By Richard Preen

World Ranking: 30
Date Of Birth: 15/11/65
Form: R48/R48/R48/R48/R48
World Championship best: Runner-up - 1995

Nigel Bond, the former world number five, has endured a difficult couple of years and has slowly seen his high profile position wander away from him.

Down to 45 on the provisional ranking list, his recent form suggests little chance of a sudden turnaround.

This all seems distant from the form that brought him tournament successes in five professional events.

The highlight of his career was the 1996 British Open where he recovered from 69-0 in the deciding frame to beat John Higgins, even more remarkable was the fact that he required a snooker as well.

His most successful World Championships arose in 1995 where he battled through to the final before losing out to Stephen Hendry 18-9.

This was coupled with a semi-final appearance the following year again missing out to Hendry who was at the pinnacle of his own career.

Bond, on paper, had a very difficult draw in qualifying for this year's championships against Basildon's Stuart Bingham.

Bingham is a consistently large break builder and a formidable opponent when amongst the balls, but Bond found some of his old touch in running out a 10-6 victor.

The rest of the season has seen early exits for Bond including a 9-8 defeat by Robert Milkins in the UK championships, this after leading 7-2.

Bond will require a few victories at the Crucible to remain in the top 32 and, as shown previously, has the game to do so.

If he does progress past Alan McManus in the first round he's likely to clash with Ronnie O'Sullivan which would surely need some help from his secret agent namesake to complete this mission successfully.