1985 World Snooker Championship final

The 1985 World Snooker Championship final, commonly known as the black ball final, was a snooker match played on the weekend of 27–28 April 1985 at the Crucible Theatre in Sheffield, England. The match was contested between defending World Champion Steve Davis, appearing in his fourth world final, and Northern Irishman Dennis Taylor, appearing in his second. Davis won every frame in the first session, but Taylor produced a determined comeback to win the match on the final ball of the final frame, sealing his only world title. The result was a major shock, as Davis had been widely predicted to win the match, having won three of the previous four world championships.

Steve Davis
Dennis Taylor
 Steve Davis (ENG)  Dennis Taylor (NIR)
World Champion in 1981, 1983, 1984 World Championship runner-up in 1979
27 years old 36 years old
World Ranking: 1 World Ranking: 11
Referee: John Williams[1]

The black ball final took place during the eighth year of the BBC's coverage of the World Snooker Championship, when snooker was reaching the zenith of its popularity. The climax of the final in the early hours of Monday 29 April was watched by 18.5 million people in the United Kingdom;[2] this remains a record for BBC2, and is still the record for a post-midnight audience for any British TV channel. The total match time of 14 hours and 50 minutes is the longest ever recorded for a best-of-35-frames match.[3]

Road to the final
Main article: 1985 World Snooker Championship
 Steve Davis (ENG) Round[4]  Dennis Taylor (NIR)
Opponent Result Opponent Result
Neal Foulds 10–8 First round Silvino Francisco 10–2
David Taylor 13–4 Second round Eddie Charlton 13–6
Terry Griffiths 13–6 Quarter-finals Cliff Thorburn 13–6
Ray Reardon 16–5 Semi-finals Tony Knowles 16–5

Early frames

Davis was strong favourite going into the tournament, having been ranked the world number one for two years and having won three of the last four World Championships. The two players had met twelve months earlier in the semi-finals of the 1984 World Championship, with Davis achieving a decisive 16–9 victory.

Taylor started the 1985 final with a fifty-plus break, but Davis gained a firm advantage by whitewashing Taylor in the first session 7–0 and also winning the first frame of the second session to lead 8–0.[2] In what seems to have been the turning point of the match, Taylor won the ninth frame on the pink after Davis attempted, and missed, a fine cut on the green.[5] Appearing tired and unfocused, Davis lost six of the next seven frames, as Taylor produced some quality break building including the highest break of the final, a 98, to trail 7–9 overnight.[2][5]

Davis won two of the first three frames on the second day, to lead 11–8, before Taylor tied the match at 11–11.[2][5] Davis took both of the next two frames on the final black to lead 13–11,[2] but Taylor again drew level at 15–15.[5] Davis appeared the more nervous of the two players and was beginning to make unforced errors; despite this, he won the next two frames to regain the lead at 17–15. Taylor then won a closely fought 33rd frame, followed by a fifty-plus break in frame 34, to level the match at 17–17 and force the deciding frame.[2]

The final frame

The 35th and final frame lasted 68 minutes.[2][5] In that frame Davis led 62–44, with only the last four colours on the table, worth 22 points. Taylor stayed in contention by potting a very difficult brown from long range, followed by a tricky blue and pink.[6] This meant that, for the first time, the title would be decided on the very last ball, the black.

Taylor attempted to double the ball into the left middle pocket. The shot missed, but the ball rebounded to a safe position at the top of the table. Davis then played an excellent safety shot, putting the black near the middle of the baulk cushion and leaving the cue ball near the right-hand cushion, a little above the corner pocket. Taylor then attempted to double the black into the top-left corner pocket but missed, with the black rebounding up and down the table, eventually sneaking past the left middle pocket to a relatively safe position.[6]

As the applause died down from the audience, veteran commentator Ted Lowe remarked, "I'm sure Dennis wouldn't mind my saying he chanced his arm, and it's come out lucky". Davis's next attempt went awry, as a double-kiss left Taylor with a reasonable middle-distance pot to the green corner pocket. However, he snatched at the shot and missed the pot, to which commentator Jim Meadowcroft described as "the biggest shot of his life".

Taylor thought, in his disappointment, that he had left Davis a moderately easy cut on the black into the top pocket from fairly close range. However, that pot was at a thinner angle than Taylor had anticipated as he tried to judge where the balls would finish up.

Davis overcut the black ball, leaving Taylor a fairly straightforward half-ball pot on the black into the same pocket from mid-distance. This time Taylor, stretching a fraction to avoid having to use the rest, sunk the black on his fourth shot.

The match finished at 12.23 a.m. on 29 April 1985. Much was made of Lowe's understated commentary, simply uttering a surprised "No!" when Davis missed his final shot and a joyful "He's done it!" when Taylor potted the black.

Match statistics
Final: (Best of 35 frames) Crucible Theatre, Sheffield, 27 & 28 April 1985. Referee: John Williams[7]
Steve Davis (1)
 England		 17 – 18 Dennis Taylor (11)
 Northern Ireland
88–50, 93–0, 49–2, 65–38, 95–1, 85–6, 83–20, 121–0, 49–59, 76–27, 49–63, 27–75, 19–99, 1–71, 0–100, 48–77, 25–68, 72–43, 66–58, 48–80, 2–73, 1–80, 64–56, 58–46, 86–13, 43–82, 78–17, 29–84, 4–72, 29–83, 66–6, 81–0, 45–75, 24–71, 62–66
87 Highest break 98
0 Century breaks 0
12 50+ breaks 10
Dennis Taylor wins the 1985 World Snooker Championship

Legacy

Davis also lost the following year's final to Joe Johnson.[8] He would, however, win the following three in a row between 1987 and 1989, winning six championships in total.[9] Davis and Taylor met on one further occasion, in the quarter-final of the 1991 World Snooker Championship, with Davis winning comfortably 13–7.[10] Taylor never reached the final again,[9] but did win the Masters in 1987, again producing a comeback this time against Alex Higgins.[11]

Some months after the 1985 World Championship, a special programme was recorded in which both players watched the entire frame and discussed it shot by shot. As host David Vine stated, this was in fact the first time that Davis had watched the frame. The programme features some insight into certain shots. Taylor asks Davis about one shot in particular, a potentially key shot. After Taylor had missed the initial double into the centre pocket and then the long double into the top pocket, Davis was left with a chance to either double the black into the top right hand pocket, or play the black "around the angles" with a chance of making the "cocked hat" shot into the centre pocket. Taylor, like millions of TV viewers watching that night, did not know which of the two shots Davis had played. Davis confirmed that he had in fact played the latter, but had not got the angle necessary to pull it off easily. In fact, he states that it may have worked but "I hit it too hard, the white checked up."[12]

For the crucial shot, where Davis missed the a cut into the corner pocket Davis stated "I was saying to myself, don't hit it thick" and "that's how you bottle it, by hitting it thick." He summarised: "although I missed the black, it wasn't that shot which lost the match. There were other shots earlier in the frame." In particular, Davis mentions how close he was to being able to pot a pink which he snookered himself on that changed the course of the match.[12]

The programme was later released on DVD as "The Greatest Snooker Final of All Time" by Retro Videos. Both players now commentate on BBC's snooker coverage and are often reminded of that match. The black-ball finish was voted the ninth greatest sporting moment of all time in a 2002 Channel 4 poll.[13][14]

During the 2010 World Championship, Taylor and Davis 're-created' the final frame of the 1985 final. Performed in a distinctly irreverent manner, the "rerun" was noticeable for the fact that in attempting to replicate the missed shots on the final black, they instead ended up potting it on all but one attempt. The one attempt on the black they missed was the shot Taylor potted in the 1985 match to win the championship.[15] BBC Two aired a one-hour documentary on the final, Davis v Taylor: The '85 Black Ball Final, presented by Colin Murray, after the conclusion of the coverage of the 2010 final.[16]

References
  1. Downer, Chris (2012). Crucible Almanac. p. 143.
  2. "1985: The black ball final". BBC Sport. 18 April 2003. Archived from the original on 28 September 2013. Retrieved 4 May 2011.
  3. "Various Snooker Records". Chris Turner's Snooker Archive. Archived from the original on 10 February 2013. Retrieved 3 May 2010.
  4. "World Championship 1985". Global Snooker. Archived from the original on 6 March 2012. Retrieved 2 May 2011.
  5. "April 29 down the years: The greatest Crucible final". ESPN. Archived from the original on 1 December 2013. Retrieved 23 May 2012.
  6. Phillips-Knight, Rob. "Taylor snatches the 'black-ball final'". ESPN. Archived from the original on 3 December 2013. Retrieved 4 May 2011.
  7. Downer, Chris (2012). Crucible Almanac. p. 143.
  8. "1986: Johnson stuns snooker world". BBC Sport. 18 April 2003. Retrieved 28 March 2020.
  9. Turner, Chris. "World Professional Championship". cajt.pwp.Greatestueyonder.co.uk. Chris Turner's Snooker Archive. Archived from the original on 16 April 2013. Retrieved 24 February 2011.
  10. Downer, Chris (2012). Crucible Almanac. pp. 32–33.
  11. Turner, Chris. "The Masters". cajt.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk. Chris Turner's Snooker Archive. Archived from the original on 7 January 2012. Retrieved 1 March 2011.
  12. The Greatest Snooker Final of All Time (DVD). Retro Videos. October 2006. ASIN B000EU1M4Y.
  13. Philip, Robert (14 April 2005). "Taylor still on song as he relives past glory". The Telegraph. London. Archived from the original on 10 November 2012. Retrieved 4 May 2011.
  14. "100 Greatest Sporting Moments – Results". Channel4.com. Archived from the original on 18 January 2010. Retrieved 16 April 2007.
  15. "Steve Davis & Dennis Taylor stage rematch of 1985 final". BBC Sport. 29 April 2010. Archived from the original on 28 March 2010. Retrieved 30 April 2010.
  16. "Davis v Taylor: The '85 Black Ball Final". UK TV Guide. Archived from the original on 5 February 2013. Retrieved 4 May 2011.
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