World Snooker Championship: Jack Jones fights back from slow start to share opening session with Stuart Bingham

Jack Jones overcame a shaky start in his World Snooker Championship semi-final debut, sharing the opening session with Stuart Bingham.

With Bingham racing ahead with a three-frame lead, Jones completely rolled his eyes during the early contest exchanges.

Bingham missed a golden chance to win the fourth frame, turning the tide in Jones’ favor.

Jones won three on the spin, but shared the final two frames to finish the match level at 4-4.

There was a lot of applause when Jones made his first successful pot in the World Championship semi-finals, and rightfully so as he showed great cue power to knock in a long red and screw it into the top side of the blue.

Jones began to lose cue balls and missed the rest on the 27th, passing the table to Bingham, who punished the mistake with a stunning 94 break.

It took two frames for Bingham to double his lead.

Setting up a single table at the Crucible can be a daunting experience, and Jones looked a bit unsettled as he missed a simple red in the third frame.

After a two-frame potting blitz by Bingham, the third frame was a disastrous affair. But the result was the same, with Bingham snooking Jones on the final red, knocking him in on the red and clearing to pink.

Jones calmly advanced to the semi-finals, but after making another mistake in the fourth, he slammed his cue on the table in frustration.

Bingham looked certain to win the fourth frame on the bounce, but he missed a simple blue and was essentially a frame ball tied up with black. Jones seized the opportunity and produced a superb clearance of 40 to get on the board.

Jones, who won the first frame in the Crucible semi-final, looked set to settle as he took a break of 66 and fended off Bingham’s attempts to secure the snooker to win the fifth frame.

Jones’ turnaround continued in the sixth. After holding a 21-point lead, the Welshman won a safety battle on the final red to take the frame and equalize.

Shifts in momentum are to be expected in a game this long, and the tide changed for Bingham in the seventh inning. Jones was on the ball and spinning for his fourth win, but he missed a difficult blue and the 2015 champion showed his mettle for a 79 and a return to the lead.

Bingham had a chance to secure an overnight lead in the eighth inning, but it crumbled in the 15th inning, with Jones scoring 72 runs to split the session at 4-4.

Athletes will return on Friday afternoon for session two of the race, which runs until the 17th.