Chris Melling

Melling reached the last 64 of three ranking events during the 2014/15 season but was unable to progress any further and finished the campaign ranked 96th in the world.

Melling, best known as a pool player, regained a place on the World Snooker Tour by coming through Q School in 2014. After beating Duane Jones 4-3 in the final round of event one, he said: “When I played pro snooker before there were only seven tournaments, played in Prestatyn and it was hard to get through the qualifiers. These days there are a lot more tournaments plus the flat draws give everyone a much better chance to get to the venues, and I love playing in front of a big crowd. In the past the top 16 were too protected.

“Joe Johnson has been a big help to me, giving me free practice and a lot of advice about safety. I have never had anyone to really push me before but he has given me a lot of confidence.”

Yorkshire’s Melling, nicknamed the Magician, is a former eight-ball pool World Champion and world number three at nine-ball. He previously played professional snooker in 2001/02 and 2003/04 but struggled to make an impact.