HENDRY WATCH

Selt's not *that* bad.  Would be amazed if Hendry wins, unless Selt goes all giddy and starstruck, or unless Hendry's found about 4 extra gears from what he managed in the seniors.

Interesting there were 111 players he could have drawn but incredibly drew his best pal and practice partner mattie selt. Amazing and fortuitous coincidence that.

  Guess it's unlikely that he'll be giddy and starstruck, in that case!

is Hendry gonna roll back the years on "The Rock"?????

They should name one of the roundabouts "The Rock" for the week.

I suspect hendry will nick a couple of frames anyway on the main tv table but i'd be more intrigued to know what it says about a fella that your best friend is matt selt.

  Wouldn't be top of my list of "blokes to go out for a pint with" either, John! 

very poor standard and hendry will crawl over the line against his mate, NAP

Mug Hendry backer signing in, going for a mug double as I thought the Elliot photo was a fake.

I don't think a formline through his performances in the seniors is the best way to assess his chances. he's on record as stating this is all about redemption from the 13-2 against McGuire where by his own admission he gave up. Hence his practice will have been geared up to qualifying for the world's in a months time, I think this would involve winning 3 best of 11s and a best of 19 (apologies if this is incorrect), a totally different level of commitment than is required for turning up to an annual knockabout with old chums at the seniors.
If he says he's playing well, I'm prepared to give it some credibility, well I am 5/2 anyway.
I usually swevre freak show sport, Tyson, Charity games, International football friendlies etc, but I'll be watching this. I notice they'd priced Barney up at 7/2 to win a PDC title this year, it only took him 3 days, obviously this is the exception rather than the norm when it comes to sporting comebacks.

Sensational century by Hendry to make it 1-1.....oh and that's 776 centuries for him now.....9 years after his last.

Selt cueing exceptionally well 3-1

All over 4-1....Selt played very well to be fair. Hendry didn't do a lot wrong....

Credit to Hendry - he played better than I thought he would.  Selt was superb, though.  Will be interesting to see if it's a performance he can replicate.  Not impossible his own game has been elevated by practicing regularly with Hendry.

The table is too big for Stephen, won't qualify unless he can pot from deep, which he can't.

He was understandably nervous and hesitant and this showed in his positional play in the breaks, he looked more fluid once he was past the winning line in the hundred break. He missed a couple of long reds, but he didn’t miss by far and it’s a small sample size, his safety game was of more concern. He retired 9 years ago and the game moves on, some of the changes are obvious some more subtle, but merely getting the white back to baulk doesn’t cut it these days. He was unlucky to have drawn Selt, who played very well and unlucky that we’re probably comparing him to some of the sublime snooker that is fresh in our minds from last week, but assuming he can step it up a little qualification for The Crucible seems a realistic goal.

He was a lot better than I expected so has clearly been putting in the hours properly,
looked well capable of seeing off most outside the top 50 if he can play to that level (as others have said Selt played a very good game)...
he's still obviously keen to play a very attacking game and crucially as you reference LL the missed long reds were to my recollection very decent efforts not missing the postcode jobs which on another day will set up chances, the fact that when he got in he made what was far from a straightforward ton also very encouraging for him.
Biggest problem for getting to Sheffield might be a lack of matches before the qualifiers.

his next match is the 1st round of the WC qualifiers isn't it?

that was my understanding wise' looking at the calendar quoted on Wikipedia at least, maybe should have worked harder to get his entry in for the Welsh...

he missed the deadline for the Welsh? he claimed he'd entered but there was no record..

"IT glitch" is his story.

yeah. not buying it

Qualifier round 1
Jimmy White v Stephen Hendry

Plays Cliff Thorburn at the weekend in Irish Senior Masters, travel permitting I guess.
Jimmy White    v    Tony Drago
John Parrott    v    Rory McLeod
Stephen Hendry    v    Cliff Thorburn
Michael Judge    v    Dennis Taylor

That irish masters was cancelled weeks ago. No snooker going on this side of pond at all.

poor Jimmy will have to live it all again..........

the draw was very kind to Stephen and Baz Hearn............coincidentally