1985 World Snooker Championship final
The 1985 World Snooker Championship final, also known as the black ball final, was a snooker match played on the weekend of 1985 at the Crucible Theatre in Sheffield, England. The match was the final of the 1985 World Snooker Championship contested between defending world champion Steve Davis and Dennis Taylor. Davis was appearing in his fourth final, and Dennis' 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.
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; 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.
Road to the final
, ranked as the world number one and defending champion overcame Neal Foulds 10–8 in the opening round in what was his closest match until the final. Davis played David Taylor in the second round, but held a three frame lead throughout much of the match at 6–3 and eventually won 13–4, after winning seven frames out of eight. Davis trailed for the first time at the event in the quarter-finals, as he played Terry Griffiths. Griffiths won the first four frames, but Davis won the next four to tie the match 4–4. Davis won six of the next eight to lead 10–6 after the second and eventually won 13–6. Davis required just three of the four scheduled sessions to overcome Ray Reardon in the semi-finals, winning 16–5.Dennis Taylor defeated Silvino Francisco in the opening round 10-2 after leading 8-1 after the first session. Taylor played Australian Eddie Charlton in the second round, and won 13–6. Taylor played Cliff Thorburn in the quarter-finals, in a match full of slow play. Taylor lead 10–5 after an over nine hour second session, but later won three frames in a row in the final session to win 13–5. Taylor lost the first two frames of his semi-final against Tony Knowles, but won 16 of the next 19 frames to win 16–5, the same scoreline as Davis.
Match report
Davis was strong favourite going into the tournament, having been ranked the world number one for two years and being the defending champion. The two players had met twelve months earlier in the semi-finals of the 1984 World Championship, with Davis winning 16–9. This was Davis' fourth world championship, having won the event on three occasions, including the previous year. It was Taylor's second final, where he previously lost to Terry Griffiths 16–24.Taylor started the 1985 final with a of over 50, but Davis gained a firm advantage by Taylor in the first session 7–0 and also winning the first of the second session to lead 8–0. However, Taylor won the ninth frame on the after Davis attempted, and missed, a on the. Appearing tired and unfocused, Davis lost six of the next seven frames, as Taylor produced the highest break of the final, a 98, to trail 7–9 overnight. Davis won two of the first three frames on the second day, to lead 11–8, before Taylor tied the match at 11–11. Davis took both of the next two frames on the final to lead 13–11. Taylor, however, won four of the next six again drew level at 15–15. 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 50+ break in frame 34, to level the match at 17–17 and force a.
The final frame
Frame 35 was the last and deciding frame of the final, which lasted 68 minutes. Davis led 62–44, with only the last four on the table, worth 22 points.Taylor potted the first three colours to trail 59–62 in the final frame. The match was to be decided on the, worth seven points. Taylor attempted to the ball into the left middle pocket. The shot missed, but the ball rebounded to a position at the top of the table. Davis then played an safety shot, putting the black near the middle of the cushion and leaving the cue ball near the right-hand cushion, a little above the corner pocket. In response, Taylor again attempted to double the black ball, this time into the top-left corner pocket. The black missed but rebounded up and down the table, eventually landing above the left middle pocket to a safe position.Davis's next attempt and left Taylor with a reasonable middle-distance pot to the green corner pocket. However, he missed the pot, to which commentator Jim Meadowcroft described as "biggest shot of his life". This left Davis a in the top left corner. He missed the shot, and left the balls in a position for a regular pot into the same pocket, which Taylor potted, and won the match. The final finished at 12.23 a.m. on 29 April 1985.
The match holds several records. The final is the longest match ever held over the length of 35 frames at 14 hours and 50 minutes. The final moments of the final was watched by 18.5 million viewers, the most ever in the United Kingdom for a broadcast after midnight and for any BBC Two program.
Match statistics
The scores for the match is shown below. Frames won are denoted by bold text and.Legacy
Davis also lost the following year's final to Joe Johnson. He would, however, win the following three in a row between 1987 and 1989, winning six championships in total. Davis and Taylor met on one further occasion, in the quarter-final of the 1991 World Snooker Championship, with Davis winning comfortably 13–7. Taylor never reached the final again, but did win the Masters in 1987, again producing a comeback this time against Alex Higgins.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 up."
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. 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.
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. 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.