JACK LOWE WRAPS UP MAIDEN LEAGUE SINGLES TRIUMPH

JACK LOWE & SCOTT BROOKS ... individual handicap finalists

JACK LOWE of Alfreton Palmer Morewood secured his maiden league individual trophy success courtesy of a 4-2 defeat of Edgefold's Scott Brooks, who was also appearing in his first conventional singles final, albeit having won the Christmas speed snooker event a couple of years back.
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).

T & M Motors Snooker League        P        W        L      Pts 

Clay Cross Brotherhood No2            21       13         8      66

Alfreton P Morewood No2                 19       14         5      63

Edgefold Matlock No2                       21       12         9      59

Bolehill Institute No1                         21       13         8      58

Belper Royal British Legion               21       10       11      56

Tansley Potters                                  19       11         8      52

Clay Cross Brotherhood No1            19       10         9      50

Edgefold Matlock No1                       19       10         9      50

Crich Comrades                                21       10       11      45

Alfreton P Morewood No1                 20       10       10      44

Edgefold Matlock No3                       21         5       16      35

Bolehill Institute No2                         20         3       17      27

Leading breaks: K Hopkins 72; C Greenfield 52.
Leading wins: J Lowe 16/19;  M Newby 15/19; J Roseman 14/19.

DUNCAN IS ON CUE FOR THE SECOND SUCCESSIVE YEAR

A TRIUMPHANT DUNCAN WARING with main match referee Paul Trevett

DUNCAN WARING of Clay Cross Brotherhood lifted the OMYA Cup (Individual Scratch) for the second year running,  securing a nail-biting 4-3 final success over Bolehill's Ricki Slack, a five-time winner of the event himself and now runner-up twice in the last three seasons, at Crich Comrades Club.
Waring had battled through a tough run to the final, defeating the likes of Scott Brooks, Ben Monk and Justin Weller en route while Slack had come through against John Roseman in the opening round and another individual finalist Rob Muxlow in the last eight.
Early doors it was all Waring as he dominated table time, taking the opening couple of frames with the minimum of fuss, with visits of 32,29 and 22 contributing to 82-12 and 50-14 winning margins.
The Bolehill cueman began to find his feet in the next despite Waring himself having a run of 23, however Slack's 29 break got his cue arm moving sufficiently to get over the line 73-58 to pull one back.
Waring was still striking the ball well and was in with 27 before Slack hit back to make it nip and tuck but a mishit safety allowed the Clay Cross player to pounce with a splendid clearance of 49 to go 3-1 up with scores of 77-35.
The fat lady could be excused for moving into position to open her vocal chords as Waring ran in a 39 at the start of frame five but again Slack fought back with the aid of a run of 20 and edged the frame on the final black from long range from just off the side cushion.
It was 3-3 as Slack engineered a 63-26 verdict with a visit of 21 and he made the early running in the decider as he moved twenty ahead despite Waring's excellent early standards.
However, knocking in the black inadvertently proved costly as Waring then pulled back to level the scores after which a bout of safety play and snookering meant the referee was kept busy with the miss rule in operation.
With Waring emerging from this period with a 12-point advantage, Slack then got in with yellow to brown to reduce the gap to three before more tactical play eventually left him a chance on blue to middle, albeit from near the green pocket.
However, playing for pink increased the difficulty of the shot and it went awry, meaning Waring came back to the table to dispatch impressive match-winning pots on a straight blue from a narrow angle into the green pocket while holding for pink which was just off its spot, cueing from the jaws of the middle pocket, both coolly taken with an air of confidence for a deserved success.
Thanks to the Comrades Club for hosting and to referees Paul Trevett and Ade Smith.

In the T & M Motors Snooker League, Clay Cross Brotherhood No2 extended their lead to four points with a 3-2 win at Crich Comrades with second placed Alfreton No2 inactive, though they now have two games in hand.
Callum Greenfield, Lee Shaw and John Roseman put the visitors three to the good but Nick Berry pulled one back and then Ade Smith and Paul Trevett took the doubles leg on the black.

Bolehill No1 have been pushed all the way by Bolehill No2 in their two clashes this season and once again they were held to just a 3-2 verdict, which nevertheless moves them narrowly into third place.
Ian Doe and Ricki Slack put the play off contenders 2-0 up before Mick Bunting (on the black) and Owen Williams levelled it up.
Ian Birks (runs of 25 and 21) and Slack stepped up in the pairs leg to ensure it went to the formbook however.

Edgefold No2 were defeated 3-2 at Alfreton No1 despite the excellent efforts of Scott Brooks who was twice successful (including as reserve giving the extra handicap due to player shortages).
Cole Smith and Andrew Haggarty had put the hosts two in front and Smith then teamed up with Phil Longden to see them over the line.

Belper Royal British Legion took maximum points from Edgefold No3 with Justin Weller top scoring and Mark Newby and Wayne Shooter taking each of their singles and doubles legs in the 5-0 triumph.

The same night they doubled up playing Edgefold No2 in the Jimmy Harper Plate competition and took a 327-277 win against a depleted host team who could only field two players on the night.
Scott Brooks (28 break) had taken the opener 81-55 but wins for Mark Newby, Steve Bullock and Justin Weller put the visitors in the ascendancy and despite Brooks and father Martin Barwick taking the doubles leg, the aggregate totals favoured the Legionnaires.

OMYA Cup (Individual Scratch) final: Duncan Waring (Clay Cross Brotherhood) 4, Ricki Slack (Bolehill Institute) 3 (at Crich Comrades): 82(32,22)-12; 50(29)-14; 58(23)-73(29); 77(27,49)-35; 59(39)-63(20); 26-63(21); 58-44.

T & M Motors Snooker League week 20: Crich Comrades 2, Clay Cross Brotherhood No2 3; Bolehill Institute No1 3, Bolehill Institute No2 2; Alfreton Palmer Morewood No1 3, Edgefold Matlock No2 2; Edgefold Matlock No3 0, Belper Royal British Legion 5.
Jimmy Harper Plate (Team Aggregate Consolation) first round: Edgefold Matlock No2 277, Belper Royal British Legion 327.
Breaks (inc. comps): D Waring 49,39,32,29,27,23,22; R Slack 29,21,20; S Brooks 28,28; I Birks 25,21; J Weller 25,21; I Doe 25.
Clay Cross Brotherhood sponsored Player of the Week: Duncan Waring (Clay Cross Brotherhood).

T & M Motors Snooker League        P        W        L      Pts 

Clay Cross Brotherhood No2            20       12         8      62

Alfreton P Morewood No2                 18       13         5      58

Bolehill Institute No1                         20       13         7      57

Edgefold Matlock No2                       20       11         9      56

Belper Royal British Legion               20       10       10      54

Tansley Potters                                  18       11         7      51

Edgefold Matlock No1                       18       10         8      48

Clay Cross Brotherhood No1            18         9         9      45

Alfreton P Morewood No1                 19       10         9      44

Crich Comrades                                20         9       11      42

Edgefold Matlock No3                       20         4       16      31

Bolehill Institute No2                         19         3       16      27

Leading breaks: C Greenfield 52; D Waring 47.
Leading wins: J Lowe 15/18;  M Newby 14/18; C Marchington 13/17.