Snooker to take leaf out of cricket's Twenty20 book

Snooker is taking a leaf out of cricket's book by introducing its version of the Twenty20 game to revive interest in the sport.

Snooker's governing body announced it would trial the short form, provisionally called "Super6s", in a bid to shake-up and modernise the game.

The "Super6s" format will have matches lasting six or seven minutes and will reduce the number of red balls from 15 to six, to speed up play.

World Snooker chairman Rodney Walker was quoted as saying: "As an observer of snooker you cannot churn out the same diet year after year.

"Look at what Twenty20 has done for cricket. It brought in a whole new audience so what we have in mind we think would be appealing to a younger audience."

The introduction of Twenty20, in essence an all-guns blazing version of the game, has brought new interest to cricket and captured the imagination of a younger audience.

Snooker was a hugely popular TV sport in the 1980s, peaking in 1985 when an audience of nearly 20 million stayed up past midnight to watch Dennis Taylor beat Steve Davis on the last black ball of a gripping world championship final.

The "Super6s" format will be launched at this month's world championships in Sheffield, England, which starts on April 18.