AMATEUR BILLIARDS CIRCUIT

Newmarket Snooker & Bowl

Sunday 10th February 2002 - All games one-hour

On Sunday 10th February, 48 Billiard enthusiasts gathered at AllSaints Road, Newmarket for the penultimate ranking tournament of the season. Although no positions could be finalised with 16 players still left in the English Amateur Championships, several players were looking for good performances and progress towards the "holy grail" of an end of season top 8 finish.

The number of entries at least made the workload of Derick and Peg somewhat easier than normal, with an equal split of 16 preliminary games leading into 16 first round clashes.

The notable performances in the preliminary round were a superb victory by young Billy Bousfield over Michael White, a fine win for John Carman over the evergreen Bill Andress, a nail-biting three point triumph for Ronnie Haigh against Michael Wright and a narrow success for Norman Routledge over Dennis Marr in the battle of the North- West. Dave Nichols warmed up for the day ahead with two centuries in his 547-110 demolition of local man Sam Salter.

The 1st round saw Paul Dunning twice break down in the nervous nineties against Cromer's Ian Dennis. Billy Bousfield enjoyed another good win - this time over John Carman and Peter Shelley set up a 2nd round encounter with practice partner and travelling companion Norman Routledge following victory over Phil Welham.

The 2nd round saw Billy Bousfield's day draw to a conclusion, but only narrowly against Ronnie Haigh. Billy is becoming a dangerous opponent on the amateur scene and it looks likely that it only becomes a matter of time before the centuries he is now making on Teesside begin appearing on a national stage. A timely break of 92 was just about the difference in Peter Shelley's win over Norman Routledge. Lee Lagan gave notice of intentions for the day with the day's highest break of 228 included in his 574-259 success over Brian Harvey. John Hartley secured a quarter-final spot with an impressive victory over Chris Ross.

The quarter-finals saw three close encounters with Dave Nichols almost taking things too casually against Yorkshire's Ronnie Haigh. Steve Crosland prevailed by only thirty points in a nervy performance against Darren Murrell and the tie between David Rees and John Hartley went David's way by a mere seven points. After a good start by Peter Shelley against Lee Lagan, Lee broke free with the aid of a 173 break to record a 369-211 victory.

The semi-finals resulted in wins for Dave Nichols over Steve Crosland assisted by breaks of 92 & 72 and Lee Lagan with a straightforward 385-188 success over David Rees.

The best was saved till last with Lee recording the highest total of the day during his 636-194 victory incorporating two centuries and a beautiful break of 220. It was somewhat amusing to hear him complain after of "no feeling whatsoever" in his tip and "not having a clue where the ball would finish" when playing stun and/or screw. Lee you make the game look easy enough to us mere mortals without telling us after you were struggling!

Paul Dunning

Preliminary Round:

First Round:

Second Round:

Quarter-finals:

Semi-finals:

Final:

Plate Competition