World Championship 2022: ‘Easiest black I’ve ever seen missed’ – Is this the worst miss in snooker history?

ByBen Snowball

Published 04/04/2022 at 15:52 GMT

Is this the worst miss in snooker history? Alan McManus thinks it might be. With the black ball perched over the pocket, Duane Jones somehow managed to bounce the cue ball into the cushion and rushing past the top-scoring colour – to amused chuckles in the Eurosport commentary box. Jones needs to win four matches to reach The Crucible and will be hoping this miss is a one-off…

Duane Jones produced a horror miss on the “easiest black in the world” during his World Championship qualifier on Monday.

After seemingly wrapping up the second frame to draw level with women’s world champion Nutcharut Wongharuthai, Jones was hoping to get his eye in and clear up the table.

However he contrived to miss the simplest of blacks – and we really do mean the simplest – to land a seven-point foul and invite Nutcharut back into the frame.

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“It’s a funny old game, isn’t it?” said a perplexed Joe Johnson on Eurosport commentary, while co-commentator Alan McManus went one step further.

“I’m going to go out on a limb and say that’s the easiest black in the history of the world that I’ve ever seen missed,” said McManus.

To make Jones feel slightly better, Johnson chimed back in.

“And yet… we’ve both played a shot where it’s cushion first and missed the ball. I don’t think for one moment he expected to miss that black.”

Fortunately for Jones, Nutcharut immediately missed and conceded the frame, allowing the Welshman to disappear from the arena to collect his thoughts.

The pair need to come through four rounds of qualifying to reach the main draw at The Crucible and compete for snooker's biggest prize.

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