Nick Pearce believes the “animal” in Jack Lisowski’s game will help him beat Robert Milkins in the 2023 snooker World Grand Prix at the Cheltenham Racecourse.
Pearce has the kind of credentials that make his opinion matter; the 56-year-old retired from the professional circuit 20 years ago due to injury problems, but he had notable success during his playing career.
He was ranked 57 in the world at his peak, reaching the last 32 in the 1997 British Open and the semi-final in the 1996 International Open. Pearce beat some of the best players in the world during his career, including Ronnie O’Sullivan and Stephen Lee.
Pearce also has a unique perspective with both players owing to the time he spent once he retired from snooker operating the Westgate Snooker Club in Gloucester.
Milkins practised regularly with Pearce at the Gloucester club, and the two formed a close friendship that remains today. It was also here that a young 11-year-old Jack Lisowski learned his craft playing alongside Milkins and Pearce.
Pearce described the impact he had on Lisowski’s early development:
“To watch the lads that I saw at the beginning of their career, to help them in whatever way I could. Hopefully, I was in some way responsible for that”, Pearce added.
Pearce credits snooker legend Peter Ebdon’s influence for Lisowski’s recent improvement in form, describing how the two have been working together.
“This is a marriage made in heaven,” Pearce said excitedly, explaining how Ebdon’s mental strength is “unrivalled”.
The partnership has already produced results. Lisowski is ranked 12th in the world, and he carries a lot of confidence into the showdown with Milkins after beating two-time Masters champion John Higgins 6-3 in the 2023 Masters tournament last week:
The result prompted snooker legend Jimmy White to name Lisowski one of two “new superstars of our game,” alongside Hossein Vafei, Lisowski’s 2023 Masters quarter-final opponent.
Milkins, currently ranked 31 in the world, hopes to rebound on home turf after losing 6-2 to Zhang Anda in the 2023 6-Reds World Championship. He reached the semi-final of the German Masters but has otherwise suffered a string of second and third-round exits in 2022.
The match between the two will be the third time they have played each other professionally, with Lisowski winning both of the previous encounters.
However, it will be an unusual experience for Lisowski to play competitively against a man he shares such a close bond with, going so far as to describe Milkins as “like a big brother”.
This contest could not be more of a local affair. Get down to the Cheltenham Racecourse on Monday 16th, at 9 pm to see how the excitement unfolds.
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