DUNCAN IS SINGLES CHAMP AS EDGEFOLD No1 TREBLE UP

DUNCAN WARING ...individual champ

THE CONCLUDING contests of the 2024/25 T & M Motors Snooker League season took place this week with the all-Clay Cross final between handicap runner-up Lee Hage and team-mate and doubles partner Duncan Waring the main course for the OMYA Cup. Also played to a finish was the Jimmy Harper Plate final, an all-Edgefold encounter between the No1 and No2 teams.
Waring warmed up for the showdown in midweek with a 3-1 success over Alfreton's Jack Lowe, making a couple of forty breaks to boot and having earlier seen off thrice-in-row champ Ben Monk in the quarters, looked to be in good form at just the right time to try and avenge an earlier defeat to Hage in the handicap knockout.
A 21 break early doors put Waring in control of the opener in this Individual Scratch event which he duly secured with his opponent requiring two snookers on the last red.
Hage levelled as he took a more scrappy second frame on the black with a 67-55 scoreline before Waring edged ahead again as he took the next on the pink 50-41 in a tight battle.
Waring was in again early with a run of 25 before missing the pink into middle pocket when set for more but Hage came back strongly and after fluking the blue, was only one ball away from levelling again.
However his attempted cut on the pink left a long pot which Waring confidently slammed home to leave himself perfectly on the black for a 55-53 win and a 3-1 lead overall.
A low scoring safety-orientated encounter materialised in the next in which eventually Hage doubled brown with the blue over the pocket to put him 40-20 to the good and it was back to 3-2.
Some of the best snooker was played in what was to be the final frame of the contest, Waring notching a run of 28 first up and Hage hitting back with 26 but eventually it was the veteran cueman and one-time team-mate of Nigel Bond who turned the screw and pulled away for a 64-35 triumph and an excellent 4-2 victory.

EDGEFOLD No1, treble winners after Plate success
L-R: Tommy Smith, Duncan Harwood, Steve Burton, Richard Ferguson and Rob Muxlow.

Meanwhile Edgefold No1 saw off Edgefold No2 328-253  to make it a hat-trick of team trophies as they added the Jimmy Harper Plate to their League Championship and Jaeger Trophy play-off victories.
Tommy Smith edged the opener for the victors 63-54 before Richard Ferguson followed up with a convincing 87-35 success.
Duncan Harwood added to the lead, taking the next 63-48 and it was four straight frames for the favourites as Steve Burton then won 65-55.
This left the No2 pair of Scott Brooks and Trevor Wright needing a mammoth win in the final doubles to overturn the aggregate in this points-based competition and for a long time they held a healthy lead which at one stage reached 45 points which was more than half of the total required.
However a couple of chances went astray on the last few reds and Ferguson stepped in to steady the ship before Brooks and Wright ultimately had to be content with a black ball win after seeing their lead eroded on the colours.
OMYA Cup (Individual Scratch): Semi final: Jack Lowe (Alfreton PM 2) 1, Duncan Waring (Clay Cross Brotherhood) 3.
Final: Duncan Waring (Clay Cross Brotherhood) 4, Lee Hage (Clay Cross Brotherhood) 2: 66(21)-16; 55-67; 50-41; 55-53; 20-40; 64(28)-35(26).
Jimmy Harper Plate (Team Aggregate Consolation) final: Edgefold Matlock No1 328, Edgefold Matlock No2 253.
Breaks: Duncan Waring 40,40,28,25,21; Lee Hage 26.