Date of birth: 27/8/70
World ranking: 7
Career earnings: �1,385,645
2001-2002 points: 13375

If Peter Ebdon could hold his form in the closing stages of the major championships then would have, by now, collected many more trophies than he has done.

His best performance this season came in the LG Cup where he came across Stephen Lee, eventually losing 9-4 in the final.

It was the first time they had played each other again after the infamous incident at the World Championship earlier that year.

Lee blamed Ebdon for over the top celebrations after he won their quarter-final contest.

Ebdon exploded onto the snooker scene when he sent six-times world champion Steve Davis crashing out of the Embassy World Championship in 1992.

His brave potting and unconventional image of a pony-tailed snooker star made him an instant hit with the fans.

And after his 10-4 drubbing of Davis, he went on to reach the quarter-finals in what was his first season as a professional.

His giant-killing earned him the WPBSA Young Player of the Year award.

Just one year later, Ebdon was collecting his first ranking title trophy as champion of the Grand Prix - not bad for a man with the handicap of colour blindness.

"Ebbo" laughed off suggestions that his Grand Prix victory was a shot in the dark.

He established himself as one of the top players on the circuit with wins in the 1995 Irish Masters, 1996 Regal Masters and the 1997 Thailand Open.

But snooker's two major prizes continued to elude the man from Northamptonshire.

Stephen Hendry beat him 10-3 in the final of the 1995 UK Championship.

The Scot also chalked up an 18-12 victory against Ebdon in the final of the 1996 Embassy World Championship.

In 2000, Ebdon lived up to the name of one of his horses - Poetry In Motion.

He cantered to victory in the British Open, beating Jimmy White 9-6 in the final and then won the Regal Scottish in 2001, to re-establish himself as o0ne of the top players on the circuit.