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Pop icon Jones keeps Williams' title hopes on track

Tom Jones claps during a concert (left) and Mark Williams (right) chalks his cueGetty Images

Tom Jones is from Pontypridd and Mark Williams from Cwm in the south Wales valleys

It's not unusual for Mark Williams to be in the semi-final of the World Snooker Championship. After all he is a three-time winner of the sport's biggest prize.

However, as he bids at 50 to become the oldest world champion, he its he is seeking a little bit of extra help from the green, green grass of home.

After beating John Higgins in a dramatic final black-ball finish to their quarter-final, Williams told the BBC televsion audience it was the music of Tom Jones that got him over the line.

And Williams' manager Lee Walker, himself a fomer snooker player, has revealed the world number six then spoke to the pop icon on the phone after the match.

"They're good friends," Walker told BBC Radio Wales' Breakfast programme.

"Funnily enough when we had finished he was actually talking to Tom Jones when we were back in the hotel."