By Phil Harlow BBC Sport at the Crucible

John Higgins has been disturbed by the playing conditions

There is growing disquiet amongst the players over the playing conditions at The Crucible.

Peter Ebdon, John Higgins and Jimmy White have all made their feelings on the subject clear and since two of them are in the quarter-finals after comfortable victories it cannot all be dismissed as sour grapes.

"I've spoken to tournament officials and they tell me that everything that can be done is being done," said defending champion Ebdon.

"The tables are playing a lot differently than usual and the pockets are a little bit tighter," said Higgins.

"I spoke to the table fitter and he told me they are one-sixteenth of an inch tighter than usual.

"The cloth is not the same that we have been using for the last three years and that's quite disturbing."

Other players have commented on the heat and humidity inside The Crucible.

It seems that in a sport where matches can be won or lost on a fraction of an inch, it seems the organisers will have their work cut out to keep everybody content.

Perhaps the most disappointing feature of the day, for journalists at least, was the sudden outbreak of peace between Peter Ebdon and Tony Drago at the end of their second-round match.

The pair had been expected to trade insults and vitriol at their post-match press conference following an acrimonious second session on Friday.

Drago fumes at Ebdon

But it was a case of friends reunited at the end of their third session with both players claiming not to know what all the fuss was about.

"I was oblivious to anything that happened on Friday," said Ebdon.

Drago says he was feeling 'tired and emotional'

"I've got tremendous respect of Tony. He's great for the game of snooker."

Drago blamed his tired and emotional state as down to being, well, tired and emotional.

"I would have loved a day off after my first-round match against my best mate Joe Swail," he said.

"It was a very emotional day for me and I didn't sleep for more than an hour that night. But that's not Peter's fault.

"I've known Peter for 20 years and I'm not about to lose our friendship over a game of snooker."

Hot on the heels of Ronnie O'Sullivan's shock first-round exit, Jimmy White's defeat at the hands of Stephen Lee has sent another crowd favourite tumbling out before the business end of the tournament.

But for all the heartbroken fans who once again reignited their hopes that their man could win that elusive world title, one group are delighted at his exit.

The bookmakers, some of whom went into the championship offering 150-1 on the six-time finalist going one step further, were looking at huge pay-outs - at least �400,000 according to one big chain - if White had made the final.

Every cloud has a silver lining, eh?