PAUL Hunter will need more than his steel grit and determination over the next couple of days if he is to stay in this year's Travis Perkins UK Snooker Championship.

His courageous performance in beating Jamie Burnett in a dramatic finish to their second round match late on Wednesday night was quite astonishing in the circumstances.

The Leeds star suffers badly from side-effects of powerful cancer-combating drugs he has to take. They make his legs and arms tremble and on top of that he has very little sense of touch in his hands. He is virtually playing shots by instinct based on his wide experience.

He says he gets good days and bad days. Tomorrow he needs a good one, because he's playing Chinese 18-year-old hot-shot Ding Junhui, a lad being tipped as a future world champion and who showed in his 9-3 demolition of Jimmy White on Thursday that he is on sharp form.

"He's a great player," was White's verdict. "Every part of his game is quality. His all-round game it very good. He's a very dangerous player. If you don't play well, he'll bury you."

Hunter's match starts tomorrow afternoon at York Barbican Centre, after the end of defending champion Stephen Maguire's duel with Joe Swail, and the 27-year-old Yorkshire hero is back on Monday afternoon (1.30pm) for the decisive session.

Stephen Hendry will be eager to put out James Wattana tomorrow afternoon and line up a last 16 clash with his pal and great rival Mark Williams, who showed on Thursday with his 9-2 win over Michael Holt that he's back on form.

There's a treat in store tomorrow night, too, with former world and UK champion John Higgins back in play, this time against 1997 world champion Ken Doherty, the UK losing finalist two years in a row in York (2001 and 2002). That match finishes on Monday.

Higgins, on the evidence of his second round 9-3 win over Gerard Greene this week, which included a 145 break, is still in the record-breaking form which took him to the Grand Prix title in October. His four consecutive centuries was the first time any player had achieved that in competitive play and he broke the all-time record for unanswered points, scoring 494 without reply.

WAIT and see. That's the expert opinion of six-times world champion Steve Davis on the chances of 19-year-old Mark Allen fulfilling the promise he is showing at such a young age.

After beating the world amateur champion from Antrim on Wednesday night, the 'Nugget' said: "I watched him play four frames in Ireland (when Allen beat Davis in the Northern Ireland Trophy) and I thought the jury was out.

"When he is firing on all cylinders he is a phenomenal player. I think it is very unfair to judge him effectively in his first season.

"He scared the life out of me towards the end. He got a brilliant red I didn't expect him to get. He is certainly improving.

"It is very hard to judge how far somebody is going to go. I've made mistakes judging players before. Give him a couple of years in the game and you never know.

"He needs to get the professional balance to his game which players get after a couple of years. Judge him when he's 23, not now. For some reason 23's the age when most players mature."

Allen himself had said after his first round win over David Gray, last year's UK beaten finalist, that he had felt star-struck playing against some of the giants of snooker in the Northern Ireland event. He not only beat Davis but knocked out former world and UK champion John Higgins before the great Stephen Hendry floored the teenager 5-1 in the quarter-finals.

TWO thoughtless spectators didn't help David Gray's cause at a key moment of a tense frame on Tuesday night.

The 26-year-old from Surrey, who lost to Stephen Maguire in last year's UK final, was battling for survival at 8-6 down in the first round match against Mark Allen.

Needing the colours to take the frame he was about to take a tough shot on green near the baulk cushion when two spectators left the arena. One was a few feet behind the seemingly elderly spectator at the front, who stooped and slowly shuffled directly past the cubicle where the match was being played.

They made no attempt to look up to see that a shot was about to be played and they should have paused. Gray stood up and stepped back until the spectators carried on their way out of the arena.

It was all over in a few seconds and not a situation which could have been predicted easily. Even seeing the couple making their way out it was natural to think they'd pause so as not to disrupt play, but they didn't.

Gray eventually played the shot well but later missed getting position on pink and lost the frame and with it the match, though he wasn't blaming the incident for his defeat. He confessed that he didn't play at all well and hasn't been on form at all this season so far.

ENGLAND and not the UK is on York snooker teenager Steve Gregson's mind this weekend.

He has a tough battle ahead in the Yorkshire qualifying stages of the English Amateur Championship at the Northern Snooker Centre, Leeds.

The 16-year-old from Stockton on Forest is up against Keighley hot-shot Chris Melling, a former world eight-ball pool champion who beat Pickering's Paul Davison in the final of event five of the Pontin's International Open series at Prestatyn last week.

Higgins heading big break league

THE 145 clearance by John Higgins on Wednesday was the highest break of the whole of this year's Travis Perkins UK Championship up to then.

If it remains so he will get the £6,000 prize for the highest break, which was up for grabs from the second round. Highest breaks before then don't count.

There will be £25,000 if a player makes a maximum. If more than one player makes a maximum or the top break the money will be shared.

There have been 21 centuries made so far: 145 John Higgins; 144 Michael Holt; 138 Dominic Dale; 136 Barry Hawkins; 133 Dominic Dale, James Wattana; 124 Stephen Lee; 123 Neil Robertson; 118 Barry Hawkins, Ian McCulloch; 114 John Higgins; 111 Jamie Cope, Ken Doherty, Michael Holt; 110 Barry Hawkins, Mark Williams; 107 Ken Doherty, 107 Paul Hunter; 106 Jimmy White; 101 Ricky Walden; 100 Marco Fu.

Longest match: 6hr 41min 27sec (Nigel Bond 9, Dave Harold 7).

Longest frame: 54min 03sec (James Wattana v Drew Henry)

Shortest match: 2hr 33min 24sec (Mark Williams 9, Michael Holt 2).

Match with most centuries: 3 (Ken Doherty 2 v Marco Fu 1)

Matches with no centuries: 13.

Number of matches played: 31 (plus one walkover)

Total frames played: 416.

Playing schedule

Saturday

Second round (best of 17 frames)

Noon and 7pm: Ronnie O'Sullivan v Mark King, Shaun Murphy v Nigel Bond.

Afternoon (after earlier matches have played eight frames): Stephen Maguire v Joe Swail, Stephen Hendry v James Wattana. These matches will be played to a finish on Sunday (noon start).

7pm (matches which started at noon and playing to a finish tonight): Ronnie O'Sullivan v Mark King, Shaun Murphy v Mark Bond.

Sunday

Second round (best of 17 frames)

Noon (matches which started Saturday afternoon and playing nto a finish Sunday afternoon): Stephen Maguire v Joe Swail, Stephen Hendry v James Wattana.

Third round (last 16, best of 17 frames)

Afternoon (starting when first two matches have finished): Paul Hunter v Ding Junhui, Peter Ebdon v Allister Carter. These two matches play eight frames each on Sunday and will finish on Monday, starting at 1.30pm.

7pm: Mark Davis v Stuart Bingham, Ken Doherty v John Higgins. These two matches play eight frames each on Sunday night and will finish on Monday afternoon.

Monday

Third round (best of 17 frames)

1.30pm: Hunter v Junhui (playing to a finish), Mark Williams v Stephen Hendry or James Wattana (first eight frames). These two matches will be followed by: Mark Davis v Stuart Bingham, Ken Doherty v John Higgins (both matches playing to a finish).

Updated: 09:48 Saturday, December 10, 2005