White proves a point against Chinese star Ding - 06/09/2007

Ding Jun Hui 3-3 Jimmy White
Ding's score's first
0-87 (White 86), 142-0 (Ding 138), 48-78 (Ding 43, White 70), 128-0 (Ding 66, 62), 35-67 (White 66), 103-0 (Ding 103)

JIMMY White made a fine start to his Premier League campaign with a draw against Ding Jun hui at Haywards Heath.

White, dismissed by the bookmakers as a 100-1 outsider to win the competition, hit breaks of 87, 70 and 66 to earn a point in the opening week of the season.

But it was still not enough to claim the victory as Ding showed moments of magic with two centuries, including a 138 which was higher than any break in 2006. "I'm hitting the ball well and I've been putting in a lot of practice," said White. "I thought I would attack the game and a missed a couple of long reds and a black but apart from that I didn't do much wrong.

"If you do not stay with him (Ding) then he can get on a roll. I had a good chance of a 130 break but missed quite an easy red."

White reached the final of the Premier League in 2006 but overall suffered a poor season as he dropped down the world rankings and out of the top 50.

As a result, he was priced at 100-1 to win this year’s competition and immediately looked good value to cause the bookmakers to panic.

Backed by a packed crowd at the Olympos Haywards Heath, White gave his loyal supporters something to shout about as a break of 87 saw him move into an early lead.

However, he missed an opportunity of securing a £1,000 bonus for a century break as his attempt to roll the red along the bottom cushion was unsuccessful.

The highest break of last year’s competition was 124 but that figure was smashed in the second as Ding capitalised on a White foul to produce a sensational break of 138 to level the match.

But White edged ahead in the next with a run of 70, including an outrageous pot on the final ball that saw the black sink into the bottom right corner after bouncing off the knuckle of the left centre pocket.

It soon became 2-2 as Ding hit 66 and then 62 in a hard-fought but entertaining encounter.

A missed red from Ding in the fifth when the score was 8-0 looked like proving costly until White then missed a straight-forward looking black. Ding moved 34 points ahead but lost position and a fine long red from White proved the catalyst to a break of 66 as he went 3-2 in front to secure at least a point.

White's hopes of securing an opening day victory ended minutes later though as Ding's 103 was his second century break and a fitting conclusion to a thrilling match.