INDIVIDUAL BILLIARDS CHAMPIONSHIP
Lee Lagan and Peter Shelley will contest the final of the 2001 CIU National Billiards Championship at The Oatlands Mount WMC, Harrogate on Saturday 28th April. A full report of the match will appear in our next issue.
| Jack Hedley (Maidenhead Ivy Leaf) 105, 79, 59 | 500 | Ivan Stevenage (Nat. Ass. of Railway R&S) | 139 | ||
| Phil Davis (Chippenham West End Club) | 500 | A. Fry (Mudeford & District) | 386 | ||
| Neal Rewhorn (Unicorn Social) | w/o | M. A. (Crewe Pioneer Anglers Club) | |||
| Peter Shelley (Ball Green WMC) 71, 58, 53 | 500 | Maurice Chapman (Selly Oak Inst.) | 450 | ||
| Phil Johnson (Monks Road WMC) | 500 | John Ingleby (Bradley & Colne Bridge) | 371 | ||
| Darren Kell (Acklam Garden City Social) 61 | 455 | Tony James (Throckley Union Jack) 91, 64, 55 | 500 | ||
| Tony Mackinder (North Ormesby Inst.) 62, 61, 50 67unf | 500 | Derick Townend (Oatlands Mount WMC) | 82 | ||
| Richard Beckham (Redcar WMC) | 398 | Lee Lagan (North Ormesby Inst.) | 500 |
The second round of the competition saw the defeat of reigning champion Darren Kell at the hands of Tony James who accomplished the feat on Kell's home table in Middlesbrough. The early part of the game appeared to be going the way of the champion as a break of 61 helped him to a 78 point advantage. However, after this, James was the more consistent and he gradually drew well ahead. Despite a late rally by Kell, James held on to win by 45 points, recording an average of 13.9. Such giant-killing acts are not new to James who also put an end to Tony Mackinder's reign when he was defending champion last year.
Newcomer to the event, Richard Beckham, had put up an excellent performance to dispose Geoff Charville in the previous round, but found Lee Lagan just too much to overcome. He certainly had plenty of chances and was 160 points in front at one stage in the match. Lagan, however, came back strongly to finish with two 80+ breaks and progress to the quarter-finals.
Tony Mackinder's campaign this season continued with an impressive home win over Derick Townend in a one-sided match, while Peter Shelley, despite breaks of 71, 58 and 53, struggled to overcome Maurice Chapman by just 50 points. Top break of the round came from Jack Hedley with 105 as he experienced little trouble getting past Ivan Stevenage 500-139.
| Jack Hedley | 500 | P. Davis 52 | 368 | ||
| Peter Shelley 83, 71, 50 | 500 | Neal Rewhorn 89 | 425 | ||
| Lee Lagan 110, 91, 85 112unf | 500 | Phil Johnson | 95 | ||
| Tony James 77, 65, 52 | 500 | Tony Mackinder 67, 66, 54 | 447 |
The quarter-finals saw Lee Lagan at his best, giving Phil Johnson no chance as he ran in breaks of 91, 110, 85 and 112 unfinished to complete a 500-95 victory. His match average of 41.7 was a nostalgic reminder of the days when Norman Dagley was sweeping all before him. Even so, Lagan was not entirely happy with his home venue. "I am not confident on this table—it rolls off too much" he said after the match, making us wonder how he would have performed on a table he liked!
Tony James put up another great performance to eliminate Tony Mackinder for the second year in a row. The match did contain some controversy however. At one stage in the game, Mackinder was fouled for playing with the wrong ball, which had been passed to him in error by the referee. This unfortunate incident provided what his supporters felt was a turning point in the match as James went on to clinch a 53 point victory.
In the other matches, Peter Shelley managed to overcome a strong challenge from Neal Rewhorn 500-425, while Jack Hedley had a more comfortable 500-368 win over Phil Davis.
| Lee Lagan 137, 93, 70, 68, 55, 53, 53, 53, 52 | 960 | (17.1) | Tony James 62 | 592 | (10.6) |
| Peter Shelley 96, 89, 54, 61unf | 886 | (15.1) | Jack Hedley 70, 62, 50 | 674 | (11.3) |
Tony James looked as though he was set to continue his "giant-killing" run as he led Lee Lagan by 119 points at the interval of their three-hour semi-final match at the Witton Gilbert WMC in Durham. Staged in the Club's games room, both players had to contend with the noise of no less than two televisions operating simultaneously in the adjoining bar area—one of these broadcasting the English International football match, the other horse racing—and both with a more enthusiastic and vocal audience than the billiards! Lagan, who had won the English Amateur title the previous week-end, looked sadly out of touch averaging just 8.3 over the first half of the match. However, picking up a break of 14 unfinished after the interval, he took this to 53 and was suddenly transformed. After 20 minutes he had added runs of 70 and 68 to convert his opening deficit into a lead of 63. Consecutive breaks of 93 and 55 followed soon afterwards and with James struggling to regain his scoring touch, completed a 376 point victory with additional runs of 53, 137 and 53. In the second 90 minute session Lagan had scored almost 700 points with an average of 30.
In complete contrast to the other semi-final, Peter Shelley and Jack Hedley arrived at the Walsgrave Club in Coventry to find a billiard table specially erected for the occasion in the Concert Room, providing an ideal setting for a National Billiards competition. Unfortunately the game did not manage to do justice to the conditions as both players found difficulty in producing their best form. The highlights of the early play were breaks of 54 and 96 by Shelley which gave him a lead of over 100 at one stage, but Hedley fought back and with an unfinished break of 68 had recovered to be 38 points in front at the interval. However, he could only increase this by two points on the resumption and the game remained close for much of the second session. Then Shelley, with a burst of two visits producing 89 and 48, took a decisive advantage of 123 which he held to the end of the match, concluding with an unfinished run of 61 to increase his winning margin to 211.