World ranking: 23
Last five seasons: 21-13-8-5-12
Date of birth: 15-11-65
Lives: Old Tupton, Derbyshire
Turned professional: 1989
Ranking tournament victories: 1
Last season’s prize money: £35,975
Career prize money: £1,004,670
Highest tournament break: 139

Beaten 18-9 by Stephen Hendry in the 1995 Embassy World Championship final, Nigel Bond is currently trying to recapture the form that established him as a top-16 player.

Hendry has been a real thorn in Bond’s side. He defeated his CueMasters stable-mate at Sheffield for four successive years from 1993 and also denied him in his first major final at the 1990 Grand Prix.

The Derbyshire professional captured his first world ranking title at the 1996 British Open, obtaining the snooker he required from 69-0 down in the deciding frame to complete a famous 9-8 victory over John Higgins.

He won the Regal Masters the following year.

Forced to pre-qualify for the 2000 world championship for the first time since 1992, Bond overcame Euan Henderson 10-5 and then admitted: “Losing would have been an absolute disaster. The world championship means everything to me.

"It’s a hard 17 days but at least I can say I have done the distance.”

He lost 10-7 to Alan McManus in the first round but, with the help of coach Derek Hill, there are signs that Bond could be on the way back.