Writer; snooker & cricket lover; flaneur. Author of Deep Pockets: Snooker and the Meaning of Life and Echoing Greens: How Cricket Shaped the English Imagination
PUBLICATION DAY!
My new book, Echoing Greens: How Cricket Shaped the English Imagination, is now OUT.
“A fascinating social history” (Country Life).
If you are a fan of cricket, art, literature, or life, then this is the book for you.
Echoing Greens: How Cricket Shaped the English Imagination is out today.
This is the perfect read for the cricket enthusiast in your life. Pick up a copy now!
@BCooper147
After Tony Drago’s heartbreaking comments yesterday, here is a reminder of one of the most amazing breaks in the entire history of snooker.
Tony, you are a legend and we love you.
Tony Drago makes fastest TV century in 3 minutes 33 seconds via
@YouTube
Beautiful stuff from Angles. The Diana Ross comparison is, of course, an obvious one. We all remember her match against Thorburn in the 1983 quarter finals.
Alan McManus responds to the Hossein Vafaei comments:
'You come here to play snooker, you don't come here to smell roses and flowers and all that stuff. If Diana Ross came in here to put on a show or anyone else, it's a place of work. There's nothing wrong with the Crucible.'
Some complaints and grumblings, it seems, about the fist bumps in the Murphy v Maguire matchup.
Always completely baffles me. Is it disrespectful to celebrate a goal or a wicket?
I love a fist bump. Passion and grit. Bring it on. 🤛🏼
Incredible stuff from Jak Jones. The last player I saw come from nowhere, to show this kind of technical strength and calm under pressure, was a bloke by the name of Mark Selby.
Shaun Murphy feels like the bans are not harsh enough.
Is he right? He certainly has a very good point … what should it actually take to receive a ban for life?
Delighted to be quoted in
@thetimes
today. Can this slow sport survive in a fast world? It can; and it will. “There’s something very precious about the slowness of snooker.”
Publication day!
Thank you so much to everyone for your support of Deep Pockets. It means a lot.
Do you like snooker? Or pockets? Or the meaning of life? If the answer to any of these is yes, or even maybe, then this is the book for you. 🎱
Honoured to have a big review of Deep Pockets by the great Clive Everton in the latest issue of Snooker Scene. Thank you to
@snookerscene
; and thank you to Clive.
Davis v Taylor, 1985.
Hendry v White, 1994.
Hendry v Ebdon, 2002.
It has been 22 years since the last decider in a Crucible final.
We are long overdue.
Just saying.
An eighth Masters title for Ronnie O’Sullivan. The oldest Masters winner, 29 years after becoming the youngest.
Can we really apply the term “genius” to snooker?
Yes. In this case, yes, I think we can.
𝗜𝗚𝗢𝗥 𝗧𝗢𝗣𝗣𝗟𝗘𝗦 𝗧𝗛𝗘 𝗧𝗢𝗥𝗡𝗔𝗗𝗢 🇧🇷
Igor Figueiredo fires in back-to-back century breaks to wrap up a 3-1 victory over Tony Drago for a place in the final of the World Seniors Championship for the first time! 👏🏻
#SeniorsSnooker
Excellent article by
@Nick_Metcalfe
on this year’s match-fixing scandals, and their effect on the game of snooker. Deep damage was done. But snooker will always survive.
'It would be naive in the extreme to think this saga put an end to nefarious behaviour in the game but the definitive outcome must have been a major step in a positive direction.'
Match fixing cast a shadow over the snooker year. My review:
#Snooker
A magnificent sporting moment, and a huge moment in the internationalism of snooker. A very Merry Christmas to Luca Brecel, 2023 World Snooker Champion.
Top-quality snooker banter on Test Match Special this morning.
Tuffers: “You look like … Doug Mountjoy.”
Aggers: “As long as it’s not Bill Werbeniuk, I don’t mind.”
Completely blown away by
@BCooper147
's Deep Pockets, the most in-depth, eloquent study of snooker (or perhaps any sport) I've ever read. Can't recommend it enough👏
Loved being joined by
@BCooper147
on
@TalkingSnooker
this week, chatting about his amazing book Deep Pockets: Snooker and the Meaning of Life.
Shout out to Brendan for a superb choice of favourite player as well.
A brilliant match - and a superb win for Ding Junhui on the opening day of the UK Championship. The Pistol’s title defence is over.
Ding often gets written off these days; but he’s won the event three times, and made the final last year. Could he go all the way?
Hazel Irvine has been made an MBE in the New Year's Honours. An outstanding broadcaster, the peerless Irvine has been a familiar face on our screens for four decades. And as snooker people, we're delighted she has become so synonymous with coverage of the sport on BBC Television.
Another superb performance for Judd Trump. Two tournaments in a row now. Are we about to see another phase of ruthless Juddian dominance, in the style of 2019-21?
The morning of the Crucible final … the perfect time to settle in with a coffee and a copy of Luke G. Williams’ superb biography of Patsy Houlihan. A spellbinding piece of work from
@Boxianajournal
Fabulous performance from the Big Lisowski in a brilliant match against Ding.
Could be a threat.
Four deciding frames already. What a tournament so far …
Alex Higgins with trophy, tears, and his baby girl, Crucible, 1982. The greatest moment of a fragile genius. Just maybe, the most emotional moment in snooker history.
Ridiculous brilliance from Ronnie O’Sullivan.
Thirty years after becoming the youngest ever UK snooker champion, he becomes the oldest.
The word genius is over-used. But sometimes, it is the only word possible.
Stuart Broad has announced his retirement from cricket after the fifth test.
A legend of English cricket, about to take his last bow. We shall never see his like again.
Thanks for the memories, Nighthawk.
#StuartBroad
#Ashes2023
Trump is a player in a unique technical situation. When his crooked cue action is running perfectly, he’s unbeatable. When it isn’t, he’s very vulnerable. Does that seem right?
WST is delighted to announce the inaugural Saudi Arabia Snooker Masters as part of a major 10-year deal between
@matchroomsport
&
@mosgovsa
!
Click 👇 for info
Regarding the “giant pockets” controversy: how easy actually is it to change how a table plays? If the pockets are generous, what can the fitters do, specifically, to alter the situation?
@fouldsy147
@InTheBalls147
@TSnooker102
On the Snooker Scene podcast this week I speak to three authors about their new snooker books:
@Boxianajournal
(The Natural),
@JohnESkilbeck
(Goody Two Shoes) &
@BCooper147
(Deep Pockets) ✍️
Thanks to
@TSnooker102
for his excellent top ten greatest snooker shots of all time. A thoughtfully considered range of choices; some high-quality debate in the comments. Baize Twitter at its best.
Kyren Wilson it is. The 2024 World Snooker Champion.
Fair play to him. The best player in the tournament, and a deserving winner.
Congratulations to
@KyrenWilson
Incredible stuff from Judd Trump. In winning the Northern Ireland Open, he becomes the first player to win three consecutive ranking tournaments since Ding Junhui in 2013.
#snooker
#NorthernIrelandOpen
#Judd
#genius
Thank you so much to
@holdfastleeds
for such a kind review of Deep Pockets. “An irresistible investigation into the heart of the game”. And a charming pic with the elf too 😎
Couldn’t possibly condense Chris’s review of Deep Pockets by
@BCooper147
to this amount of words - it’s over on our insta if you’re snooker loopy. Cheers to
@northernsnooker
for indulging him in a elf photoshoot 😉
Excited today to receive an advance copy of my forthcoming book, Deep Pockets: Snooker and the Meaning of Life. Published next month by Hachette UK 🎱🎱🎱
@tickerscricket
Back in the day (80s and 90s), Boycott was way ahead of his time in his levels of technical analysis. With bowling just as much as batting. For a time, he was the best commentator in the world.