Amateur Billiards Circuit

English Ranking Tournaments - All games one hour

LIVERPOOL

The English season started on 10th October with a new venue, the George Scott Snooker Club in Liverpool. This proved eminently satisfactory to Phillip Welham, who saw off all the opposition to win the event. His first round victim, Peter Shelley, went on to take the Plate competition. The forty-four competitors included a number of juniors including a first appearance by 13 year-old Matthew Peaker from Huddersfield, who was unfortunate to run up against Brian Harvey in the first round of the main competition, then Alf Nolan in the first round of the Plate. Stephen Hassack and Martin Shutt were the other juniors who made similarly brief appearances, but who will, no doubt, have benefited from this level of competition.

Phillip Welham wins at Liverpool.

In the preliminary matches, Neal Rewhorn was quickly into top gear, producing a break of 110 to defeat Branson Hoole with an aggregate of 359 in the one-hour match. Paul Bennett also threatened the century, his late break of 95 helping him to edge past tournament organiser Derick Townend by 38 points.

Lee Lagan and Brian Harvey were the star performers in the first round. Lagan had a 512-120 win against D. Thompson, including breaks of 80, 72 and 182—the latter being the highest of the day. Harvey's 556- 82 scoreline against Matthew Peaker was the best one-hour aggregate and included runs of 79, 60, 52, 84 and 97. Paul Bennett was not producing the form which saw him dominate the ranking events last year. His unconvincing win against Derick Townend was followed by the narrowest of victories against James Moore, who despite breaks of 71 and 53 lost out by just one point.

Lee Lagan put together breaks of 70 and 65 to end Bennett's challenge with a conclusive 311-199 win. Brian Harvey, after his tremendous first round performance, had a reversal of fortunes against Stephen Crosland who recorded an equally emphatic victory against the Wessex Champion. A high scoring encounter between Bill Andress and Dennis Marr saw the pair put on almost six hundred points, the result going to Andress 348-244, assisted by breaks of 95 and 85.

Stephen Crosland produced a good performance to eliminate English Champion Lee Lagan in a game which saw both players make 80+ breaks. Teesside's other remaining representative, Darren Kell, also went out by a surprisingly large margin to David Rees. Phillip Welham with consistent scoring, eased past Bill Andress in much the same manner he had disposed of his previous opponents. The semi-final line-up was completed by Tony James who did well to comfortably defeat England's new international player, Gary Rogers.

Tony James has been growing in confidence throughout last season, and has started the current campaign with a determination to be well- placed in the final ranking positions. His defeat by a margin of 60 points to Phillip Welham was certainly no disgrace, having provided the highest break in the semi-final stages with a run of 68. Stephen Crosland booked his place in the final with a more comfortable victory over David Rees, who had also been showing improved form towards the end of last season.

Stephen Crosland failed to produce the form of earlier rounds, seeming to struggle on the shaved nap of the main tournament table. Meanwhile, Phillip Welham scored consistently if unspectacularly—underlined by the fact that his highest break of 69 was also his best of the competition—emerging the winner by 67 points.