Shaun Murphy makes maximum 147 one frame after 145 break against Daniel Wells at Welsh Open – ‘Snooker from the gods’

Shaun Murphy turned on the style with a 145 break followed by a maximum 147 in back-to-back frames against Daniel Wells in their Welsh Open round-of-16 clash.

After a couple of years in the doldrums, Murphy has shown signs of a return to form in the current campaign.

He hit form in blistering style against Wells at Venue Cymru in Llandudno on Thursday evening.

Murphy went into the match knowing the target for the high break was David Gilbert’s 142, as he asked Eurosport’s Michael McMullan that question before entering the arena.

In the second frame, he put himself in pole for the £5,000 prize with a sizzling 145 total clearance.

That number has proved beyond many in the game who have not hit a maximum, but Murphy was not one for resting on his laurels as he kicked into overdrive in the following frame.

It became evident after four reds and with the cluster opened nicely that the maximum was on his mind.

The 2005 world champion strode round the table with an air of authority, and never missed a beat.

Time and again he kept finding perfect position, and it seemed a certainty that he would make the 10th 147 in Welsh Open history.

That was until he ran slightly out of position from blue to pink. It was a tight cut into left middle, but it dropped – to the delight of the crowd who roared it into the pocket.

He dropped plumb on the black and knocked it in to record the 185th official 147 in the history of the sport.

“This is special stuff from Murphy,” Joe Johnson said on Eurosport commentary. “He is treating us to exhibition snooker with his match play.”

David Hendon added: “This has been a pretty astonishing 20 minutes. A 145, which was a big target for the high break, and he’s beaten it with a maximum in the next frame.

“What an extraordinary exhibition of snooker. A 145 in the last frame, and a 147 in the next.”

Jimmy White was blown away in the Eurosport studio: “One of the best 147s I have ever seen.”

Neal Foulds added: “He’s hitting the kind of form you don’t see very often. He is in the zone. He is in that bubble and it is fantastic.

“Clive Everton used to call it snooker from the gods, and he has done it here.”

Wells avoided the bagel by taking the fourth frame, but Murphy closed out the match one frame later with a fine break of 78.

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