I don’t know Wayne Cotterill but from the brief chat I had with him I quickly got to understand what snooker means to him.

From the moment he could reach a full size table on tip-tops he has been playing the game.

They say the hours youngsters spend at the snooker table equate to a mis-spent youth.

But try telling that to Wayne – or the other thousands of players who have honed their skills with cue in hand.

Wayne has played the game – man and boy – for 28 years. He first picked up a cue when he was six-years-old and now, aged 34, it is rarely from his side.

He has tasted his fair share of success on the local circuit too but there has always been one thing missing from his snooker cv – the one thing any snooker player thinks about but dares not mention.

The one thing that gets the heart fluttering and the pulses racing.

The one thing that, for most, becomes a fleeting possibility when red follows black follows red – only for a poor positional shot or lapse in concentration see those hopes fade away once more.

I’m talking off the maximum, the 15 reds and 15 blacks (plus colours).

I’m talking of 147 and Wayne Cotterill can now say he has done it.

I don’t know Wayne but I know what it means.