Anthony Hamilton may be regarded as the "Robin Hood of the Green Baize" but thus far he has failed in his bid to steal the thunder from snooker's elite.

The Nottingham-born player stayed on the right side of the law earlier this year when he broke his right wrist attempting to stop a pickpocket from stealing his friend's wallet - an injury which has put his top 16 place in jeopardy.

He was unlucky not to clinch his first major title at the 1999 British Open in Plymouth, beating Marco Fu, Paul Hunter, Mark Williams, Stephen Hendry and Jimmy Michie before going down 9-7 to Fergal O'Brien in a tense final.

Hamilton is a wonderful big break-builder and crashed home back to back centuries in the opening two frames of the final before O'Brien turned on the style.

Amazingly, Hamilton still managed to secure his place in the top 16 without reaching the quarter-finals of a ranking event in the 1997-98 season.

He tasted success when winning the Australian Open and Australian Masters in 1995 but last year fell to 11th in the world ranking stakes last season.

The 29-year-old has been passed fit to make his comeback in the Liverpool Victoria UK Championship at Bournemouth.

He was forced to sit out of both the British Open and Grand Prix in October his pickpocketing heroics.