Gardner equals highest break of the season so far
Report by Mike Crook:
All change once again at the top of the Mann Crane Hire Snooker League as Cue Zone Blinders continued their three-match run of beating whichever team was at the top, this week defeating joint-leaders St Olave’s.
Blinders, now six from six head the league for the first time.
Co-leaders, the Hurricanes suffered a home defeat at the hands of PSM Legion in a week where the quality of play definitely picked up with 19 breaks of 20+, Calum Gardner (Musicians) was the highest, a 63 to level Peter Kirkham’s season’s best.
David Hill 58-11 Geoff Hall - A rare night where Hall didn’t make much impact, Hill taking many more colours to ease to victory. Alex Kennedy 101-84 Paul Smyth - Only chasing 78 this week, Paul made it harder by going in-off early on, but breaks of 24 and 21 closed the gap. Alex replied with a couple of nice long balls but Paul nearly nicked it with a clearance on the colours, just missing the pink. Alex dispatched a tough shot into the middle. Harry Ellis 52-34 Dave Kelly - Kelly never quite caught Ellis’ 14 start, the latter winning on the blue. Shaun Roberts 65-72 Stuart Sandford - Shaun pushed ahead moping up a few misses, leaving Stuart needing a snooker on the blue. Stuart got the snooker and after winning single ball battles to tie the scores it was a re-spot black. Stuart eventually sank it from long distance to ultimately save St Olave’s blushes. Scott Campion 74-47 Dan Crawley - One red left and Scott had extended his start slightly to 30, it was still game on at the blue before Scott drifted it down the cushion into a black pocket leaving Dan seeking a snooker. Thankfully, with a long drive home looming it didn’t drag on much longer, Scott depositing a medium distance pink.
A nice away win for the Legion with plenty of breaks here, 27 and 22 from Jamie Wilson to take the opener for the Hurricanes. Brandon Forrester hit 20 in frame two but Phil Joynes, who wasn’t expecting to play well having driven the PSM team up, looking at bright lights all the way. He rolled back the years with a magnificent 39, which added to his 14 start, more or less sealed the frame. Craig Tinnion ran away with frame three and Andrew Hutchison with a 22 clearance made it 3-1 to PSM. The two captains fought out the last, Nialls Wilson took it to close the gap. Frame scores: Jamie Wilson 78-33 Terry Tobin, Brandon Forrester 32-69 Phil Joynes, Ste MacDonald 13-70 Craig Tinnion, Rob Cowin 40-67 Andrew Hutchison and Nialls Wilson 61-27 Terry Boyle.
A welcome first win for Wannabes and after four losses on the black last week, they eventually got on the right side of one with Dave Corris 43-34 Jez Hill in the opener. Ivan McMaw (Masters) hit the only break of the match, 29 in frame four to force a decider. However, Paul McKinstry held his nerve, taking a close finale against Les Briggs. Other frame scores: Steve Cowin 51-93 Brendan Clague, David Callister 82-61 Martin Rigg, Michael Creer 16-54 Ivan McMaw and Paul McKinstry 64-47 Les Briggs. Wannabes stay bottom, a single point behind PSM Strollers.
Finch Hill Rockets 3-2 Malew
Two of the three individual 100 per cent records were ended here, Rodger Clague, (Rockets) tasting defeat at the hands of Tony Pring in frame two. This was followed by Chenji Ratnavel ending James Goodwin’s win streak, Chenji making a 25 break. Marc Bolton was the match winner in frame four to give the champions just their second success of the season, they lie mid-table, but only four points from the top of a very tight league. Frame scores: Leon Martin 67-21 Alec Oates, Rodger Clague 32-53 Tony Pring, Chenji Ratnavel 85-73 James Goodwin, Marc Bolton 55-40 Tony Cubbon and Doug Kinrade 25-56 Mark Quinn.
Calum Gardner 105-37 David Notman - Calum's 63 break was quality from start to finish, he had to develop balls to keep the break going and had total control up until his last shot, landing badly against a red leaving him without a potable shot. He also hit a 20 for good measure. Vic Rigby 68-77 Alex Sinclair - Alex was chasing from the start, made a 20 break but Vic had chances to close it out a couple of times. Vic finally potted the black but the white rolled into the middle pocket! Dave Hanlon 33-60 Dave Welsh - Hanlon’s 14 start was nowhere near enough! Vinny Dale 70-63 Lee Gale - Lee was potting well with a 22 and went into the colours in front, but Vinny nicked it by getting the last three colours. Paul Tangeman 38-61 Kam Virk - Kam took the decider to end the Cue Ballers run of three defeats.
This match went to a decider where Peter Kirkham was chasing Garey Ellison’s 63 start. Kirkham hit breaks 24 and 30 but still needed three snookers at one stage. With a mixture a good play and inexperience from his opponent, Kirkham could win with all the colours. He looked like clearing but just landed the wrong side of the blue. Urged on the opposition captain, Kirkham powered the blue in, going in and out of baulk to land nicely on the pink and finish off game and match with a 27 clearance. Kirkham is the only player with a six from six record. Frame scores: Ian Brookfield 77-67 William Hogg, Harry Boyle 48-45 Lee Hunt, Mike Boyle (21 break) 25-64 Jonny Hogg (22), Max Barnes 37-60 Paul Smith (28) and Garey Ellison 99-102 Peter Kirkham.
This was the only match that didn’t deliver a high break, it opened with Luca McDermott 64-32 Andy Moore, Luca, the clearest winner on the night. Three black ball frames followed, all going to the Bar-barians. Mark Corlett 28-37 Gary Williams - A very low scoring game with the lead changing hands a few times, Gary potting the black to win. Ollie Pickford 37-51 Mark Davenport -Flukes galore here, perhaps Mark having more of the run. I needed the black to force a re-spot black but Mark denied me the chance. Dale Walker 41-53 Chris Lawless - This looked comfortable for Chris, but Dale started to come back towards the end. Chris just got over the line, again on the black. Ben Peach 77-48 Chris Reynolds - Ben held onto his advantage well. Chris started to come back and was playing for snookers, he ended up chipping the white over the final red and Ben got the pots he needed to close it out.
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