CHINA'S Liang Wenbo has racked the first 147 of the season - his second career maximum.

Wenbo, 30, racked the perfect break in the sixth frame against Tom Ford to draw level with the Englishman after being 3 - 1 down in the match in the Dafabet English Open at Barnsley.

The Chinaman pockets a hefty £40,000 pounds, assuming no-one else manages to rack another one, in which case, the money would be shared.

Wenbo, of course, is the defending champion of the English Open after having won the first English Open event down in Manchester last season.

Maximums last season were in abundance, with 13 made in total, the highest there's been.

The last maximum last season was made by Crucible qualifier Gary Wilson who made the 147 at the World Championship qualifiers at Ponds Forge in Sheffield.

Wenbo's maximum is the 132nd maximum in snooker history, which began with the first official 147 being in 1982 made by Steve Davis at the Lada Classic, where he won a Lada car.

Play stopped on other tables as they watched Wenbo clear the colours when he slightly ran out of position on the pink and needed to use the rest to get position on the black, but he held his nerve and did his trademark shouting and clenching of the fist.

The maximum break has been much anticipated this season, due to the number that was made last season, as Thailand's Thepchaiya Un-Nooh kicked off the maximum frenzy last season at the Paul Hunter Classic early on.

Ironically, Tom Ford made a maximum last season.

Jack Lisowski had been on previously for the high break prize of 144 for £2,000 - before Wenbo racked a maximum.

Wenbo managed to go on and win his last 64 match with Ford 4 - 3. The maximum took it into the decider.

His first maximum was made in the 2008/09 season and he made it in the 2008 Bahrain Championship qualifying as to the official World Snooker maximum list.

Wenbo is the thirteenth player to make two 147s.

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There was a notable win for the Welshman Mark Williams over the China Championship winner Belgium's Luca Brecel in the last 64 4 - 1.

The English Open is the first of the four Home Nations series and the winner of all four events pockets a £1 million bonus.

Each event bags the winner a £70,000 first prize.

Who would have thought Wenbo would be the first player to rack a maximum this season?

Last season, no Chinese player made a maximum, and it was only Thepchaiya Un-Nooh from Thailand who bagged a maximum break in Furth.