STRACHAN WORLD MATCHPLAY CHAMPIONSHIP

Centurion Hotel, Midsomer Norton

29th February - 3rd March 2000

The Players and Seedings

Peter Gilchrist added his name to the list of winners for the World Matchplay Championship when he held his nerve to defeat Mike Russell in a late night final session at the West Country venue of Midsomer Norton.

The event was again held at the Centurion Hotel, and the popularity of billiards in the area was, as last year, reflected in the excellent attendances. Unfortunately, the entry from the 53 eligible Billiard Members of the WPBSA was somewhat depleted due mainly to the absence of many Indian players. With the reduced budget for billiards this year, the normal back-to-back arrangement of tournaments was not applied, making it difficult for overseas players to justify the travelling costs. One player who was willing to make the long journey to England was Rom Surin, who has now confirmed his billiards membership with the WPBSA. Unfortunately, his application arrived too late to be included in the draw. Amongst the 22 players who did turn up were Clive Everton and Mukesh Rehani who had both been away from the professional game for some years, and Brian Morgan, who is better known for his abilities as a snooker player.

Clive Everton 103	750	(14.8)	Brian Dix	476	(9.2)
Mark Hirst 148	750	(14.4)	Michael Ferreira	469	(8.9)
Bob Close	750	(17.1)	Paul Bennett	644	(14.6)
Manoj Kothari 116	750	(25.0)	Brian Morgan	115	(3.8)
Ian Williamson	750	(17.1)	Andrew Sage	259	(5.9)
Mukesh Rehani	750	(6.5)	Eugene Hughes	418	(4.6)

Both Everton and Rehani were successful in their first round matches. Everton started with a 93 break at his third visit and thereafter was never troubled by Brian Dix, cruising to an easy win.

Mark Hirst was always in front in his match against Michael Ferreira, but struggled to establish a conclusive advantage until the very end of the game. Breaks of 148 and 60 unfinished with his last two visits produced a scoreline which hardly reflected the closeness of the contest.

Rookie professional Paul Bennett was too young to have met Bob Close when he was dominating the amateur Leagues in Teesside, but the veteran player gave him a glimpse of his previous ability as he edged home in a desperately tight match. The result was still in doubt right up to the final stages with Bennett holding a narrow advantage at 608-576. At that point Close raised his game and decided the contest with his last four visits, which included consecutive breaks of 57, 63 and 41 without reply from his opponent.

Manoj Kothari, who has been struggling with his cue action of late, looked something like his old self as he demolished Brian Morgan. A string of useful breaks contributed to an average of 25.0, which was by far the best performance of the first round.

Geet Sethi 131, 111	1000	(15.4)	Mark Hirst	761	(11.7)
David Causier 193, 173, 106	1000	(32.3)	Ian Williamson 101	611	(19.1)
Robby Foldvari 146, 120	1000	(18.9)	Manoj Kothari	809	(15.0)
Roxton Chapman 228, 137	1000	(18.5)	Bob Close 140, 109	811	(15.0)
Chris Shutt 159, 135, 103	1000	(29.4)	Mukesh Rehani	392	(11.5)
Mike Russell 202, 198, 177, 130	1000	(62.6)	Clive Everton	183	(11.4)
Nalin Patel 200	1000	(20.4)	Devendra Joshi	611	(12.2)
Peter Gilchrist 298, 144, 121	1000	(35.8)	Peter Sheehan	169	(5.8)

The second round saw the entry of the seeded players including the reigning Matchplay Champion, Geet Sethi, who started well enough against Mark Hirst, producing a break of 131 at his third visit. However, after this, he struggled to find his touch as Hirst passed his score and generally held the advantage for much of the match. However, having levelled the scores at 724 Sethi then drew upon his greater experience to produced breaks of 111, 64 and 66 unfinished, which were enough to see him through.

David Causier blasted into the competition with a run of 193 at his second visit establishing an advantage he would maintain throughout his match against Ian Williamson. The contrast in styles between the two players was very evident, the deliberate, methodical pace of Williamson ensuring that the match lasted over three hours. Although the Leeds professional produced a performance which may well have been good enough to win had the draw been kinder to him, Causier just had too many big guns and never looked in any danger of losing. The same cannot be said for No.4 seed Robby Foldvari. He came perilously close to an early exit at the hands of Manoj Kothari, who continued his good form of the earlier round. Kothari was some 200 points in front at one stage of the game, but the tough Australian produced the goods when they were most needed, breaks of 76, 146 and 93 unfinished in the space of five visits proved to be decisive. Roxton Chapman made the first double-century break of the competition, his 228 against Bob Close ultimately being the difference between the players. It was another patchy performance from Chapman who could well have lost this match had Close not stopped scoring at the end - his last 13 visits producing just 10 points!

Chris Shutt rattled though his 1,000 points in just under two hours, leaving Mukesh Rehani little more than an interested spectator. It was a similar story with Mike Russell against Clive Everton, the World Champion requiring just 16 visits to obtain the required total. Everton, who has not played a competitive match of billiards for over two years prior to this event, was given no chance as Russell entered the competition in ominously good form.

Nalin Patel has been excluded from the Indian National Championships since 1998 due to him being the holder of a British passport. He therefore had something to prove as he was drawn against Devendra Joshi, who was a finalist in the recently completed Indian championship. With steady, if unspectacular play, Patel gradually imposed himself on the match, a fine break of 200 towards the end of the game putting the result beyond doubt.

Peter Gilchrist almost produced a triple-century break as he dominated his match against Peter Sheehan. Just falling short at 298, it was nevertheless the highest break of the competition so far, and highlighted a sparkling performance which totally demoralised his opponent.

Peter Gilchrist 290	1250	(34.7)	Robby Foldvari	766	(13.1)
David Causier 113	1250	(25.0)	Roxton Chapman 107	766	(15.3)
Mike Russell 475, 226, 184	1250	(62.6)	Chris Shutt 101	362	(18.1)
Geet Sethi 290, 175	1250	(27.8)	Nalin Patel	673	(18.7)

It is reported that Geet Sethi has now taken a serious interest in Pool with an ambition to play on the American professional circuit, which may explain to some extent the lapses in form he has been displaying over the current season. His match against Patel started slowly but came to life when he made a break of 290 followed by runs of 175, 92 and 82. These were interspersed with replies of 57, 53, 55, 54 and 89 from Patel, but they still left him trailing by some 400 points at 996- 570. Further efforts of 71 an 65 where enough to see Sethi through to the semi-finals.

Peter Gilchrist again started brightly against Robby Foldvari, a series of useful breaks gradually putting him clear of the Australian Champion. Then, with the scores at 799-386, Gilchrist produced a late surge with a fine break of 290 immediately followed by another of 63. A run of 56 unfinished a few visits later completed the job. Foldvari was later critical of the match conditions, including the noise from the door to the match arena, which could be heard by the players each time it was opened. There was certainly plenty of traffic through the door during the course of the match, which lasted 4½ hours.

David Causier extracted further revenge for his defeat by Chapman in the final of the UK Championship, by totally outplaying the Peterborough professional in a one-sided game. After his opening break, Causier added consecutive runs of 60, 47, 32, 90 and 77 to establish a lead of almost 300 points, and Chapman never came closer to his opponent than this.

The starring role of the quarter-finals fell to the World Champion as he put on a magnificent display, which was highlighted by a break of 475. It wasn't as if Chris Shutt played badly, an early break of 101 helped him to a 130 point advantage after five visits. But at this stage a break of 226 by Russell signalled his intentions. A couple of "warm-up" runs of 87 and 90 preceded his major effort of 475, which ended unluckily with a "kick" while still in prime position at the top of the table. A period of safety play only delayed the inevitable for Shutt as Russell completed the match with breaks of 184 and 91 unfinished in a little over 2½ hours.

Peter Gilchrist 166, 156	1250	(28.4)	Geet Sethi 137, 137	1014	(22.0)
Mike Russell 490, 200, 307unf	1250	(37.9)	David Causier 158, 140	786	(23.8)

With all the remaining matches all scheduled to be played on the same day, the semi-finals commenced at the unusually early hour of 9.30am. Perhaps this early start had an effect on Gilchrist and Sethi who started their match quite slowly, both players struggling to find their touch. Gilchrist was the first to open a significant gap when consecutive breaks of 137, 33, 57 and 62 gave him a 504-255 advantage. Sethi's response was to produce breaks of 166, 156, 64 and 81 to go past Gilchrist and establish a lead of over 200 points. Sethi still held this advantage with the scores at 1004-829, but then Gilchrist produced some inspired billiards. Breaks of 61, 99, 137 and 67 helped him to amass his required 358 points, while Sethi could only progress his score by another ten! David Causier began his semi-final in confident mood, early breaks of 92 and 200 by Russell were countered by runs of 88, 59, 76, 73 and 158 giving Causier a lead of 646-454 half-way through the match. Russell then kicked into top gear producing a magnificent beak of 490, the highest of the tournament. Causier immediately responded with a run of 140, but when he broke down Russell gave no further chances, completing the match with 307 unfinished. A truly awesome display.

Peter Gilchrist 297, 119, 114, 108, 108, 113unf

1500

(29.4)

Mike Russell 252, 214, 212

1200

(23.1)

The final commenced at 7.30pm with Russell considered by most neutral observers to be the hot favourite. He had looked a class by himself in the previous matches, and characteristically appeared to be improving with each game. But the amount that these earlier contests had taken out of the players soon became apparent with both appearing to be very tired from the outset. An initial period of cautious play, which saw a number of unexpected misses by both players, ended when Russell put together a run of 212 to put him in front 411-279. If Gilchrist was intimidated by this, it was not apparent, as he then confidently regained the initiative with runs of 60, 114, 58 and 75 to forge his way back in front at 697-530. Digging deeply, Russell summoned up a fine break of 252 which was partially negated by an immediate response of 108 by Gilchrist, keeping him in front with a slender twenty point advantage. Further contributions of 108 and 90 by Gilchrist once again brought forth a typically tenacious response from the World Champion as he levelled the scores at 1026-1026 with a break of 214. Now past midnight, those hardy spectators who had remained to witness the conclusion saw Gilchrist make the decisive move as he followed Russell's big break with one of his own - 297. An 87 break by Russell gave the hint of another come-back, but this just provided the spur necessary for Gilchrist to close the match with an unfinished run of 113. Finishing just before 1.00am, it was the end of a long day for both players and spectators, which had started at 9.30am the previous morning.

But it was still not quite over for the players, who were required to provided drug test samples before they were allowed to leave.

Gilchrist's win ends a two year drought of major titles and it is the first time he has won this particular event. He took £7,000 for this victory while Russell collected £4,500 as runner-up and a further £500 for his high break of 490.

Matchplay Stats:

The total time for Peter Gilchrist's two games on the last day of the World Matchplay was 9¾ hours!

Mike Russell was the only player to make any breaks over 300, these being 490, 475 and 307 unfinished.

Previous winners of the Matchplay title were Mike Russell (1990, 1996, 1998); Geet Sethi (1999), and Robby Foldvari (1997). From 1991 to 1995 the championship was not held.

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