There are steel blocks on the cushions

SHAUN Murphy felt the full force of an electrified Graeme Dott as the Scot hauled himself level in their high-stakes Crucible battle.

From 6-2 behind at the start of the session, Dott forced his way level at 8-8, teeing up a tantalising climax to the best-of-25-frames second-round match at the Betfair World Championship last night.

Dott was terrific, which was to his great credit as he could easily have been put out of his stride by the static shocks he was suffering before the players took an early interval.

The man who carried off the title in 2006 was suffering when he cued near the cushions, unlike Murphy who appeared untroubled. When Dott explained the situation to referee Brendan Moore, it was agreed they should leave the arena. Bizarrely, a tournament official was sent out to spray the carpet with water.

Ken Doherty, the 1997 world champion, said on BBC2 as the match was interrupted: “It’s quite strange only Graeme Dott is getting the static from the table. I’ve never seen this at the Crucible. Maybe he has to change his shoes.”

Asked about Dott’s problems, assistant tournament director Martin Clark later said: “Graeme pointed out to referee Brendan Moore at the end of the 11th frame that he had been feeling static shocks.

“There are steel blocks on the cushions and especially if Graeme had any metal in his shoes that may have caused it. We called the players in for the mid-session interval a frame early and sprayed the carpet with water, and that stopped the shocks.”

There still seemed to be faint crackles of static after the interval, but nothing as troubling as earlier.

Dott is bidding to keep Scottish hopes alive, with 1988 the last year his country had no representative in the quarter-finals. The tight tussle remained a nip-and-tuck affair with Murphy leading 11-10 in the final session.

Meanwhile, Dechawat Poomjaeng toned down the comedy but to no avail as the eccentric Thai showman waved farewell to the game’s showpiece event last night.

The 34-year-old promised he would return for next year’s tournament after the thrills and spills of his entertaining debut made him a crowd favourite. He hopes to make enough money from snooker to buy a house but a second-round exit to Welsh wonder Michael White gave him just ￡16,000, so moving out of the Sheffield property he shares with four other Thai cuemen will have to wait. It at least dwarfed the meagre ￡4,000 he had previously banked in winnings since joining the professional tour at the start of last season.

Twenty-one-year-old qualifier White became the first player to secure a quarter-final berth as he crushed world No 70 Poomjaeng. From 7-1 up overnight he prevailed 13-3, winning with a session to spare.

White made breaks of 71, 83, 73 and 102 to set up a last-eight clash with Ricky Walden or Robert Milkins.

Poomjaeng shook hands with fans on the front row before departing behind the dark curtains to bring an end to a campaign that began with a stunning win against world No 5 Stephen Maguire.

Defeat did not appear to rattle him, with Poomjaeng saying: “I’m okay because it’s the first time for me at the Crucible. I loved the crowd’s reaction to me. I’m so proud that everyone likes me. I love them.”

World No 3 Mark Selby sneaked ahead of Barry Hawkins, leading 5-3 after the first session of their second-round exchange, while Judd Trump took a 6-2 lead against Marco Fu.