SNOOKER star Terry Murphy aims for more table time in the televised Nations Cup which starts this Saturday.

World number 29 Murphy, who makes his fourth tournament appearance for Northern Ireland, played Stephen Hendry, John Higgins and Stephen Lee last year - and only had three shots.

A record eight countries are split into two round-robin groups and play each other over the best of seven frames, meaning two games for each player and a doubles match.

Kidderminster-based Murphy, who hails from Derry, joins skipper Joe Swail and Gerard Greene at Reading as they face England, the Republic of Ireland and new boys China.

The top two qualify for the semi-finals, while Scotland, Wales, Malta and Thailand make up the other group.

Murphy, 28, reflected: "It was a bit of a nightmare last year as I played one shot in each of the three frames. Hopefully, the same won't happen this time round.

"But you have to wait two or three hours before you play another frame and it's difficult to get any momentum.

"Your main concern is not letting your team-mates down but it's a bit of a lottery when you play your frame.

"England will be certainties to get through and then it's between us and the Republic for the other place. China are a decent team. There's been a lot of interest from Asia.

"We've an outside chance of getting to the final but we should get to the semis."

The television cameras will not faze Murphy although he admitted: "It took me a long time before I won a match on the television.

"Just before Christmas, I was 4-1 down to Nick Dyson but went on to win 5-4."

Murphy, who is set to partner Swail in the doubles, is aiming to stay in the world's top 32 this season and climb towards the pace-setters.

But he is also keeping a close eye on the game's future with the threat of a new circuit breaking away from the World Snooker Association.