NEIL ROBERTSON is keen for snooker to keep up with the times and wants a trial of new rules after loving the Crucible Cup Snooker 900 format.
He won the inaugural competition this week after beating John Higgins 7-5 in the final.
Writing on X on Tuesday, he expressed his desire to see some flexibility with future tournaments.
Robertson, 43, wrote: “The ruleset for the 900 is the most fun I’ve had playing snooker.
“It forces players to play their natural game and you don’t even notice the shot clock for the most part.
“The rules in snooker haven’t changed for over 50 years and they need to evolve now.
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“I’m not saying every rule but there are 3 or 4 I would like to see trialed”.
Snooker 900 includes frames of no more than 15 minutes (900 seconds) and a 20-second shot-clock throughout.
If there is no winner at the end of the time limit then whoever is leading in points takes the frame with no extension.
Other rules include the cue ball needing to touch a cushion or pot another ball.
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On top of this, any foul gives the opponent the cue ball in hand.
World No3 Robertson was up against seven of the top 15 at the Crucible Cup, played whilst qualifiers for the UK Championship are ongoing.
It is not part of the professional tour but offered a prize pool of over £70,000 for a two-day affair at the Crucible Sports and Social Club, Reading.
It was shown for free on TV and saw Robertson beat Stephen Hendry 6-2 in a brief competitive comeback.
He then beat Mark Selby in the semi-final before overcoming Higgins to take the £35,000 winnings.
Responding to comments online pointing out the Shoot Out on the World Snooker tour, Robertson said: “10 second shot clock, players running around like headless chickens with 10 minute match and people in the arena behaving like barn animals. No thanks”.
Speaking immediately after the tournament, he said: “Chatting to Mark Selby about it, sometimes we’re trying to be too perfect on shots and it ends up with us taking our time.
“I want to bring in the 20 second shot clock into every event!”
Higgins himself said: “I have thoroughly enjoyed it and it was a great couple of days and a really enjoyable format.”
Robertson continued: “Like John said, we’ve all really enjoyed it and we’ve been speaking about bringing this format into ranking events.
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“You can go a couple of frames behind but it still forces you to play your natural game.
“I managed to rattle off a few frames in a row to clinch it.”
Read the full article here