ENGLISH JUNIOR COUNTY TEAM CHAMPIONSHIPS, 2004

Breaks Snooker Club, Lincoln

Sunday 23rd May 2004

The concluding event of the junior billiards season took place at the Breaks Snooker Club, Lincoln, on 23rd May 2004, when the English Junior Team Championship was decided. With three players each contesting one-hour games, the results were determined by aggregate team score.

There was an encouraging turn-out of eight teams including entries from Cheshire and Suffolk which are outside the traditional strongholds of billiards in Cleveland, Norfolk and Lincolnshire. Cleveland actually entered three teams, and immediately sprang a surprise when their "B" team, led by Dominic Mulhall, defeated the competition favourites Cleveland "A" in the first round. Strong performances were returned by Mulhall, who made breaks of 63 and 57 to defeat Billy Bousfield 401-168, and Anthony O'Brien who had a 53 break in his victory over Kyle Cunningham. Despite making the competition's best break of 95, and another of 58, John Hall could not pull back the aggregate score for the "A" team who lost by a 899-771 scoreline.

The Lincolnshire "A" squad of Rob Hall, Jamie Barker and Adam Ward, progressed to the final by defeating Norfolk in the first round, and then accounted for their "B" team in the semi-finals with and impressive 1,061-383 result. Rob Hall had a 57 break in his match and his 547-92 win was the best one-hour aggregate of the day.

In the final they met Cleveland "B", who had reached this stage by defeating the third Cleveland entry by 1,040-455. Rob Hall maintained his unbeaten run by defeating Dominic Mulhall and giving the Lincolnshire team and 85 point advantage. But his team-mates could not match this performance and were overwhelmed by Trevor Snaith and Anthony O'Brien who guided the Cleveland squad to a comfortable 1,008-687 victory.

Trophies and memento's were awarded to all competitors by Paul Dunning, EABA Vice-Chairman, who also expressed appreciation to Roger Clark, for his efforts in organising the event.

MAIN COMPETITION

PLATE COMPETITION

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