AMATEUR BILLIARDS CIRCUIT
All games one-hour
The Maltings, Kings Lynn (Sunday 10th December 2000)
The Maltings, Kings Lynn, was the location for the third ranking tournament of the season and it produced the third different pair of finalists in what is becoming the most open season for many years. The two newcomers on this occasion were Brian Harvey and Matthew Sutton. For Sutton it was a wonderful achievement to reach his first Ranking final at the age of 17, and he looked for most of the game as though he would also make it his first win, a break of exactly 100 giving him the advantage going into the last 15 minutes of the match. At this point, Harvey drew upon his greater experience, putting together a run of 130 which enabled him to secure a 59 point victory.
The day had started with the surprise entry of three-times English Amateur Champion, Martin Goodwill. Now working for British Airways in Saudi Arabia, he had taken advantage of a Christmas break to make his first appearance for three years. Unfortunately for Martin, his first opponent was Stephen Crosland, and despite making the best break of the match with a 92, he still finished 45 points behind the Yorkshireman.
Richard Lodge also had a tough draw in the Preliminary Round and was unfortunate to find Lee Lagan at the top of his form. Despite making a break of 107, he was overwhelmed by the Teesside player who produced a massive break of 295 in a 542-202 victory.
Lagan continued in much the same mood in the first round, breaks of 195, 90 and 82 leaving Ivan Chambers a long way in arrears. Brian Harvey was the only other player to make a century break in this round, a run of 116 helping him to a comfortable win over Robert Jones.
Harvey was again quickly in action against John Hartley. Early breaks of 114, 112, 64 in consecutive visits set the foundation for a 467-178 victory. The long journey from Teesside had not diminished the appetite of Lee Lagan for big breaks, but before his second round match against Stephen Crosland he sought additional sustenance in the form a house speciality—an enormous cheese and salad bread roll. This seemed to have the desired effect, as he proceeded to knock in an all-time record break for ABC events. His run of 366 passed the previous record of 352 which was set in 1996 by Chris Shutt when still in his amateur days. For good measure Lagan also added another break of 214 in a 637-123 scoreline.
Now drawn against team-mate Mark Hatton, Lee Lagan looked to be unstoppable, but had Hatton spotted the secret of Lagan's success? The appearance of Hatton with one of the same 'magic' cheese and salad rolls before the start of the match was perhaps an omen of the upset to come. Despite a break of 119, Lagan could not produce his earlier fluency and went down to a surprise 31 point defeat.
Matthew Sutton showed that his victory over Phil Welham at Nuneaton was no fluke. He repeated the result with an equally impressive 318- 172 scoreline, including a 95 break. This qualified him to meet Bill Andress, who edged out Jim Temple by 41 points.
The semi-finals could not compete with the earlier excitement of the day as both Sutton and Harvey overcame their opponents with solid performances.