Jak Jones vs Kyren Wilson LIVE: World Snooker Championship final score and updates

Only twice before has a qualifier won the World Championship at the Crucible, Terry Griffiths’s feat in 1979 repeated by a young Shaun Murphy in 2005. Jones will bid to join the exclusive group this weekend, having got into snooker after a chance encounter with 1994 World Championship semi-finalist Darren Morgan on holiday in Corfu.

Spotting his natural potting talent, his fellow Welshman encouraged him to join a club once he’d returned home. Morgan has tipped his former protege to build further from here.

“I just think it’s going to be Jak’s year, there’s no one there playing any better than him and that’s for sure,” Morgan told BBC Radio Wales. “As long as he can hold himself together, I think he’ll be fine.

“He is a very cool customer, he’s very quiet and quite reserved. He’s got married in the last 12-14 months and he goes about his business right, he’s a work horse. The boy practices and practices, that’s never changed from when he was with me at my club to where he is now. You only get out what you put in, if you keep knocking on that door, one day that door will open.”

It took Jak Jones time to reach snooker’s biggest stage but the Welshman has made his presence felt since stepping into the Crucible. Nine times the 30-year-old tried and failed to make it through qualifying for the World Snooker Championship before finally breaking through last year — but Jones has swiftly established himself as a Sheffield specialist.

He began the 2023 edition having reached a ranking event quarter-final just twice in a career that began in 2010, a semi-final at the now-defunct Gibraltar Open the height of his achievements. For a player who seemed to possess a complete game and ideal temperament, it felt strange that Jones had yet to really make his mark.

After beating David Gilbert, Kyren Wilson looked forward to a World Champoonship final that will be very different to his heavy 2020 defeat to Ronnie O’Sullivan, which was played out in front of an arena just one-third full due to Covid regulations.

Since then, Wilson has endured a difficult two years, partly due to injury and illness within his family, but showed no ill effects from last year’s crushing 13-2 loss to John Higgins as he swept aside Dominic Dale, Joe O’Connor then Higgins with relative ease.

“I have changed dramatically,” added Wilson. “Back then if it wasn’t quite going right, panic alarms would have gone off, and maybe my game would have deteriorated, but I’ve gathered the experience and learned a tough lesson.”

In last night’s semi-final, David Gilbert suggested there was “needle” from his opponent Kyren Wilson and blamed bad luck for the defeat.

“Kyren played a lot quicker, it was as if he thought I was crap,” said Gilbert. “I don’t know if there was a bit of needle there. I went to wish him all the best and there wasn’t much of a handshake there.”

Wilson flatly denied Gilbert’s suggestion, insisting he has “no problem” with his opponent.

Kyren Wilson, the 12th seed, took three of the four frames required in Saturday’s third session to wrap up a 17-11 victory that earns him a second crack at the title following his defeat in the 2020 final to Ronnie O’Sullivan.

Five frames in succession in their second session on Friday evening had done the damage as Wilson turned a neck-and-neck clash, that was finely poised at 9-9, into a four-frame advantage he never looked likely to squander.

Gilbert did reduce the deficit to 14-11 with a break of 70 in the opening frame of the day, but after coming off worse in a lengthy safety battle in the next, his fate was effectively sealed.

Sunday 5 May – final (best of 35)

Monday 6 May – final (best of 35)

Wilson punched the air and blew a kiss to his family in the stand after potting the decisive blue and will start a heavy favourite in his second final against Jak Jones, who beat Stuart Bingham 17-12 in the second semi-final, which was much stodgier and slower going than the free-flowing Wilson v Gilbert contest.

Hello and welcome to live coverage of the World Snooker Championship final between Jak Jones and Kyren Wilson. It’s something of a surprise line-up, as we start the two-day best-of-35 frames Crucible Theatre showpiece.

Welshman Jones, who beat former world champion Stuart Bingham 17-12 last night’s semi-final, will be the underdog in the final but has shown his talents in also beating Judd Trump in this tournament. The 30-year-old made his Crucible debut only last year and has shaken off doubts over his former on his storming run to the final, where he will look to join the illustrious board of former champions.

Wilson, meanwhile, has appeared in the World Snooker Championship final before but this will be a different experience to his heavy 2020 final defeat to Ronnie O’Sullivan, which was played in front of a one-third full arena due to Covid restrictions. Wilson defeat David Gilbert in the other semi-final and the 32-year-old Englishman is edging closer to ending his major title drought after showing plenty of potential earlier in his career.

Follow all the build-up in today’s live blog