Graeme Dott claims snooker’s pedestrian potters are “killing the game”.

After coming through a tough first-round opener against Peter Ebdon that went to a late-night extra session at the World Championship, Dott called for shot clocks to be introduced.

He believes introducing a timed element could prevent the likes of Ebdon dithering at the table, and snooker chiefs yesterday said they would not rule it out.

Dott believes Ebdon was within his rights to take advantage of the unlimited time players have to take their shots.

But the 35-year-old Scot claims it is high time the World Professional Billiards and Snooker Association (WPBSA) acted to prevent plodding matches, and players would face restrictions on the time they can take over toilet breaks if Dott had his way.

Ebdon spent over four minutes out of the arena at one stage late Monday, irking Dott who raised the issue with Maltese referee Terry Camilleri.

Dott said: “I think there should be a rule brought in for slow play. The standard these days is very high and there’s no need to be as slow as Peter was.

“Is Peter cheating? No, because there isn’t a rule and there should be a rule brought in for slow play.

“I think he’s been playing for 25 years and he knows the shot he’s going to play and I know the shot and the crowd knows the shot, and he’ll still take maybe over a minute.

“It’s hard to bring a rule in for slow play. Because he was taking so long I was actually trying to think of one when I was out there playing.

“The only thing I can think of is having a shot clock, because it’s killing the game.”

WPBSA chairman Jason Ferguson responded yesterday, telling PA Sport: “Four minutes with an empty table on TV is a long time. We have to think about TV.

“There are a number of players that leave the arena after every frame, and that can be for a number of reasons. Perhaps we do need to address that and look at if we need to put some limits on that.

“There used to be a limit.”