User:Steveflan/Snooker World Cup 1981

State Express World Team Classic

Tournament information
Dates	24 October – 1 November 1981 (1981-10-24 – 1981-11-01)
Venue	Hexagon Theatre
City	Reading
Country	England
Format	Non-ranking event
Total prize fund	£40,000
Winner's share	£12,000
Highest break	Terry Griffiths (WAL), 127
Final
Champion	England
Runner-up	Wales
Score	4–3 (matches)
← 1980 1982 →

The 1981 World Team Classic sponsored by State Express was the third team snooker tournament, comprising of seven competing nations with three players per team. The event was held between 24 October and 1 November at the Hexagon Theatre in Reading, England. Two teams (Scotland and Republic of Ireland), played a qualifying match on 4 October 1981 at the Redwood Lodge Hotel & Country Club in Bristol, England to determine the final team in the main competition.

The defending champion, Wales reached their third consecutive final, but were beaten by England who recorded their first title.

Terry Griffiths made the highest break of the tournament, 127.

Prize fund

A total of £40,000 was awarded at the event, with the winning team receiving £12,000. The breakdown of prize money is shown below:

• Winner: £12,000
• Runner-Up: £7,500
• Semi final: £5,250
• Third in group: £4,500
• Losing qualifier: £1,000
• Total: £40,000

• Highest break: £555

Format

In a change from the previous tournaments, all matches consisted of six individual matches played over two sessions of 3 individual matches in each session. Each individual match was the best-of-3 frames, with each team gaining a point for each individual match won.

If, after 6 matches, the teams were tied at 3 points apiece, a single frame match was played between the respective captains to determine the overall match winner.

Round robin stage

Each team would play one match as the home team and one match as the away team to determine the playing order of individual matches.

Group positions were determined by the greater number of matches won. If two teams were tied on the same number of matches won then the team with the higher number of individual matches won was ranked higher in the group. If two teams were still tied, then a single-frame play-off would be played between the two respective captains.

All individual matches were played.

Semi finals

The two group winners were classed as the home team with the group runners-up classed as the away team to determine the playing order of individual matches.

Final

A coin toss would determine which finalist would be classed as the home team to determine the playing order of individual matches. England won the toss and became the home team.

Playing Order

All matches were played in the following order:

First session (3 matches)	Second session (3 matches)
Player 3 v Player 1	Player 3 v Player 2
Player 1 v Player 3	Player 2 v Player 3
Player 2 v Player 2	Player 1 v Player 1

Main draw

Teams and results are listed below.

Teams

World ranking shown in brackets.

Country	Player 1 (Captain)	Player 2	Player 3
Wales	Ray Reardon (4)	Terry Griffiths (3)	Doug Mountjoy (6)
England	Steve Davis (2)	David Taylor (7)	John Spencer (14)
Northern Ireland	Dennis Taylor (5)	Alex Higgins (11)	Tommy Murphy (-)
Canada	Cliff Thorburn (1)	Bill Werbeniuk (9)	Kirk Stevens (10)
Australia	Eddie Charlton (8)	Paddy Morgan (-)	Ian Anderson (-)
Ireland	Patsy Fagan (27)	Dessie Sheehan (-)	Eugene Hughes (-)
Scotland	Ian Black (-)	Eddie Sinclair (30)	Murdo MacLeod (-)

Qualifying round

Played at the Redwood Lodge Hotel & Country Club, Bristol, England.

Date	Team 1	Score	Team 2
4 Oct	Ireland	4–2	Scotland

Eugene Hughes	2–1	Ian Black
Patsy Fagan	2–0	Murdo MacLeod
Dessie Sheehan	0–2	Eddie Sinclair
Eugene Hughes	0–2	Eddie Sinclair
Dessie Sheehan	2–0	Murdo MacLeod
Patsy Fagan	2–1	Ian Black

Group A

Date	Team 1	Score	Team 2
26 Oct	Australia	3–4	England
27 Oct	Northern Ireland	4–2	Australia
29 Oct	England	4-3	Northern Ireland

POS	Team	MP	MW	ML	GW	GL
1	England	2	2	0	8	6
2	Northern Ireland	2	1	1	7	6
3	Australia	2	0	2	5	8

Australia	3–4	England	Northern Ireland	4–2	Australia	England	4–3	Northern Ireland
Ian Anderson	0–2	Steve Davis	Tommy Murphy	2–1	Eddie Charlton	John Spencer	1–2	Dennis Taylor
Eddie Charlton	2–1	John Spencer	Dennis Taylor	2–0	Ian Anderson	Steve Davis	2–0	Tommy Murphy
Paddy Morgan	2–1	David Taylor	Alex Higgins	2–1	Paddy Morgan	David Taylor	1–2	Alex Higgins
Ian Anderson	2–0	David Taylor	Tommy Murphy	1–2	Paddy Morgan	John Spencer	2–1	Alex Higgins
Paddy Morgan	1–2	John Spencer	Alex Higgins	2–1	Ian Anderson	David Taylor	2–1	Tommy Murphy
Eddie Charlton	0–2	Steve Davis	Dennis Taylor	0–2	Eddie Charlton	Steve Davis	1–2	Dennis Taylor
Eddie Charlton	0–1	Steve Davis				Steve Davis	1–0	Dennis Taylor

Group B

Date	Team 1	Score	Team 2
24 Oct	Canada	2–4	Wales
25 Oct	Wales	5–1	Ireland
28 Oct	Ireland	2-4	Canada

POS	Team	MP	MW	ML	GW	GL
1	Wales	2	2	0	9	3
2	Canada	2	1	1	6	6
3	Ireland	2	0	2	3	9

Canada	2-4	Wales	Wales	5–1	Ireland	Ireland	2–4	Canada
Kirk Stevens	2–1	Ray Reardon	Doug Mountjoy	2–1	Patsy Fagan	Eugene Hughes	2–1	Cliff Thorburn
Cliff Thorburn	2–1	Doug Mountjoy	Ray Reardon	2–1	Eugene Hughes	Patsy Fagan	2–1	Kirk Stevens
Bill Werbeniuk	1–2	Terry Griffiths	Terry Griffiths	2–1	Dessie Sheehan	Dessie Sheehan	0–2	Bill Werbeniuk
Kirk Stevens	0–2	Terry Griffiths	Doug Mountjoy	2–0	Dessie Sheehan	Eugene Hughes	0–2	Bill Werbeniuk
Bill Werbeniuk	0–2	Doug Mountjoy	Terry Griffiths	2–0	Eugene Hughes	Dessie Sheehan	0–2	Kirk Stevens
Cliff Thorburn	1–2	Ray Reardon	Ray Reardon	1–2	Patsy Fagan	Patsy Fagan	0–2	Cliff Thorburn

Semi-finals

Date	Team 1	Score	Team 2
30 Oct	England	4–2	Canada
31 Oct	Wales	4–3	Northern Ireland

England	4–2	Canada	Wales	4–3	Northern Ireland
John Spencer	0–2	Cliff Thorburn	Doug Mountjoy	0–2	Dennis Taylor
Steve Davis	2–0	Kirk Stevens	Ray Reardon	2–0	Tommy Murphy
David Taylor	2–1	Bill Werbeniuk	Terry Griffiths	2–1	Alex Higgins
John Spencer	2–0	Bill Werbeniuk	Doug Mountjoy	0–2	Alex Higgins
David Taylor	1–2	Kirk Stevens	Terry Griffiths	2–0	Tommy Murphy
Steve Davis	2–0	Cliff Thorburn	Ray Reardon	0–2	Dennis Taylor
			Ray Reardon	1–0	Dennis Taylor

Final

Final: Best of 7 matches. Hexagon Theatre, Reading, England. 1 November 1981.
England Steve Davis, John Spencer, David Taylor	4–3	Wales Ray Reardon, Terry Griffiths, Doug Mountjoy
John Spencer v Ray Reardon: 1-2 (37–63, 91–45, 54–66) Steve Davis v Doug Mountjoy: 2-0 (87 [60]–45, 100–14) David Taylor v Terry Griffiths: 1-2 (77–48, 33–72 [53], 64–71 [50]) John Spencer v Terry Griffiths: 2-1 (75–63, 7–114, 105 [103]–0) David Taylor v Doug Mountjoy: 0-2 (30–77, 34–94 [63]) Steve Davis v Ray Reardon: 2-0 (80 [55]–32, 59–11) Steve Davis v Ray Reardon: 1-0 (69–52)
103 (Spencer)	Highest break	63 (Mountjoy)
1	Century breaks	0
3	50+ breaks	4

Century breaks

There were 2 century breaks in the tournament.

• Terry Griffiths - 127
• John Spencer - 103

Player Records

Players are ordered by the percentage of matches won followed by the percentage of frames won. Records also include the qualifying match between Republic of Ireland and Scotland.

Player	MP	MW	ML	MW%	FP	FW	FL	FW%
Eddie Sinclair	2	2	0	100.0	4	4	0	100.0
Steve Davis	11	10	1	90.9	20	18	2	90.0
Terry Griffiths	8	7	1	97.5	21	15	6	71.4
Alex Higgins	6	4	2	66.7	17	10	7	58.8
Patsy Fagan	6	4	2	66.7	16	9	7	56.3
Dennis Taylor	8	5	3	62.5	16	10	6	62.5
Cliff Thorburn	6	3	3	50.0	15	8	7	53.3
John Spencer	8	4	4	50.0	22	11	11	50.0
Doug Mountjoy	8	4	4	50.0	18	9	9	50.0
Paddy Morgan	4	2	2	50.0	12	6	6	50.0
Ray Reardon	10	5	5	50.0	23	11	12	47.8
Kirk Stevens	6	3	3	50.0	15	7	8	46.7
Eddie Charlton	5	2	3	40.00	11	5	6	45.5
Bill Werbeniuk	6	2	4	33.3	14	6	8	42.9
Eugene Hughes	6	2	4	33.3	15	5	10	33.3
David Taylor	8	2	6	25.0	22	8	14	36.4
Ian Anderson	4	1	3	25.00	9	3	6	33.3
Tommy Murphy	6	1	5	16.7	15	4	11	26.7
Dessie Sheehan	6	1	5	16.7	13	3	10	23.1
Ian Black	2	0	2	0.0	6	2	4	33.3
Murdo MacLeod	2	0	2	0.0	4	0	4	0.0

References

Category:World Cup (snooker) Category:1981 in snooker