INCREDIBLE & RARE Snooker Break! 16 Red TOTAL Clearance - Steve James

INCREDIBLE & RARE Snooker Break! 16 Red TOTAL Clearance - Steve James #snooker

Welcome once again to Snooker International with another exciting Snooker Video.

I want you to know about Steve James, a very talented and fast snooker player from the UK, who made the only televised 16 red total clearance at a ranking event, the World Championships in Sheffield in the year 1990.

A former postman like Terry Griffiths, the high point of his career was his sole ranking title – the Mercantile Credit Classic in 1990, beating Australian Warren King 10–6 in the final. His world ranking peaked at number seven the following season, the best of his five seasons in the top sixteen.

On 14th of April 1990, in his match against Alex Higgins at the World Snooker Championship in Sheffield, Steve James became the first player to produce a 16-red total clearance in competitive play.

In other words, he potted 16 reds and 16 colours consecutively, followed by all the coloured balls in order: a situation that was only possible because he was awarded a free ball before any red had been potted.

A year later he reached the semi-finals of the World Snooker Championship, beating defending champion Stephen Hendry in the quarter-finals (it was six years before anyone else beat Hendry in the tournament: Ken Doherty in 1997).

He was beaten in the semi-final by Jimmy White, with whom he shares his birthday; coincidentally, the match began on their birthday, the second of May.

He was the first player ever to score two centuries on his Crucible debut, including a 140, the second highest by a debutant of all time. In addition to 1991, he reached the quarter-finals on his debut in 1988, and the last 16.

Now enjoy this extremely rare and awesome break he made.