AMATEUR BILLIARDS CIRCUIT

Maltings Q Club, Kings Lynn

Sunday 9th December 2001

To draw your travelling companion at an ABC is bad enough, when that player is of the standard of Neal Rewhorn it makes you wonder if that early Sunday morning alarm call was really necessary! That is the fate which befell Richie Evans in the preliminary round at Kings Lynn - but with all his usual charm and good grace, Richie picked out the balls on the receiving end of a 325-111 scoreline including a run of 109 from Neal. Lee Lagan served notice of his intentions for the day with breaks of 281 & 208 during his impressive performance against Les Chapman. Other highlights of the round were a century from Brian Harvey and single figure points wins for David Rees & John Smith over Martin Phillips & Michael Donnelly respectively.

The match of the first round was undoubtedly the meeting of Lee Lagan and current No.1 ranked ABC player Jim McCann. Based on early breaks of 67 & 52, Jim skilful defended his lead to record his third win against Lee in as many seasons. Gracious in defeat Lee acknowledged how well Jim had played and commented on how tough an opponent he is. Neal Rewhorn continued his good form with a 315-179 victory over Steve Crosland. David Nichols produced a devastating display of potting included in his two centuries and three 50+ breaks in his 454-99 mauling of Paul Dunning.

In the second round, John Hartley produced arguably his best ever result in ousting Lee Lagan's conqueror Jim McCann by 261-180. Darren Kell and Phil Welham continued to make smooth progress. Theirs was a close game which saw Basingstoke's David Burgess pip David Nichols 297-268, while the West Country derby resulted in a 297-274 victory for Bill Andress over Brian Harvey.

John Hartley continued his progress with a narrow win over Norman Routledge in the quarter-finals. Darren Kell produced consistent scoring in his comfortable victory over Phil Welham. David Burgess continued his own good run with a win over Tony James in a high scoring encounter. Darren Kell effectively sealed his semi-final encounter against John Hartley with an early visit which produced a run of 173. John acknowledged how well Darren had played but stated that he was delighted with his own performance in reaching what was his first ever ABC semi-final. David Burgess maintained the high level of performance he had displayed all day in his 295-199 win over David Rees.

In the final, neither player produced the level of play of which they are capable. Burgess, who was now into his fifth hour of play, looked visibly tired, and Kell had played for an hour longer during the course of the day. Having already displayed high levels of skill in previous matches the final was a slight anti-climax in which Kell "outstayed" Burgess to record a 243-202 victory. The game was refereed by Mr Harry Wah.

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