World Championship 2015: Bingham wins Crucible crown

The 38-year-old from Basildon defied expectations to see off Ronnie O'Sullivan and Judd Trump to reach his first final in Sheffield, and pulled off a stunning 18-15 triumph, finishing with a sparkling break of 88 as wife Michelle watched on with a huge smile across her face. Before the break was finished Bingham punched the air in jubilation.

It made him the oldest world champion since Ray Reardon, at 45, won in 1978.

"It's unreal," Bingham said. "At 15-15 I thought my chance was gone, my arm felt like someone else's and the nerves had got to me.

"You dream of it as a kid playing and practising when you start out, but it's a reality now.

"I was so overwhelmed just to get into the final. Just to witness the final and experience it was great, I didn't care if I won or lost."

He had not clocked he was over the winning line in the final frame, until spectators reacted.

"The crowd clapped and then I looked at the score and realised. I thought I needed another red and colour," he said in his press conference.

"It's unbelievable to be sitting here as world champion."

Bingham showed the composure of a player who had been playing Crucible finals for many years, rather than one who in eight previous visits had reached the quarter-final stage only once, which was the reality.

For a large part of his career, Bingham has been a rank-and-file cueman, with contesting finals or even semi-finals a pipe dream until something clicked in his mid-thirties. Fifteen years ago he caused a sensation by beating defending champion Stephen Hendry in the first round at the World Championship, however for five years in a row, beginning in 2003, he failed to even qualify.

Landing a pair of ranking titles, in Australia and then China, has marked him out as a dangerman, but not even Bingham was expecting this.

The world number 10 suspected the day would not come after becoming accustomed to early exits in Sheffield, and had a disbelieving look about him in the early stages of the match.

He trailed 3-0 and 8-4, but crucially got back to 9-8 behind after Sunday's play, and as Murphy faltered he swept ahead on Monday afternoon, creaming off the first four frames to go 12-9 in front.

When the match reached 15-12, Murphy had problems, and when he trailed 55-0 in the next frame those problems deepened.

Then Bingham over-cut a black and a glimmer of hope presented itself to Murphy. He cleared up with 75, and won the next frame too with a 64 break to nudge to just a frame behind.

Murphy was on a quest to become the sixth man to win more than once at the Crucible, following his success a decade ago. His idol Steve Davis, Stephen Hendry, John Higgins, Mark Williams and Ronnie O'Sullivan are the players with multiple wins.

Murphy needed three chances to take the 30th frame, and Bingham, faltering just at the wrong time, obliged with them. His three-frame lead was history.

Murphy gave away 38 points in fouls in the next frame, after being put in two problematic snookers, and when attempting to escape from a third he left Bingham the yellow. It had reached an hour in duration when the pair took a toilet break, with the frame still unresolved, never mind the match.

Eventually, after 63 minutes and 31 seconds, Bingham fired in the pink to nudge 16-15 ahead, two frames from the title.

Bingham's newest fan, former tennis star Martina Navratilova, wrote on Twitter: "This frame was the equivalent of a 18:16 set or something like that...wow"

And it was just one frame required when he made 55 in taking the next, with Murphy then handing Bingham a golden chance to complete his triumph.

Going for broke by taking on a long red, Murphy missed it by a large margin and Bingham completed his greatest win.

"Wow," Bingham said in the immediate aftermath of his triumph. "At one stage there at 15-all I thought I was going to do Shaun's speech, all commiserations.

"I think it was a 63-minute frame and to go 16-15 up, that changed everything. It calmed me down. Unbelievable. Winner, winner, chicken dinner!"

Asked if he could sum up what it meant after 20 years of trying he added: "Everything.

"Twenty years as a pro. Blood, sweat, and tears, on the road, qualifying in places like Prestatyn and Malvern, places like that. Everything rolled into one, so many family and friends backing me, it's just been unbelievable."

Murphy, while disappointed, was full of praise for Bingham.

"It's been a great fortnight for me," he said. "It's not finished the way I wanted it to. I came here well prepared and gave it my best as I always do and to come up against an inspired Stuart Bingham, who's beaten Ronnie O'Sullivan and others to get here, sometimes your name is just on the trophy.

"As a snooker geek like Stuart, there is not a player alive who deserves it more than him." Murphy said: "He played like a winner all the way through the match.

"Sometimes in sport people are meant to win things. He loves snooker more than life itself.

"He fully deserved to win this tournament and although I'm disappointed to lose I'm happy for him and his family.

"I can have no regrets. I think I played some really great stuff during this championship. There can only be one winner and it wasn't me.

"Stuart will be a bit dazed and a bit confused, it'll sink in over the next few days what he's achieved.

"When I won I went from complete obscurity to people stopping me in garages and garden centres."

World Championship 2015 Results

Round One

Mark Selby 10-9 Kurt Maflin
Stephen Maguire 9-10 Anthony McGill
Joe Perry 10-4 Zhang Anda
Shaun Murphy 10-3 Robin Hull
Barry Hawkins 10-9 Matthew Selt 
Mark Allen 10-3 Ryan Day
Ali Carter 10-5 Alan McManus
Neil Robertson 10-2 Jamie Jones
Ding Junhui 10-7 Mark Davis 
John Higgins 10-5 Robert Milkins
Marco Fu 10-6 Jimmy Robertson
Judd Trump 10-6 Stuart Carrington
Ricky Walden 8-10 Graeme Dott
Stuart Bingham 10-7 Robbie Williams
Mark Williams 2-10 Matthew Stevens
Ronnie O'Sullivan 10-3 Craig Steadman

Round Two

Mark Selby 9-13 Anthony McGill 
Joe Perry 5-13 Shaun Murphy
Barry Hawkins 13-11 Mark Allen
Ali Carter 5-13 Neil Robertson
Ding Junhui 13-9 John Higgins
Marco Fu 8-13 Judd Trump
Graeme Dott 5-13 Stuart Bingham
Matthew Stevens 5-13 Ronnie O'Sullivan 

Quarter-Finals

Anthony McGill 8-13 Shaun Murphy
Barry Hawkins 13-12 Neil Robertson
Ding Junhui 4-13 Judd Trump
Stuart Bingham 13-9 Ronnie O'Sullivan

Semi-Finals
Shaun Murphy 17-9 Barry Hawkins
Judd Trump 16-17 Stuart Bingham

Final
Shaun Murphy 15-18 Stuart Bingham (Final)