English Junior Ranking Series

Riley's, Stockton-on-Tees. Sunday 2nd February 2003

There are a crop of excellent young players developing in the current junior ranks, especially in the Teesside area. Proof of this was again given in the Junior Ranking event at Stockton where most senior players would have struggled to win a match. Century breaks were made by Billy Bousfield (104) and Michael Donnelly (100), this pair meeting in the final round where Donnelly put together runs of 61, 56 and four more over forty, to win 471-215 in the one-hour match.

Craig Brown made breaks of 76 and 57 to win his opening match 493- 260, which was the highest one-hour total on the day. He may well have progressed further, but came up against Michael Donnelly at the quarter-final stage who needed a century break to put him out.

In the semi-finals, Donnelly defeated Callum Robinson who was appearing at this stage of a ranking tournament for the first time.

Robinson's rapidly improving form over the current season is beginning to attract attention and like many of these Junior players he is proving a valuable asset to the local senior Leagues in Teesside. In the other semi-final, Billy Bousfield had overcome Robert Hall (Lincoln), one of only two players who had ventured from outside the Teesside area, the other being Jamie Barker.

Craig Murphy picked up some extra ranking points by winning the Plate competition, defeating Kyle Cunningham 367-270 in the final.

Woodside Snooker Centre, Norwich. Sunday 13th April, 2003

The fifth and final Junior Ranking Event of the season was held at the Woodside Snooker Centre, Norwich, on Sunday 13th April. The event would determine which of the leading contenders would qualify for selection for next season's English Junior Team.

The field of 23 included a small contingent of five players from Teesside, three of which survived to contest the semi-finals. These were Billy Bousfield, Kyle Cunningham and Craig Murphy, who were joined at this stage by Lincoln's Robert Hall.

Robert Hall had produced the highest one-hour aggregate of the day when he defeated Bruce Welham 578-95 but came off second-best to Kyle Cunningham in their semi-final match. Craig Murphy also progressed to the final by defeating Billy Bousfield 322-283 in a match which featured breaks of 54, 52 and 46 by Murphy against runs of 48 and 40 by Bousfield.

With both players appearing in their first final, it was anticipated that it would be a nervous affair. The match was close for the first 40 minutes, but Murphy used his experience over his younger opponent to gradually pull away, and sealed a 305-206 victory.

A number of good breaks were produced by the youngsters, a 79 by Robert Hall being the best of these. He also had additional runs of 78 and 56. However, John Hall (77), Billy Bousfield (73 & 70), Craig Murphy (66, 54 & 52) and Paul Snowden (58) were not far behind, again demonstrating the strength in depth of the junior game.

The event also saw the appearance of the first female contestant in 11 year-old Danielle Maud, who might have received an easier introduction to the circuit than to draw Kyle Cunningham in the first round.