The Midland Counties Billiards League is a regional event that provides the players of the area with regular good quality competition. Matches are played monthly and are over nine games, each of the three team members playing a onehour contest against all of the opposing side.
Some good performances have been produced over the tenyear history of the league, with a number of double centuries being recorded, while the record break stands at 326. No fewer than twenty-four different players have notched League centuries, and by no means all of their names would be familiar to those who are regular contestants in the English Amateur events or on the A B C circuit—some very able cueists rarely venture outside their own region.
Last season the Stoke-on-Trent trio of Tony Keeling, Peter Shelley and Norman Routledge, who finished the season nine and a half points clear of runners-up, Worcester (Maurice Chapman, Ian Hurdman, Richard King), comfortably claimed the Midland Counties League title. No side has yet managed to retain the crown, but Stoke have clearly indicated their intention of becoming the first to do so by opening their new campaign with an 8-1 whipping of Kidderminster (Michael Painter, John Smith, Darren Cutler).
However, Stafford, in the shape of Malcolm Wharne, Chris Ward and Jim Cummings, are the early season pace setters with two victories to their credit, a narrow 5-4 edging out of Worcester and a superb 7-2 success at Derby (David Rees, John Rees, Stan Day), while Nuneaton (Richard Ingram, Richie Evans, Neal Rewhorn) compounded the troubles of Kidderminster with a 6-3 victory over the carpet town trio