 |
| JACK LOWE & SCOTT BROOKS ... individual handicap finalists |
Speed was not necessarily on the agenda on this occasion, however, with gritty matchplay and bouts of tactical safety to the fore in a hard fought battle played out over nearly four hours at Clay Cross Brotherhood.
Brooks was first into his stride in the opener with a run of 23 before Lowe took brown to pink but ended up in no mans land on the black, forcing him to take on a double before the Edgefold man powered home a majestic long pot up the cushion to secure the frame 65-61.
Neither player really got into full flow in the ensuing frames and an overcut free ball chance from Brooks allowed Lowe, receiving 20pts on the handicap, to take red and black soon afterwards which gave him the platform to equalise at 1-1.
It was 2-1 to the Alfreton cueman as he stepped up to take yellow to blue to wrap up the next which had been in the balance but Brooks hit back strongly with his best run of the match to equalise, a break of 30, albeit instigated by a fluke he attained getting out of a tough snooker from the baulk end.
The miss rule played a large role in the next which went Lowe's way due to a string of snookers after Brooks had declined the chance to make his opponent play again from out of a snooker in oversight.
And things began to fall Lowe's way thereafter as he was the beneficiary of several more snookers, some intended and some not, which forced Brooks onto the back foot, before the Alfreton No2 captain then fluked the last red with a black to follow. Eventually he ran out with brown, blue and pink before fluking the black around the table at pace which was purely academic but acted as a crowd pleasing flourish at the end of a landmark occasion for him.
It was also a good day for Lowe's team in the T & M Motors Snooker League, as Alfreton No2 defeated Alfreton No1 5-0 to move three points adrift of Clay Cross No2 with two games in hand, both against Edgefold No1, who travel to Clay Cross themselves next week.
Young Kai Hopkins was the star of the show (Clay Cross Brotherhood sponsored Player of the Week), notching breaks of 72 in his singles and 32 in the doubles while Dean Bullock also started proceedings in fine style with a convincing 74-34 success.
Jack Lowe himself was also twice successful turning out again as the reserve player.
Clay Cross Brotherhood No2 took a high quality contest at Bolehill No1 4-1 with the hosts' Ricki Slack deciding the issue in the opener with a 40 clearance before an excellent potting display from Lee Shaw (23 break) squared things up.
A tight and tactical third frame was secured by John Roseman on the pink to put the visitors 2-1 ahead and thereafter Callum Greenfield with a 40 break, and Roseman with a run of 36 in the doubles, steered them to a highly satisfactory result.
Edgefold No2 moved back up into third place, taking a 3-2 verdict at Belper Royal British Legion, despite again being down to the bare bones.
Martin Barwick and Josh Dakin took each of their singles and doubles legs, while the ever-reliable Mark Newby and Wayne Shooter were on target for the hosts.
Tansley Potters fell 4-1 at Edgefold No3 with only Steve Hawkins (34 break) registering for the vanquished.
Steve Birds and Sam Kniveton had put the home side two up and James Hemming secured the overall victory in the fourth frame before teaming up with Birds to put the icing on the cake in the pairs leg.
There were a couple of century points hauls in the remaining fixtures, with Duncan Harwood and Steve Burton (37 break) amassing 102 in their doubles contest for Edgefold No1 at home to Crich Comrades, but the visitors had already sailed off into the sunset for the overall 3-2 win.
Paul Hubbard and Tommy Smith (on the black) shared the early frames but impressive displays from Ade Smith and Nick Berry (27 break) had the Tramwaymen in great cheer.
And Duncan Waring continued where he left off in last week's individual final, running up a mammoth 115 points with breaks of 41, 25 and 22 as Clay Cross No1 saw off Bolehill No2 5-0.
Graham Jones and Duane Parsons were also successful in each of their singles and pairs contests.
Open Individual Handicap final: Jack Lowe (Alfreton Palmer Morewood) 4, Scott Brooks (Edgefold, Matlock) 2 (at Clay Cross Brotherhood): 61-65(23); 68-38; 63-35; 36-78(30); 71-36; 76(22)-25.
T & M Motors Snooker League week 21: Alfreton Palmer Morewood No1 0, Alfreton Palmer Morewood No2 5; Bolehill Institute No1 1, Clay Cross Brotherhood No2 4; Belper Royal British Legion 2, Edgefold Matlock No2 3; Edgefold Matlock No3 4, Tansley Potters 1; Edgefold Matlock No1 2, Crich Comrades 3; Clay Cross Brotherhood No1 5, Bolehill Institute No2 0.
Breaks (inc. comps): K Hopkins 72,32; D Waring 41,25,22; R Slack 40; C Greenfield 40; S Burton 37; J Roseman 36; S Hawkins 34; S Brooks 30,23; N Berry 27; L Shaw 23; J Hawkins 23; D Bullock 22; J Lowe 22.
Century points hauls: D Waring (Clay Cross Brotherhood No1) 115pts; D Harwood / S Burton (Edgefold No1) 102pts, doubles.
Clay Cross Brotherhood sponsored Player of the Week: Kai Hopkins (Alfreton PM No2).
Leading wins: J Lowe 16/19; M Newby 15/19; J Roseman 14/19.
No comments:
Post a Comment