Hossein Vafaei foul leaves referee Tatiana Woollaston in ball-replacement pickle in Masters clash with Mark Selby

Hossein Vafaei may find himself unfollowed on social media by referee Tatiana Woollaston (she follows him, we checked) after a foul led to an epic ball replacement in his clash with Mark Selby at the Masters.

In true Selby mode, he worked an advantage in the second frame and placed his opponent in a fiendish position behind yellow and brown in their first-round clash at Alexandra Palace on Sunday evening.

After assessing his options, Vafaei came to the conclusion that his best chance was to slide the cue ball through a narrow gap between yellow and brown.

There was a gap, but not a big one. Trying to play it with swerve added to the tariff, and it did not come off as he hit the yellow and that sent the white careering into other balls.

Selby realised the issue as he had his head in his hands to mask his laughter, while Woollaston had the look of someone who knew what was coming next.

Neal Foulds on Eurosport commentary spotted the impact of the choice of shot within seconds.

“Oh dear, oh dear,” Foulds said. “This is one where Tatiana Woollaston is dreading what is coming next as the balls will need to be replaced, and we could be here a while.

“Blue on the spot, and that is as much help as I can give.

“This is why I chose never to become a snooker referee, as these are the moments you don’t need.”

Woollaston enlisted the help of marker Olivier Marteel and between them they solved the problem, in decent time.

Phil Studd added: “Given the circumstances, that was whirlwind work from Olivier Marteel in combination with Tatiana Woollaston they deserve that round of applause.”

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