World Snooker Championship referee Marcel Eckardt suffers official’s worst nightmare after Jak Jones miss

WORLD Snooker Championship referee Marcel Eckardt faced a nightmare scenario after a shot by Jak Jones.

During the semi-final at the Crucible, Jones fell victim of a cheeky shot by Ronnie O'Sullivan conqueror Stuart Bingham as he snookered the cue ball between the green ball and a cushion.

Jones, 30, played a shot off two cushions to try and get himself out of his pickle.

However, the Silent Assassin's shot ended up hitting the coloured pink ball before it hit any red balls.

Travelling at speed as the white then crashed into the pink it then subsequently went into a crowd of red balls.

However, with no obvious shot on, Bingham asked for the balls to be replaced to their old position.

The crowd found this request hilarious, with ref Eckardt giving a rueful look before conferring with marker Rob Spencer on the replacements.

Eurosport commentator Neal Foulds joked: "This replacement might take about a week.";

Fortunately for spectators Eckardt and Spencer used their expertise to return all the balls to their former spots within five minutes.

The move ended up paying dividends for Jones as he made a great escape at the second time of asking.

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World No44 Jones ended up progressing into the final of the tournament with an 17-12 win to book a place against Kyren Wilson, who defeated David Gilbert 17-11.

You can follow updates from the final with our live blog here.