Fortunes are mixed for Davis on return to the snooker table

The world number 32 from St Leonards lined up in the Championship League at the Marshall Arena in Milton Keynes on Tuesday.

Davis finished second in group three, behind Mark Joyce, after winning one, drawing one and losing one of his three best-of-four-frames matches.

The 47-year-old began with a 3-1 loss against 68th-ranked Joyce, who recovered from losing the opening frame to take the next three with breaks of 71, 58 and 55.

Davis then drew 2-2 with 88th-ranked Louis Heathcote. A run of 62 in the opener helped Davis into a 2-0 lead, but Heathcote fought back with the help of an 89 in the last.

That result meant Davis couldn't win the group, but he still chalked up a 3-1 victory over 25th-ranked Holt in his last match, aided by breaks of 66 and 58 in the first two frames.

Held behind closed doors and televised on ITV4, the Championship League will feature 64 leading players, including world champion Judd Trump and Ronnie O'Sullivan.

Each of the 16 group winners will advance to the group winners' stage next Tuesday and Wednesday, and that will in turn feed into the tournament finals next Thursday. The total prize fund is in excess of £200,000, with the winner earning £30,000.

In line with government guidelines regarding Covid-19, all players, staff and contractors are tested before entering the venue, and kept in isolation until their results are known.

Players require a negative test in order to be eligible for the event and a range of other safety measures are in place.

Bexhill-based Jimmy Robertson is due to compete in group eight alongside Ben Woollaston, Liam Highfield and Thor Chuan Leong (a replacement for Alexander Ursenbacher, who withdrew because of travel problems) tomorrow (Saturday).

Robertson, the 2018 European Masters champion, is the world number 24 and reached the quarter-finals of the Gibraltar Open - the last tournament to be played before the coronavirus shutdown back in March.