John Parrott, the former world champion, is relishing today's all-Scottish Crucible showdown between John Higgins and Stephen Hendry.

The Scots share 11 world titles, but amazingly they have never met on snooker's grandest stage – the Betfred.com World Championship.

Parrott, the champion in 1991, believes fans are in for a treat with the pair set to battle it out over the best-of-25 frames. "It is a fantastic match-up. John has held the Indian sign over Stephen for a while," said Parrott. "But if you look at the first-round matches, John was tactically the better and Stephen was the heavier scorer. It is a fascinating contest, you'd have to favour Higgins, and the bookies will, but I think Hendry will play well.

"It is unbelievable that they have never met here, when you know how many titles they have between them and how often they have reached the later stages in the past 20 years.

"I am pleased to see Stephen Hendry back playing well, I was watching him last season from the [BBC] studio and he was hitting across the ball, looking out of form and a bit dejected.

"But then in his first-round performance here must have been a huge boost for him."

Seven-time world champion Hendry rolled back the years with a memorable maximum 147 break in his 10-4 first-round victory over Englishman Stuart Bingham on the opening weekend of this year's 17-day marathon.

But four-time world winner and current defending champion Higgins was taken the distance in his 10-9 first-round win over the Chinese qualifier, Liang Wenbo.

Although Higgins was far from his best despite getting his title defence off to a winning start, Parrott believes he will find another gear against Hendry.

"John is another with a brilliant record, he is the man that has won more matches here that have gone close, with frames he almost had no right to win, than any other," added Parrott. "He is an absolute study in sheer grit and determination when he hasn't got his A game, and flawless snooker when he has.

"He wasn't at his best in his first-round match, and his game will have to improve from that, and from some of his displays this season. But there is a distinct possibility it will.

"I think he is one of those players who likes to prepare properly for tournaments, and I'm not sure first-to-four, first- to-five frame events every other week suits him.

"Now he has got best-of-25 matches, and that suits him. He'll be really tough to beat."

Hendry drove home to Scotland after his first-round win and returned to Sheffield yesterday hungry to produce the goods once again on the big stage.

But the 43-year-old believes he is a big underdog for the contest, Higgins having won an impressive three world titles in the past five years.

"I may no longer be at the stage where I am competing for titles as much as John is over the past few years," admitted Hendry. "So I will be a much bigger underdog than some of the matches, say, where I played Steve Davis when we were more evenly matched in terms of rankings

"In terms of who has done what recently, John will be favourite. This is a match between two players who have achieved a lot in the game, and I remember certain matches against Steve for that reason.

"There were a couple of semi-finals at the Crucible, I think that was 1-1, and a final of the UK Championship when it was over the best of 31 frames.

"It means a lot. I will enjoy it, and am really looking forward to it. It will be an occasion to favour, especially as we haven't played each other at the venue before, but I am also just pleased to be still in the tournament and that I played well in the first round.

"We are not competing all the time, or on a level playing field and that's what I would prefer but the fact that I am playing John, who I have never met in Sheffield, does make the occasion more special."