World Championship 2011 - Qualifying Preview (Part 2)

The second part of the preview for the Betfred.com World Snooker Championship qualifiers! Amongst the players looking to make it through to the Crucible is former six-times world champion Steve Davis.

This is the second part of my qualifying preview (first part here). You can watch all of these matches live at the English Institute of Sport in Sheffield over the next week.

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An interesting tie to start this group off. Irish player David Morris sees himself at 72nd in the rankings and needs a couple wins to keep his tour position safe. It's a similar situation for Dave Gilbert as the veteran has had an awful previous two seasons and see's himself at 79th and is almost guarenteed to be relegated. I believe Morris will come through to face the resurgent Barry Pinches. After an impressive start to the season after being a finalist and winning a PTC event beating Ronnie O'Sullivan in the final the canary cueman has stalled a bit. But I make him favourite to progress as he seems to like longer formats. He faces Yorkshire player Peter Lines who has had a steady season. I havent seen much of Peter recently so I favour Barry the favourite to come through but he faces a tough opponent in the form of Judd Trump. Judd has had a decent season also winning a EPTC event but has yet to break through to the top 16. His strong scoring has to make him favourite to progress. - Judd Trump to qualify.

Since qualifying for the World Open Scot Paul Davision hasn't had much to show for in recent months but consistency in the PTC means he should be safe for another season. He faces either Welsh youngster Jak Jones or a qualifier. Anthony McGill is up next, the Scottish youngster along with Jack Lisowski has been making waves on his debut season and already is safely in the top 64. He nearly qualified for several venues this season and will be hoping to make his ranking debut at the Crucible. He will most likely come through to face tour veteran Fergal O'Brien. Fergal has had quite a decent season so far but not many big wins. It should be close but I slightly favour the more experienced Irish O'brien in the longer format. It shouldn't matter much though, I highly favour Welsh dragon Matthew Stevens to win in the final round. He performed brilliantly in recent events and nearly beat John Higgins in the Welsh quarter finals and should be back in the top 16 sooner than later. - Matthew Stevens to qualify.

Interesting group this one. First off its Patrick "Paddy" Wallace who sees himself down to 75th in the rankings at the moment and needs a few wins to keep his tour place. He faces a qualifier, the experienced WPBSA coach Del Smith. As an active pro Wallace should win with ease and will face Rod Lawler next. Rod has been sliding down the rankings of late and could with a win here going into the next season and he should get it. Consitency is Matthew Selt's name over the past few months. He hasn't qualified for a venue this season but he has won several matches in PTCs and qualifying and sees himself in the top 48 for the first time in his career. Could he move up further against Scot Marcus Campbell? Marcus has won a EPTC event this season and qualified for several venues and looks to be playing the best of his career at the moment. It will be tough and I could see Selt winning but Marcus should come out on top. - Marcus Campbell to qualify.

Promising Welsh youngster Michael White starts off this group, he did well in the PTC events but not alot anywhere else but it should be enough for him to keep his tour card once again. Unfortunately for Adam Wicheard he sees himself down to 87th in the rankings so he will be off the tour and will have to go to Q School to get back on. All in all I expect Michael to progress and face Matthew Couch. Matthew had a good run in EPTC2 reaching the final only to lose to Shaun Murphy but it meant that it was enough to see him stay on the tour another season and reach the PTC finals. I think Michael could upset here and face Anthony Hamilton in the third round. Anthony has had a slightly better season and sees him up to 35th thanks to a few good PTC runs. He should easily come through to face Gloucester player Barry Hawkins. Barry has made quite a few venues this season and and will be favourite to come through here. But I could easily see Anthony winning this tussle. - Barry Hawkins to qualify.

This group features the six-times world champion Steve Davis who will be battling to reach his 31st apperance at the Crucible. But first Liam Highfield and Kuldesh Johal are up first. Kuldesh has had a season to forget and lies at 89th and will be off the tour. I expect the younger Liam Highfield to progress here and he needs the win as he currently stands at 64th in the rankings. Tour debutant Jack Lisowski should be the winner of the next match though. He has made possibly the biggest impact amongst the newcomers this season appearing in a PTC final and qualifying for the German Masters and Welsh Open and even won the Maxxie for best newcomer 2010. He should face Steve in the third round which is arguably the most exciting match of the qualifiers. I can't predict who will come up top here but Steve should just make it through due to experience over longer matches. EPTC4 winner Stephen Lee faces the winner of that match and will be looking to make up for loosing the championship league group 6 finals yesterday. He is playing his best snooker for years recently and should make it through to the Crucible, but the Nugget and Jack will give him a hard ride. - Stephen Lee to qualify.