Snooker: White's not alright

Jimmy White produced a rare act of petulance as he fell 6-2 behind in the opening session of his Embassy World Championship second-round match against Matthew Stevens today.

The ‘Whirlwind’ was getting the worse of the battle as sixth seed Stevens produced some of the form which carried him to the final at the Crucible in 2000 and the last four a year ago.

And White’s frustration boiled over in the last frame of the session when he spurned one of a number of chances he had been given to compile a sizeable break.

After missing a black off the spot, the 39-year-old Londoner’s temper got the better of him and he lashed out at the cue ball, which struck the black again and sent it careering off the table.

White immediately turned to Stevens and shook his hand to signal the end of the session, conceding the frame even though he trailed by only 13 points with three reds still on the table.

Six-time former world champion Steve Davis was astonished by what his old rival had done and saw no reason why White should have given up.

‘‘I don’t know why he had to concede the frame,’’ said Davis. ‘‘What Jimmy did meant only seven points away and there was no guarantee that Matthew would win the frame from that position.’’

Stevens had earlier missed out on a possible maximum 147 break in the opening frame of the session.

He potted 14 reds but then failed to sink the next black after suffering a ‘kick’ as he tried to gain position on the tricky last red.

But it was still a 105 and the Welshman added further contributions of 84, 113 and 95 as he piled the misery on the out-of-sorts White.

In one of the two first-round matches yet to be completed, 12th seed Alan McManus of Scotland, who had trailed 6-2 to Anthony Davies overnight, fought back to 8-7 down and notched up a 134 break in frame 11.