Give praise for Hazel Irvine’s cool presence in the heat of the Crucible

T his year’s World Snooker Championship has produced what some fans of the sport would consider a long overdue wind of change on the baize. Sure, Mark Selby can cement his place in history on bank holiday Monday if he wins the title for a fifth time, but the sight of two players under the age of 30 in Luca Brecel and Si Jiahui playing out a world semi-final felt refreshing if nothing else, given how the sport has been dominated by the same clutch of players for so long.

Sports thrive on progression and evolution when it comes to the stars of the show – but away from the action, consistency is a valuable commodity. And for all the change snooker is trying to undergo, there is one bastion of consistency who perhaps never quite gets the credit they truly deserve. In an ever-changing world, nothing screams comforting reassurance like Hazel Irvine presenting the snooker on the BBC. She will utter the first words to the new champion of the world on Monday evening and these days anyone other than Irvine on hand for the biggest moments that matter in snooker feels wrong.

Irvine has been a fine broadcaster for more than 30 years, attending some of the biggest sporting events in the world, including several Olympic Games. But it is the Crucible which is the venue you feel she will now be forever synonymous with after 20-plus years of leading the Beeb’s coverage of snooker’s premier event. She has handled interviews with players who can often be unpredictable with a microphone in hand with aplomb, and it is clear she has the respect of everyone she works with.

There has been a welcome and exciting arrival of female sporting anchors in recent years. The likes of Alex Scott, Laura Woods and Seema Jaswal, who has presented some