Anthony Hamilton loving it and bang up for the challenge after 31 years on tour

Anthony Hamilton celebrated his 51st birthday in style on Wednesday, winning his first Championship League group and he is loving the challenge on tour 31 years after turning professional.

The Sheriff of Pottingham won two and drew one match in Leicester to top his group, including a fine 3-1 win over Noppon Saengkham in the deciding match, making breaks of 130 and 114 in the first and last frames.

Hamilton is still playing through well-documented eye and back problems but in his fourth decade on the pro tour he has learned to deal with almost anything on the snooker table and is making the most of it.

‘I’ve nothing to say except I’m loving it!’ Hamilton told Metro.co.uk. ‘I’ve got another year on tour after thinking last year might be my last.

‘I’ve got a cue I like. My eyes are still shot, my back’s still shot, but I’m playing alright and I’m bang up for it!’

The Sheriff admits that he expected his cue to long be back in its case by now, thinking that playing past a 50th birthday was inconceivable when he was a regular in the top 16 around the turn of the millennium.

‘No, not at all,’ he said when asked if he thought he’d still be playing at 51. ‘When I was doing alright early doors I thought I’d retire when I was about 35.

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‘The better you’re doing in the middle of your career you don’t really enjoy it, the pressure is on all the time and you don’t love it.

‘It’s the older you get that you realise what a great life it is, you just chill out, I think.’

It was a chilled out