Ronnie O’Sullivan and Kyren Wilson to meet in World Championship final after day of drama at the Crucible

Both semi-finals in Sheffield went the distance, at 17-16, with five-time world champion O’Sullivan scrapping from 16-14 down to win the last three frames of the match to defeat Mark Selby.

But arguably the most exciting climax since the famous 1985 final – when Dennis Taylor edged out Steve Davis – saw Wilson and Anthony McGill conjure up 61 minutes of pure drama on the Crucible Theatre stage.

The frame score of 103-83 set a new Crucible record for most combined points in a single frame – the previous high was 173 – but that fails to tell the entire story.

McGill opened up with 39, the world No 8 replied with 47 before laying a snooker on the final red, which McGill missed 10 times.

The Scot needed a snooker, Wilson accidentally went in-off, before McGill’s chance to get over the finishing line stalled when he snookered himself on the green.

Both players were slugging it out, so it was a cruel moment when Wilson effectively secured his 17-16 win with an outrageous fluke on the green.

“I feel as if the match was stolen from me – not by Kyren but by the snooker Gods,” was McGill’s verdict, and it was hard to argue.

“It was just the maddest match,” added Wilson, 28. “It was a great standard right up until the last frame, and then the decider got very nervy.

“I felt at one point I had thrown it away, then I fluked the green out of nowhere.

“I didn’t want it to end that way, I have dreamed of this situation and I didn’t want to win the match on a fluke. You have to accept those things can happen in snooker.

“I have known Anthony since we were kids, and in the last frame we were just two young lads out there feeling the pressure. We fought so hard for three days, toe to toe, we both gave it everything.

“It’s amazing to be in the final. I have played in a Masters final, but this is a cut above. I’ll try to use my experience of big occasions. To win would mean everything, it’s what I have dreamed of achieving.”

Wilson had returned for their concluding session with a 13-11 advantage and stretched his lead to three frames with a nerveless break of 94.

But qualifier McGill stormed back with consecutive breaks of 84, 87 and 122 to achieve parity at the mid-session interval.

Wilson nudged back in front with a break of 82 but McGill appeared unfazed and pulled back level before a nerveless 98 sent him one frame from victory.

Wilson forced the decider after a re-rack, but neither player could possibly have envisaged the drama that was soon to unfold.

McGill said: “I have to congratulate Kyren because he played a great match. I thought I played great today.

“I was really unlucky in the last frame because I was in first, and if I had landed on a red when I went into the them, the game was done.

“I hit the black like an absolute dream to get the split. I don’t feel I did that much wrong,

“I feel as if the match was stolen from me – not by Kyren but by the snooker Gods. Even at the end when I got the chance, I didn’t think I could snooker myself on the green. I really enjoyed the fight, it was played in the right spirit.”

Wilson now faces the difficult task of composing himself for his final debut on Saturday but insisted he will be doing everything he can to resist a repeat performance.

He added: “You can’t just rely on luck to get you a world crown and, whoever I play in the final, I’ve got to produce great snooker and I’m not going to get there by fluking balls.

“I can go out and enjoy the occasion and give it my all,” said the Kettering potter.

“I’m going in there to win the world title, but to have the pressure on the other guy hopefully plays in my favour.”

The conclusion of the second semi-final followed a similar pattern as O’Sullivan produced a scintillating recovery from the brink of defeat to book his place in his first Crucible final since 2014.

The 44-year-old looked to have lost focus when he lashed wildly at a final pink and enabled Selby to sweep one frame from victory at 16-14. But O’Sullivan responded in extraordinary fashion, blasting a 138 total clearance followed by an equally quickfire 71 to conjure another Crucible decider.

O’Sullivan looked set to be rewarded for an aggressive split but he broke down on 64 within two balls of effective victory, but Selby’s response also floundered when he ran out of position on the final red.

After an extensive period of safety play – including another wild lash by O’Sullivan – it was Selby who wobbled, catching the middle jaw with a red and allowing his rival to sweep up and seal an improbable victory.

Editor’s note: First and foremost - and rarely have I written down these words with more sincerity - I hope this finds you well.

Almost certainly you are here because you value the quality and the integrity of the journalism produced by The Yorkshire Post’s journalists - almost all of which live alongside you in Yorkshire, spending the wages they earn with Yorkshire businesses - who last year took this title to the industry watchdog’s Most Trusted Newspaper in Britain accolade.

And that is why I must make an urgent request of you: as advertising revenue declines, your support becomes evermore crucial to the maintenance of the journalistic standards expected of The Yorkshire Post. If you can, safely, please buy a paper or take up a subscription. We want to continue to make you proud of Yorkshire’s National Newspaper but we are going to need your help.

Postal subscription copies can be ordered by calling 0330 4030066 or by emailing [email protected]. Vouchers, to be exchanged at retail sales outlets - our newsagents need you, too - can be subscribed to by contacting subscriptions on 0330 1235950 or by visiting www.localsubsplus.co.uk where you should select The Yorkshire Post from the list of titles available.

If you want to help right now, download our tablet app from the App / Play Stores. Every contribution you make helps to provide this county with the best regional journalism in the country.

Sincerely. Thank you. James Mitchinson, Editor