Amateur Billiards Circuit

Sealand Leisure (Sunday 17th October, 2004)

The improving Phil Mumford succeeded in winning his first billiards ranking tournament, proving the best of 50 players who gathered at Sealand Leisure, Queensferry on Sunday 17th October for the second of the EABA season's competitions.

In the one-hour final Mumford defeated Dave Nichols, who has returned to the EABA ranks after a brief spell as a professional, followed by a couple of seasons in the wilderness, awaiting re-admittance. Their match did not reach any great heights, but Mumford, who is Manager of the Cambridge Snooker Centre, ultimately won comfortably enough, a break of 66 being the highlight of his 253-187 victory.

Mumford's closest match came in the quarter-finals where he fought off the challenge of Tony James to go through by the slender margin of just two points! In the semi-finals he had a more comfortable 287-138 win over Branson Hoole, whilst in the other half of the draw, Nichols reached the final by defeating Peter Shelley 287-203.

After heading the rankings last season, Norman Routledge has made a quiet opening to the current campaign, but he managed to register the highest break of the day with a 154 against Peter Shelley in the second round. Even so, he still finished on the wrong side of a 264-223 scoreline in this match.

Another big break came from Anthony Bishop, who made a fine top-of-the-table 152 in his 30 minute Plate match, having been eliminated from the Main Competition by Peter Shelley in the opening round. Bishop went on to win the Plate and collected enough points to lift him into 4th place in the early season ranking list.

MAIN COMPETITION

(50 Entries)

PLATE COMPETITION

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