Matthew Stevens

Date of Birth: 11 Sept 1977
Lives: Carmarthen, Dyfed
World Ranking: 14
Last Season in PLS: Did not play
Best PLS Performance: 5th in 2002
Turned Pro: 1994
Ranking Tournament Victories: One. UK Championship 2003
High Tournament Break: 145 - Grand Prix 1996, World Championship 2002

The 2010/11 season was Matthew Stevens' best in recent years as he ended it back among the top 16 of the world rankings after a four-year absence and also qualified for the 2011 Premier League.

He won at least one match in every ranking event and got to the latter stages of several tournaments. His best run in a ranking event came at the start of the season at the Roewe Shanghai Masters as he beat Liang Wenbo and Shaun Murphy to reach the quarter-finals. Stevens might have gone even further as he had a chance to beat Ali Carter, but he missed a tricky black in the deciding frame and lost 5-4.

Perhaps the highlight of the Welshman's season was victory in the Championship League at Crondon Park. He beat Shaun Murphy 3-1 in the final to earn a place in the lucrative Premier League. "I'm delighted to be back in the Premier League. I've been watching it for ages with the shot clock and hopefully it will suit my style of game but it's just nice to be back competing with the top guys," he said.

"Being in the Premier League seemed a long way away a few years ago but it's all down to a lot of hard work. My game isn't quite where it was ten or 11 years ago but I'm sure I'll be winning ranking tournaments soon.

"When you're only playing six tournaments a year, as we were, it was very tough as once you got beat you'd have two months off. I wasn't going into the club, I was a bit down and going out drinking but now you don't have the time for that. I'm really enjoying my snooker now as we're playing week in, week out,"

However, the season finished on a low note for Stevens as he lost 10-9 to Mark Allen - from 9-6 up - in the first round of the Betfred.com World Championship.

In 2008, Stevens enjoyed a superb run to the final of the Bahrain Championship. He started with a 5-0 whitewash of Stuart Bingham at the International Exhibition Centre in Manama then beat fellow Welshmen Ryan Day 5-4 and Dominic Dale 5-2. A superb 6-4 defeat of Stephen Hendry put Stevens into his first ranking final in over three years, but he lost 9-7 to Neil Robertson.

In 2005, Stevens won two invitation events, the Northern Ireland Trophy when he beat Stephen Hendry 9-7 in the final and the Pot Black Cup when he beat Shaun Murphy in the one-frame knockout event.

Stevens has appeared in the Crucible semi-finals five times since 2000. In that year he met countryman Mark Williams in the final and led 13-7 only to lose 18-16.

In 2005 there was an unhappy case of history repeating itself for Stevens. Again he led 10-6 overnight in the world final - this time against Murphy - but again he finished on the wrong side of an 18-16 scoreline. "I've still got plenty of time and one day I will win it," he insisted.

Stevens has, however, won snooker's two biggest tournaments other than the World Championship.

In 2000 he won the Masters at Wembley, beating Doherty 10-8 in the final, and three years later he took the UK Championship title, beating Hendry 10-8.

A fluent Welsh speaker, Stevens enjoys playing golf and supporting Swansea City and Tottenham Hotspur. He is an accomplished poker player and pocketed a six-figure sum by winning the 2004 UK Open. He and partner Claire have two sons - Freddie Morrell and Oliver.