All talk and no play for Davis

Steve Davis will not be playing at the Crucible this year.

Veteran campaigner Davis stumbled in the final qualifying round of the £1.6million Embassy World Championship for the second year running when he lost 10-8 to Finland's former world junior champion, Robin Hull, in Newport.

Davis, who won the Embassy title six times during the Eighties, was disappointed to be travelling to Sheffield next month solely as a BBC broadcaster.

"Of course I'm down but at least I gave it a good go and I don't regard this as a failure," he said.