SAUDI Arabia to Shipley is a trip not many make, so full credit to four-time snooker world champion Mark Selby who made the 4,000-mile journey to wow a crowd in the Bradford district town for a sold-out exhibition.
Fresh from competing in the unique World Masters of Snooker, the Leicester man played in front of a packed-out Saltaire Bar on Friday night.
Despite there being no 167 opportunities this time out, the 'Jester' bagged three centuries on his way to conquering all 10 contenders.
The evening was organised by Gilstead snooker aficionado Keith Walker - who has welcomed the likes of Steve Davis, John Higgins and Shaun Murphy to the district in the recent past.
It began with Selby in fine fettle sweeping aside his first five opponents all relatively easy as expected.
Nail Idem, one of the club players, put on an entertaining show and the protagonist really lived up to this nickname, comically shifting the white when the referee was not looking.
Idem can forever say he left the 22-time ranking tournament winner in an inescapable snooker.
It was at the interval when the spectators really got bang for their buck. Selby was relentless in the amount of autographs and photographs that were signed/taken.
A highlight of the night was most certainly the £350 raised for Bowel Cancer Research following the auction of a rare Steve Davis painting.
The shackles came off in the second half of the exhibition with the 40-year-old potting breaks of 127, 118, and 110.
"It is great, a big turnout. Thanks to Keith for inviting me," Selby told the Telegraph & Argus.
"When you do these exhibitions it is just about the fans.
"You want to try to play okay but that is not the be-all and end-all because they see you on TV so they know you can play.
"A lot of it in exhibitions is them seeing how you are as a person. Interacting with them and giving them the time of day they deserve because they are the same as myself, I am just doing a different job."
He added: "I have been to a lot of places since turning pro in 1999 and I don’t remember coming to Bradford for any tournaments or even an exhibition."
Results from Mark Selby's 10-frame exhibition in Shipley
Frame 1 - Mark Selby 90 James Metcalfe 31
Frame 2 - Mark Selby 133 Simon Herbert 7
Frame 3 - Mark Selby 102 Nail Idem 35
Frame 4 - Mark Selby 110 Colin Murphy 3
Frame 5 - Mark Selby 79 Aidy Holroyd 23
Interval
Frame 6 - Mark Selby 126 Dave Robson 21
Frame 7 - Mark Selby 117 Roy Beckford 13
Frame 8 - Mark Selby 118 Lewis Walsh 8
Frame 9 - Mark Selby 127 Craig Farrar 0
Frame 10 - Mark Selby 117 Trevor Wood 3
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