Shaun Murphy slams Stephen Hendry over “poor” punditry

Shaun Murphy has hit out at Stephen Hendry after he admitted he had never seen Women’s World Champion Baipat Siripaporn play.

Thai star Baipat is due to take on Judd Trump in the group stage of the event in Bolton on Thursday.

Hendry, working as a pundit for ITV4 at the Champion of Champions, when asked by presenter Jill Douglas how impressed he has been with Baiapat this season, admitted he is yet to watch her play.

A visibly unimpressed Douglas replied: “Oh, Stephen” and Hendry’s admission has since been met with fierce criticism from Murphy.

Speaking on the OneFourSeven podcast, Murphy insisted some snooker pundits and commentators like Hendry should conduct more research into current players.

“We’re singling out Stephen Hendry this time because he said it,” said Murphy.

“He’s not the only person who’s said it. I think it’s poor, don’t you? I think it’s really poor.

“When you’re in that position, and you’re stood in a studio, or you’re in commentary, you have to make it your business to find out a little bit about the people you’re going to be covering.

“I thought it was poor, but there’s a few of them. He’s not on his own, and they seem to wear it like a badge of honour.

“I don’t really get it. But Stephen’s old, he’s grumpy – he just probably can’t be bothered.

“He’s got his YouTube channel, but does he know how YouTube works? He won’t know how to use it. He wouldn’t know how snooker.org works, he wouldn’t know his way around CueTracker. He’s never analysed any play from any player that he’s covering.

“He basically got that job because he won seven world titles, and that’s it.”

Baipat, 24, defeated Bai Yulu 6-3 to claim her first women’s world title in March, thus securing a debut appearance in the Champion of Champions.

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