My pick for player of the month in October was a young man that is certainly shining in his first season on the professional tour, most impressively making the final of the second Asian Tour event of the season in mid October. He also made the Last 32 of the Bulgarian Open, and probably should’ve gone further losing a decider to Ricky Walden having been dominating the match in the early stages after convincing wins over Mark Williams and Jack Lisowski on the same day. Over at the Asian Tour event 2 he beat a couple of Chinese amateurs to get going before victories over Zhou Yuelong, Mike Dunn, Ryan Day and Jimmy Robertson before eventually losing out to Stuart Bingham. It’s clear that Oliver is an incredible young talent as he has shown with his performances in just half a year on tour, and I expect him to grow into a strong top 64 player after his first 2 years having earned the tour card.
To pick a selection of his best displays in those 2 events
in October is always tough because he played well in almost every game, but
here’s a few that I think stand out:
Ricky Walden 4-3 Oliver Lines – Oliver Lines was in total
control of a top player in Ricky Walden in the early stages of this ET3 Last 32
encounter as breaks of 53 and 56 helped him on his way to the opening couple of
frames and a very useful 2-0 advantage. A break of 57 from Oli in the third
left him in a brilliant position to go three frames clear, but he missed his
chances on the colours and Walden won a key frame to make it 1-2. In true Ricky
style, despite not playing his best he was able to grind out the next two
frames after Lines appeared to have gone off of the boil and Walden was one
away at 3-2. A 25 clearance in a scrappy sixth though for Lines was what forced
him a deciding frame, which was some effort after everything that had gone on
in the last hour of this match. Both players had early chances in the decider,
but again Lines couldn’t take his and a run of 67 from Walden was enough for
him to seal the match and teach Oli a bit of a harsh snookering lesson with a
remarkable 4-3 victory given how badly he played.
Oliver Lines 4-2 Ryan Day – Things were going better for
Lines who had learnt from his mistakes in the ET3 to make the AT2
quarter-finals where he faced a very tough match against Ryan Day, who had made
a 147 break at an early stage of the tournament. Oli got off to a good start as
a run of 41 helped him to the opening frame, before a 45 from Ryan was enough
for him to hit back and level the match at 1-1. A scrappy third was won by Lines
and that seemed to give him a lot of confidence along with his earlier
victories and he sensed his opportunity and took it with a magnificent 120
break putting him 3-1 in front and a frame from the semi’s. Another scrappy
fifth went Days way though, and you had to wonder whether (after what we’d seen
earlier in the month) if the comeback was on. The answer was an emphatic no
however, as the young man finished off the match and blasted over the line with
his second century match as a contribution of 113 put him into the last 4 with
a 4-2 win. To produce such a fine performance after only being on the tour a few weeks having earned his tour card and starting his first professional season 5 months previous, shows the fine young talent and ability that is Oliver Lines. It is clear that he is going to be one of the stars of the future. Having been around a snooker environment throughout his childhood years with his father Peter also being a strong player, it’s easy to see where Oli’s passion for the game and his major childhood influences have come from. As much as it would be great to see Oliver win a tour event early in his career to the lay down an early marker of what is to come, at such an early stage and young age in his career, Lines’ first aim should be to become an established tour player before then kicking on further and further to an elite level, but as I say, he has plenty of years to do so. Coming from a snooker family with his father Peter still being a tour player, and with both practising at the Northern Snooker centre in Leeds, he’s never going to be short of quality practise facilities and opponents as he looks to progress steadily up through the games rankings, and I have no doubt watching this young man that he has plenty of ability and talent which, matched with plenty of hard work and dedication, will turn into big titles in his future. This performance at the AT2 in October just lays down an early marker of what is to come, and his earlier effort to beat World Champion Mark Selby 6-4 in International Championship qualifying from 4-0 down shows already that he can compete with the best in the business.
That's my player of the month for October and there are two more contenders for me to reveal as I look back on November and December before revealing my final order and Player of the Year for 2014.
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