Craig Steadman

Craig Steadman
Born 14 July 1982
Farnworth, England
Sport country  England
Nickname Rock-Steady
Professional 2001–2005, 2009/10, 2012–
Highest ranking 77 (April–May 2014)[1]
Current ranking 81 (as of 6 April 2015)
Career winnings £55,479[2]
Highest break 143 (2010 Welsh Open Qualifying)
Century breaks 34[2]
Best ranking finish Last 16 (2014 China Open)

Craig Steadman (born 14 July 1982) is an English professional snooker player.

Career

Early career

Steadman began his professional career by playing Challenge Tour in 2001, at the time the second-level professional tour.[3] He reached the quarter final at the 2006 IBSF World Championships in Amman, Jordan, where he was eliminated by Manan Chandra 6–3. He reached the final of the 2008 European Snooker Championships but was defeated 7–6 by David Grace. He first entered Main Tour for the 2009/10 season, after finishing the 2008/09 PIOS rankings on the rank 8. On 23 May 2009 he won the English Team Championship with Manchester.[4]

2011/2012 season

He made it to the main draw of a ranking event for the first time in 2012, by beating Mike Dunn 5–3 in the wildcard round for the German Masters. He played Matthew Stevens in the first round, but was comfortably beaten 5–1.[5] Despite not being on the main snooker tour Steadman played in all 12 of the minor-ranking Players Tour Championship events throughout the season, reaching the last 32 on four occasions. These performances were enough to see him earn a place back on the tour for the 2012/2013 season.[6]

2012/2013 season

Steadman took advantage of a new flatter structure used in the qualifiers for the 2013 Welsh Open, whereby he would only need to win two matches to reach the venue by defeating Yu Delu and Jamie Burnett with the loss of only one frame.[7] However, in Newport he was whitewashed 0–4 by Stuart Bingham.[8] Steadman played in all ten PTC's this season, with his best results being three last 32 defeats to finish 65th on the Order of Merit.[9] His season ended when he lost 6–10 to Kurt Maflin in the second round of World Championship Qualifying to finish the year ranked world number 83.[10][11]

2013/2014 season

In his opening match, Steadman defeated Marcus Campbell 5–3 to qualify for the 2013 Wuxi Classic in China where he faced Lü Haotian in the first round and lost 5–3.[12] He also qualified for the International Championship and World Open, but lost in the opening round of each.[12] At the China Open, Steadman beat Michael Holt and Martin O'Donnell to advance to the last 16 of a ranking event for the first time, where he was defeated 5–2 by Mike Dunn.[13] In qualifying for the World Championship, Steadman saw off Jak Jones 10–7 to play Steve Davis in the second round. He led 9–5 before Davis won three frames in a row but Steadman then took a 46-minute 18th frame on the colours to win 10–8, in a result that relegated six-time world champion Davis from the main tour.[14] Steadman himself lost his place on the tour in the next round when he was defeated 10–6 by Dechawat Poomjaeng as he was ranked world number 78, outside of the top 64.[15][16] He entered Q School and dropped just two frames in his five matches of the first event to earn a new two-year tour card for the 2014/2015 and 2015/2016 seasons.[17]

2014/2015 season

Steadman began the 2014/2015 season by qualifying for the Wuxi Classic for the second year in a row and was beaten 5–2 by Marco Fu in the first round.[18] He also qualified for the International Championship by defeating Cao Yupeng 6–4 and he saw off Graeme Dott 6–1 in the first round, before losing 6–3 to Ian Burns.[19] Despite Anthony Hamilton being docked a frame for arriving late to their first round UK Championship meeting, Steadman was edged out 6–5 in a scrappy six and a half-hour match. Steadman described his performance as pathetic afterwards, but responded in his very next event the Lisbon Open.[20] He began the tournament with a 4–1 win over Shaun Murphy, a player who had won the last two European Tour events, and then earned a pair of deciding frame victories against Kyren Wilson (came back from 3–0 down to win 4–3) and Joe Swail (came back from 3–1 down to win 4–3).[21] Steadman then whitewashed Stuart Bingham 4–0 to reach his first quarter-final in a professional event, where he lost 4–3 to Mark Davis.[22]

In April, Steadman qualified for the televised stages of the World Championship for the first time, courtesy of wins over Rhys Clark, Michael White and Jamie Burnett.[18]

Performance and rankings timeline

Tournament 1999/
00		 2000/
01		 2001/
02		 2002/
03		 2003/
04		 2004/
05		 2009/
10 		2010/
11 		2011/
12 		2012/
13 		2013/
14		 2014/
15
Ranking[23][nb 1] UR UR UR[nb 2][nb 3] UR[nb 3] UR[nb 3] UR[nb 3] UR[nb 2] UR[nb 4] UR[nb 4] UR[nb 2] 83 78[nb 5]
Ranking tournaments
Wuxi Classic[nb 6] Not Held Non-Ranking LQ 1R 1R
Australian Goldfields Open Not Held A LQ LQ LQ
Shanghai Masters Not Held LQ A A LQ LQ LQ
International Championship Not Held LQ 1R 2R
UK Championship A A A A A A LQ A A LQ 1R 1R
German Masters Not Held A 1R LQ LQ LQ
Welsh Open A A A A A A LQ A A 1R 2R 1R
Indian Open Not Held LQ LQ
Players Championship Grand Final[nb 7] Not Held DNQ DNQ DNQ DNQ DNQ
China Open A A A Not Held A LQ A A LQ 3R LQ
World Championship LQ LQ LQ LQ LQ LQ LQ A A LQ LQ 1R
Non-ranking tournaments
The Masters A A LQ LQ A A LQ A A A A A
Former ranking tournaments
World Open[nb 8] A A A A A A LQ A A LQ 1R NH
Performance Table Legend
LQ lost in the qualifying draw #R lost in the early rounds of the tournament
(WR = Wildcard round, RR = Round robin)		 QF lost in the quarter-finals
SF lost in the semi-finals F lost in the final W won the tournament
DNQ did not qualify for the tournament A did not participate in the tournament WD withdrew from the tournament
NH / Not Held means an event was not held.
NR / Non-Ranking Event means an event is/was no longer a ranking event.
R / Ranking Event means an event is/was a ranking event.
MR / Minor-Ranking Event means an event is/was a minor-ranking event.
  1. ↑ From the 2010/2011 season it shows the ranking at the beginning of the season.
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 New players don't have a ranking.
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 He was not on the Main Tour.
  4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 He was an amateur.
  5. ↑ Players qualified through Q School started the season without prize money ranking points.
  6. ↑ The event was called the Jiangsu Classic (2009/2010)
  7. ↑ The event was called the Players Tour Championship Grand Finals (2010/2011–2012/2013)
  8. ↑ The event was called the Grand Prix (1999/2000–2000/2001 and 2004/2005–2009/2010) and the LG Cup (2001/2002–2003/2004)

References

  1. ↑ "World Rankings after the China Open 2014" (PDF). World Snooker. World Professional Billiards and Snooker Association. 7 April 2014. Retrieved 14 April 2014.
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 "Craig Steadman". CueTracker – Snooker Database. Retrieved 14 April 2014.
  3. ↑ "Craig Steadman – Season 2001/2002". Retrieved 5 January 2013.
  4. ↑ Global Snooker: 2009 Jury's English Finals Weekend
  5. ↑ "PartyPoker.net German Masters". WPBSA. 2 February 2012. Retrieved 2 February 2012.
  6. ↑ "Order of Merit". Snooker.org. 8 January 2012. Retrieved 25 May 2012.
  7. ↑ "Craig Steadman 2012/2013". Snooker.org. Retrieved 13 April 2013.
  8. ↑ "Stuart Bingham shows his class at Welsh Open". Liverpool Echo. Retrieved 13 April 2013.
  9. ↑ "Issued after Munich Open 2013 (ET6)" (PDF). World Snooker. World Professional Billiards and Snooker Association. 7 January 2013. Retrieved 27 May 2013.
  10. ↑ "Betfair World Championship Qualifiers". Snooker.org. Retrieved 13 April 2013.
  11. ↑ "Official World Snooker Ranking List for the 2013/2014 Season" (PDF). World Snooker. Retrieved 24 May 2013.
  12. ↑ 12.0 12.1 "Craig Steadman 2013/2014". Snooker.org. Retrieved 17 June 2013.
  13. ↑ "China Open 2014: Results". BBC Sport. Retrieved 30 April 2014.
  14. ↑ "Davis Faces Tour Relegation". World Snooker. Retrieved 30 April 2014.
  15. ↑ "World Snooker Championship 2014: Poomjaeng to face Doherty". BBC Sport. Retrieved 30 April 2014.
  16. ↑ "World Snooker Rankings After the 2014 World Championship" (PDF). World Snooker. Retrieved 9 May 2014.
  17. ↑ "Melling / Steadman / Tian / Zhang Qualify". World Snooker. Retrieved 16 May 2014.
  18. ↑ 18.0 18.1 "Craig Steadman 2014/2015". Snooker.org. Retrieved 15 April 2015.
  19. ↑ "International Championship: John Higgins beaten by Li Hang". BBC Sport. Retrieved 15 April 2015.
  20. ↑ "Craig Steadman stunned by disappointing early exit from UK Snooker Championship". The Bolton News'. Retrieved 15 April 2015.
  21. ↑ "Steadman Shines in Portugal". World Snooker. Retrieved 15 April 2015.
  22. ↑ "Maguire Wins Lisbon Open". World Snooker. Retrieved 15 April 2015.
  23. ↑ "Ranking History". Snooker.org. Retrieved 6 February 2011.

External links