World ranking: 20
Provisional ranking: 25
Date of birth: 15.11.65
World Championship best: Runner-up - 1995
Nigel Bond won his first match at the Crucible since 1999 last year in arguably the best match since the 1985 final between Steve Davis and Dennis Taylor.
Bond raced into a 7-3 lead against seven-times champion Stephen Hendry before losing five frames in a row to trail 8-7, then regaining his composure to force a decider.
That frame went down to the black ball and the Derbyshire man looked to have won when he potted a simple effort, but to the astonishment of Bond and the crowd, the white ball also rolled into the pocket.
Bond went on to win before losing 13-9 to eventual winner Graeme Dott.
This season has been marked by inconsistency for the 1996 British Open champion.
His best performance came at the Welsh Open in Newport where he reached the third round having beaten Llang Wembo and Stephen Lee before losing 5-3 to Ali Carter.
The 1996 British Open champion has a very respectable record at the Crucible, the highlight obviously being his final appearance in 1995, when he lost out 18-9 to Stephen Hendry.
He also made the quarter-finals in 1993 and 1994 as well as progressing to the semi-final stage in 1996, only to be thwarted by Hendry on all three occasions.
However, it will take a performance of the same calibre as last year's triumph if Bond is to make it past Peter Ebdon in the first round.
Prediction: First round.