The key stats ahead of the Cazoo World Championship final between Kyren Wilson and Jak Jones.
This is the 48th Crucible final and the winner will become the 23rd player to hold the trophy in Sheffield. This is the first final guaranteed a new champion since 2005 when Shaun Murphy played Matthew Stevens. The winner will lift the famous trophy and win £500,000, while the runner-up will bank £200,000.
The final is contested over 18 frames, with eight frames from Sunday at 1pm, then nine from Sunday at 7pm, eight more on Monday from 1pm, and the balance on Monday night from 7pm.
Wilson is playing in his second Crucible final, having lost 18-8 to Ronnie O'Sullivan in 2020. At number 12, he is looking to become the lowest seeded champion since number 14 Graeme Dott captured the crown in 2006. The 32-year-old from Kettering is contesting his 14th ranking title and looking for his sixth title - and first since the 2022 European Masters. He will jump to third in the world rankings - behind Mark Allen and Judd Trump - if he wins the title, and sixth if he loses.
Making his tenth Crucible appearance, he has conceded 26 frames on his way to the final, beating Dominic Dale 10-1, Joe O'Connor 13-6, John Higgins 13-8 and David Gilbert 17-11. Wilson has made four centuries so far and 36 more breaks over 50.
Cwmbran's 30-year-old Jones is the sixth Welshman to play in the final, following Ray Reardon, Terry Griffiths, Doug Mountjoy, Mark Williams and Stevens. He is the ninth qualifier to reach the Crucible final. Two of those won the title, Griffiths in 1979 and Murphy in 2005, while the other six finished runner-up: Cliff Thorburn (1977), Perrie Mans (1978), Mark Selby (2007), Graeme Dott (2010), Judd Trump (2011) and Ding Junhui (2016). At 44th in the world, Jones is the lowest ranked finalist since Murphy, who was 48th in 2005.
Remarkably, this is his first ranking final, and his only previous semi-final came at the 2022 Gibraltar Open. He made his first Crucible appearance last year and reached the quarter-finals so the venue and longer matches clearly suit him - in fact he is the first player since Stevens in 1999 to make the last eight in his first two Sheffield showings. Jones is already guaranteed a place among the world's top 16 for the first time as he will be 14th if he loses the final and sixth if he wins.
After winning qualifying matches against Zhou Yuelong and Jamie Clarke just to make it to the Crucible, Jones has knocked out Zhang Anda 10-4, Si Jiahui 13-9, Judd Trump 13-9 and Stuart Bingham 17-12, conceding 34 frames. He has compiled two centuries and 27 more breaks over 50. Rated 200/1 at the start of qualifying, Jones would be the longest-odds winner ever.
The duo have met five times before, Wilson winning four of those, including their first meeting at Q School in 2011, and their most recent at the 2021 UK Championship when the Englishman won 6-0. This is the first Crucible final between two players born in the 1990s.
May the best man win!
