ABC: Cambridge Snooker Club, Sunday 8th December

The third ABC of the 2002-03 season took place on Sunday 8th December at the excellent venue of Cambridge S.C. Ten of the 18 tables at the club had been re-covered the week prior to the event, which provided top class conditions for the tournament.

Comments have been made over the years regarding the distances Bill Andress will travel to attend tournaments, but all previous records were eclipsed at this ABC by Paul Stocker the New Zealand Open Champion in 2002 who had made the 12,000 mile journey in order to attend! Paul, visiting family and friends in the UK, travelled to Cambridge with Worcester's John Smith who between them initiated the original "Loose Cannons" tour of NZ which now appears to have become a regular feature.

The preliminary round began with David Burgess in excellent form recording breaks of 114 and 64 in his win over John Smith. Tony James registered a good win over Peter Shelley, while Billy Bousfield again showed the experience he is acquiring, with a fine 281-190 success over current England international David Rees. Jimmy Chambers won the closest tie of the round with a narrow six point victory over Dean Manders. Paul Stocker's ABC debut ended at the first hurdle at the hands of Jim McCann.

A run of 88 enabled Mark Hatton to overcome Michael White in the game of the 1st Round. Another notable performance came from the under-rated Geoff Lingard, who registered three breaks over 50 in his one-hour score of 420 against Jimmy Chambers.

Another century in the Last 16 smoothed David Burgess' passage into the Quarter-Finals. Breaks of 75 and 76 enabled Bill Andress to overcome old adversary Brian Harvey. A classy display from Mark Hatton brought four breaks of 60+ and a century in his encounter with fellow Teessider Ron Bickerdyke. In the high quality clash between Phil Welham and Darren Kell, both players recorded centuries, Phil just prevailing on this occasion by a mere 16 points.

In the Quarter-Finals, breaks of 63, 94 and 78 contributed to a comfortable 411-190 success for Steve Crosland over Bill Andress.

Mark Hatton made the highest break of the day with a 178, adding a run of 93 to complete a comfortable victory over Ronnie Haigh. Leading by 59 with only a couple of minutes remaining, Jim McCann could reasonably have been preparing for a semi-final game, but not so, as Phil Welham raced around the table making 60 unfinished before the bell went to leave him scraping home by a single point!

The Semi-finals brought a great match between David Burgess and Steve Crosland with the lead changing hands on several occasions.

David eventually emerging triumphant after playing out time with 68 unfinished, having approached the table trailing by 47 points. In the other game Mark Hatton never came to terms with one of the new faster cloths, leaving Phil Welham an untroubled path into the Final.

David Burgess won competition with an impressive display in the Final. Two 60+ breaks helped him to a runaway 403-172 victory to cap a series of solid performances all day. Phil despite his disappointment in defeat, would also be pleased with the 25 ranking points he attained which lifted him to 5th in the Ranking List.

MAIN COMPETITION

PLATE COMPETITION

The Plate Final was a low scoring affair with Sam Salter defeating Matthew Sutton by the score of 150-121. Matthew would probably been disappointed with his performance particularly as it came after an excellent win over Peter Shelley in the Semi-Final.