By Saj Chowdhury
BBC Sport at The Crucible |
The World Snooker Championship quarter-final between Ronnie O'Sullivan and Peter Ebdon produced enough water-cooler conversation to last several days.
 |  It's not making me happy - mentally and physically it's taking its toll |
Many thought the contest would produce snooker of the highest quality. It did, but only in patches.
This encounter will be remembered for Ebdon's spectacularly slow play and O'Sullivan's sensational reaction to it.
The match began fairly innocently, with O'Sullivan racing into a 6-2 lead before establishing an 8-2 advantage at the start of the second session.
Then things changed for the worse for the Rocket, as Ebdon began to reduce the deficit by winning scrappy frames.
By the end of the second session, the 2002 world champion was four frames adrift of his opponent.
O'Sullivan was still favourite, but Ebdon opted to go up a gear - by moving down a gear.
His shot times became longer, much to the frustration of O'Sullivan.
It was clearly having an effect on the Rocket, who in the 17th frame chose to continue playing despite being 86-0 behind with virtually no hope of winning the frame.
On one occasion, an amazing three minutes elapsed while Ebdon took one shot. He then spent five minutes making a break of 12.
The defending champion appeared disillusioned with the whole situation.
 Ebdon's deliberate play reduced O'Sullivan to spectator status |
At times he giggled, covered his face with his hand and even asked a member of crowd what the time was.
So what happened?
After the match, O'Sullivan said his game had fallen apart. He did not lay the blame on Ebdon, instead he praised his opponent for employing what proved to be match-winning tactics.
What now for Chigwell's finest? A year's break? Or has he finally had enough of the game?
Whatever the outcome, O'Sullivan has once again stolen the headlines at snooker's premier event and if he does walk away the sport will lose one of its great characters.
MMIX
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