World ranking: 12
Last five seasons: 13-7-5-3-10
Date of birth: 27-08-70
Lives: Wellingborough, Northamptonshire
Turned professional: 1991
Ranking tournament victories: 2
Last season’s prize money: £60,585
Career prize money: £1,273,235
Highest tournament break: 147

It was at Sheffield’s Crucible Theatre that pony-tailed Peter Ebdon first burst on to the snooker scene in 1992, beating six-times world champion Steve Davis 10-4 in the first round and going on to reach the quarter-finals in his first season as a professional.

His achievement earned him the WPBSA Young Player of the Year award and he went from strength to strength by collecting his first ranking title - the Grand Prix - a year later.

Victories followed in the 1995 Irish Masters, 1996 Regal Masters and 1997 Thailand Open as Ebdon firmly established himself as one of snooker’s leading players.

Stephen Hendry has twice prevented him from capturing two of the sport’s top titles.

He beat him 10-3 in the final of the 1995 UK Championship and 18-12 in the final of the 1996 Embassy World Championship.

Ebdon defeated Jimmy White, Davis and Ronnie O’Sullivan in tight finishes to reach the final but those matches had left him mentally drained and he was unable to prevent Hendry from collecting his sixth world title.

“I had a very tough draw and having produced all that effort just to get to the final, there was nothing left,” he said.

“But it was a privilege just to play Stephen because he is the greatest player ever to have picked up a cue.”

Ebdon suffered a shock 10-3 defeat against Stefan Mazrocis at Sheffield the following year but reached the quarter-finals again in 1998.

He was beaten by Matthew Stevens in round one in 1999 and by Dominic Dale at the same stage in 2000.

He remains a fierce competitor, however, as he proved by reaching the final of the British Open last season before going down 9-5 to Hendry.

He was also a semi-finalist at the Regal Welsh.

As you might expect from someone who once played the oboe and bowled leg spin for London Schools at cricket, Ebdon is not your average snooker player.

Very much a family man, wife Deborah gave birth to their fourth child - Ruby-Mae - in May.

A keen student of the turf, he owns three racehorses - Poetry In Motion, Ordained and an unraced two-year-old.