Whatever one's perspective on Mark Allen's expletive-ridden outburst, it is no bad thing to see snooker making the news headlines again.

No publicity is bad publicity and my two cents on the subject is that Allen and any other critics of snooker supremo Barry Hearn are out of their minds. The sport looked increasingly moribund before Hearn returned to the top table 18 months ago, and has already been transformed. We've seen the best World Championship in decades, the PTCs and other extra tournaments are a refreshing change for snooker-starved fans, and the game has a new superstar in Judd Trump. Thanks to Hearn's shake-up of the rankings system, expect to see the likes of up-and-comers Daniel Wells and Jack Lisowski make their mark before long.

Nevertheless, it would be churlish to not to applaud Allen's achievement in not letting the controversy affect his performance this week. Consequently, the Northern Irishman lines up for his seventh semi-final in a big event, (discounting the invitational Wuxi Classic), against Ricky Walden tomorrow. After losing each of the previous six, this is by far his best chance, as the first time he will have started favourite. Whether odds of 1.72 represents good value about Allen finally breaking through, however, is quite another matter.

Walden may well be the inferior player in terms of rankings and wider status, but he's repeatedly defied expectations this week and, for my money, produced the better snooker.

Ricky started outsider against Stephen Lee, Mark Williams and Shaun Murphy, yet brushed them all aside with the minimum of fuss, cueing well and looking very comfortable in the balls. After claiming the scalps of former world champions in the last two rounds, he has no reason to fear Allen.

Moreover, whereas Allen keeps coming up short in semi-finals, Walden played a blinder on his sole previous appearance in the latter stages of a big event, defeating Mark Selby and Ronnie O'Sullivan to win the 2008 Shanghai Masters. In a tight, tough to call match, he rates better value at 2.36.