.