ENGLISH JUNIOR CHAMPIONSHIPS

Club House in Cue Gardens, Odsal Top, Bradford

Sunday 28th February 1999

Both of the Junior Championships were decided on 28th February at the Club House, Bradford. The rounds of each event were played alternately, with the one hour games starting at 10.00 am; and this posed an exacting test of potentially six hours continuous billiards for those who had qualified to take part in both competitions. The players making this attempt were Robin Wilson (Middlesbrough) the reigning U-19 champion, Matthew Sutton (Kettering) the defending U-16 Champion, and Gavin Lewis (Norfolk).

Only Robin Wilson in 1997 has won both of these events on the same day, and last year Wilson and Sutton both reached the finals, winning one each. By chance, the draw had paired the two together at the quarter-final stages of both competitions. Being generally regarded as the two outstanding players in either of the events, the winner of their matches would be hot favourite to go on a lift the championship.

Under-16 Championship

Robin Wilson takes the U-16 title with the biggest winning margin for ten years.

The Under 16 Championships started the proceedings at Bradford and there was no doubt as to which of the pairings was of most interest with all eyes on Wilson and Sutton, who were playing on the match table. Sutton had runs of 36, 33 and 30 against Wilson´s best of 37, but the Teesside player was the more consistent and managed to scrape home by just 15 points.

Thirteen-year-old Scott Casey of Stockton was playing in his first finals and performed well to beat Norfolk´s Gavin Lewis by 40 points. Billy Bousfield, also from Stockton, who had qualified for the second successive year, performed well to beat the improving Calvin Daws of Norfolk. The play of twelve-year-old Daws has been attracting some attention lately and despite this set-back, his time will surely come. In the other quarter-final, Allan Taylor of Liverpool was playing in his first major billiards competition and he progressed by defeating Arron Spencer (Norfolk) 213-170.

Having passed the hurdle of his main adversary, Wilson was in free- scoring mood in his match against fellow Teessider Scott Casey and comfortably reached his fifth successive final with breaks of 58, 33 and 30 in a massive 280 point win. Allan Taylor put in one of his finest performances to reach his first final, including a 36 break in a 263-203 victory over Billy Bousfield.

The signs that Wilson would secure his second U-16 title began early as a 37 break helped him to a 107-6 lead. Further runs of 28 and 41 pushed Wilson over the 200 mark with Taylor way back on 42. He didn´t give up however, and put together his highest break of the competition with 45 which included a demonstration of some of his impressive snooker skills. Wilson however was unstoppable, and continuing with breaks of 37, 32, 31 and 37 completed a 450-175 victory with an average of 12.2. This was the biggest winning margin in an U-16 final for over ten years.

Under-19 Championship

In the Under 19 competition Wilson and Sutton were again the centre of attention. Robin had won this event for the previous two years and started well with a 56 break. However, Matthew rose to the occasion, turning in a solid performance to gain revenge for the earlier defeat, making a 67 break, the highest of the day, to record a 55 point victory.

Martin Shutt (Stockton) the younger brother of professional player Chris Shutt and himself a former U-16 finalist, had successfully made the transition to the U-19 event by qualifying for the final stages at Bradford. He progressed to the semi-finals with a good victory over the 1996 U-16 Champion, Dean Bavister (Northants) with both players making breaks of 40.

Lee McKenna (Middlesbrough) turned in a solid performance with breaks of 46, 44 and 32 in defeating Gavin Lewis, so putting an early end to his hopes of a "double".

Ben Hooton (Stockton) playing in his second finals, initially held England junior international James Chambers, but after breaks of 32 and 33 the Cambridgeshire player pulled away to win comfortably by 83 points.

Matthew Sutton takes the U- 19 title away from Teesside for the first time since 1989.

Matthew Sutton, seeming more relaxed after his tense encounter with Wilson, raced into a 100 point lead with breaks of 64 and 32, but to his credit, Martin Shutt came back with runs of 31 and 45. However, Shutt was also playing against the clock and adopting a much quicker pace than normal, incurred vital misses when seemingly well-placed. This proved to be his downfall as Sutton held on to win by 30 points. The encounter between Lee McKenna and Jimmy Chambers proved to be a very tight affair. The result, which could have gone either way eventually going to Chambers by just 13 points.

Although Sutton was firm favourite for the title, previous encounters with Chambers suggested that the result was by no means a forgone conclusion. However, Chambers was unable to present an effective challenge on this occasion as Sutton competed a 164 points win, making breaks of 42 and 33 in the process. He recorded an average of 10.9 in the one hour game. This was the first time since 1978 that Teesside didn't have a representative in the final, and the first time since 1989 that a player from outside that area had been a winner. Sutton´s achievements in the Northants Billiards League include breaks of 124 and 119. He has also made a century in a snooker match and a maximum 147 in practice.