'Not guilty of anything' - Sam Craigie cue ball controversy against Ding Junhui discussed by pundits

Updated 29/11/2021 at 09:32 GMT

It's rare for controversy to rear its head in snooker, as players are often seen calling fouls on themselves. There was controversy in Sam Craigie's win over Ding Junhui at the UK Championship, as there was a case of foul or no foul? Jimmy White and Alan McManus discussed the incident in the Eurosport studio.

Foul or no foul? Jimmy and Alan discuss Craigie cue ball incident

Sam Craigie secured one of the biggest wins of his career by toppling Ding Junhui in the second round of the UK Championship, but some of the lustre was taken off by a controversial moment in frame eight.

Craigie was in command, and ultimately good value for his win, and he pinched the eighth frame.

He wrapped up the frame when knocking a pink into the right middle, but eagle-eyed viewers suggested something untoward had happened.

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Craigie knocked in the pink and as he headed off stage, he placed his cue on the table. At the precise moment he placed his cue down, the cue ball was still moving and cue and cue ball collided just as Craigie walked in front of the camera.

When Craigie left the camera shot, cue and cue ball had collided. So the question was: should a foul have been called by referee Maike Kesseler?

It was not, as Craigie was awarded the frame and he later wrapped up victory.

Plenty of debate has been sparked on social media, while Jimmy White and Alan McManus discussed it in the Eurosport studio.

“Sam has got pink for the game," McManus said. "The cue ball is not going in, we can see that.

"Maike Kesseler the referee calls the frame, which probably leads to Sam putting his cue on the table. Sam is not culpable of any mistake.

“Strictly speaking, in my opinion, the referee should stand her ground and wait until the cue ball finishes moving - then you call the frame.

“I am not digging out Maike Kesseler on that at all, but you hear her and she is a wee bit too quick to call the frame.

“Stand your ground, wait for the cue ball to finish and if Sam comes in and hits the cue ball with his cue then it is a foul.

“But Sam is not guilty of anything there."

Jimmy White adds: “The camera does not actually see it. We don’t know if the cue ball stopped or not, but he’d won the frame and as Alan said, Sam did not do anything wrong.”

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