BBC forced to abruptly end World Snooker Championship coverage in middle of epic frame between Jones and Bingham

BBC TWO became BBC Too Long as it had to suddenly end its World Snooker Championship coverage during a “crazy” 40-MINUTE frame.

The Beeb switched from a key moment in Jak Jones’ snail-paced semi-final against Stuart Bingham to Richard Osman’s House of Games’ quiz show.

The Beeb put up this note as it ended coverage on its main channel

PAJak Jones has ht back over criticism of his slow style[/caption]

Jones gave away a staggering 49 points in fouls and missed eight attempts at the same shot in that astonishing final frame on Friday.

And as the Welsh qualifier lined up a challenging shot, Beeb presenter Hazel Irvine cut in to reveal “our time is up”.

Just seconds later, live snooker was replaced by Osman’S general knowledge programme with celebrity competitors.

Bingham went on to clinch the frame, meaning he ended the day locked at 8-8 in the best-of-33 clash.

It came as Jones insisted he was “motivated” by social media trolls criticising his slow play.

However, no-one was expecting to see his careful deliberations curtailed so promptly, TV-wise at least, as he pondered a tricky shot at a red ball on the cushion.

The world No 44 leaned over to analyse the angles, then stood up again to have another look.

It was then that Irvine interjected back in the studio to say: “Well, our time is up here on BBC Two.

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“The conclusion of the frame continues on the red button and the iPlayer and on the website…”

Viewers who switched coverage to see the finale were astonished by the outcome.

One posted: “That was a crazy final frame but these two are putting on a great show. Can’t wait for tomorrow.”

Another wrote: “Damn that was brutal for Jak.”

And a third claimed: “Bingham made more errors in a couple of frames today than against ROS (Ronnie O’Sullivan) in the entire match!

“His level has dropped increasingly and dramatically after that victory against Ronnie.

“However, Jak is playing far from his best form too that he showed in the previous matches…”

Cwmbran’s new hero, a 150-1 tournament outsider, is a notoriously slow and safety-first player, whose average shot time is 28.6 seconds.

And he is not exactly the most demonstrative player around the table, someone who wears his heart on his sleeve.

Though, having said that, Jones did show a speck of emotion during the opening session of this match.

Jones was desperately trying to recover in the final frame of the session

Following his 13-9 second-round win over Si Jiahui, he logged into his X account and noticed he was getting abuse from some anonymous snooker TV followers.

Jones, 30, posted a brief message about the haters, which garnered a great deal of support and sympathy from well-wishers, but he has since deleted that post.

Apart from liking tweets about Welsh football and ex-Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn, the Welshman rarely puts himself out there online or engage in conversation.

Asked about the digital criticism he has received, as his profile has risen significantly since making the last four, the Silent Assassin said: “I go on Twitter just reading politics and other things.

“I try and stay away from snooker but for whatever reason snooker things keep coming up on my timeline.

“And I saw one not very nice comment. I know every player gets it. I wasn’t that bothered.

“I just thought I’d put my message on there. I probably shouldn’t have put it on there.

“It’s just people’s sad lives isn’t it, sitting in their bedrooms or living rooms, writing stuff on social media, slagging people off.

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“They haven’t usually got pictures for their profiles and stuff like that.

“But it doesn’t matter. It kind of motivates me.

“I like seeing stuff like that, just as much as people saying good things. But I’m not the first person to have it. Every player gets it.”

In the first session, Jones was disturbed by noise in the crowd during a frame-stealing 40 break in the fourth frame and cupped his ear as he walked off to the interval.

Thursday night finished with honours even at 4-4 and after Friday’s session it was still all square eight frames later

Bingham led 6-4 thanks to breaks of 79 and 107 but then Jones’s safety battle came into play, the contest slowed down and the South Wales grinder took four of the next five years.

Bingham led 61-0 in Frame 16 but a wildly-hit blue to the middle pocket did not go down and the punters had to wait a while before emptying their bladders and disappearing into the night.

It is the first time since 2007 that both semis have been locked at 8-8 at the halfway point.

Jones and Bingham will resume action on Saturday – sessions times are 10am and 7pm – and unfortunately, judging by what we have seen so far, it could be a late one…

ReutersStuart Bingham knows he’s in the match for the long haul[/caption]