WEEKLY UPDATE 17th MAY 2024

It was the billiards pairs semi finals this week, with two Deaf Centre pairs both drawn at home to visitors from Princeville. Jeremy Dixon and Ian Ford took on Chris Jarvis and Mick Cockcroft, while Ihjaz Hussain and Brian Robinson took on Trevor and Gareth Kershaw, and it was the Princeville pair who came out on top in both matches.

The pairing of Ian Ford and Mick Cockcroft started their game first, with Ian starting 65 ahead on handicap. When I arrived about 10 minutes in, I was told Mick had already had two runs in the 20's, but Ian had clearly also been scoring because he was still over 40 in front, and it remained that way for quite a while, as scoring was fairly evenly matched. Mick eventually started scoring more heavily and was level around the 140 mark, but not for long, as Ian almost immediately had a break of 20 to take him back in front. In a close finish Mick was just first to 200 (actually 201) to Ian's 190.

On the other table Brain Robinson started 5 ahead of Gareth Kershaw, and for a long time there was never more than 20 in it, although mostly with Gareth in front, until he extended his lead at 160--120. For a while Brian seemed unable to prevent him from extending this lead further but eventually Brian mounted a late surge, although it proved to be too little too late as Gareth got home 201 - 172. With handicaps on, his Dad Trevor trailed Ihjaz Hussain 212 - 191 but two early runs in the 20's saw the scores level at 241. Two more 20's established a lead of 342 - 302 and then a 32 break saw Trevor 379-312 in front and apparently heading for a comfortable victory. But Ihjaz responded immediately with a break of 23, and then mounted a charge for the line, which Trevor only managed to interrupt with an unfinished break of 12, to win 400-381.

Back on the other table, and with handicaps on, Jeremy Dixon led 206 - 161 against Chris Jarvis, but an early break of 41 from Chris saw the scores level at 210, and a later 29 saw him 268-247 in front. Chris's scoring remained consistent, as I noted the scores at 356-306, and he eventually won by a similar margin by 400 - 355.

So the pairs final will be an all Princeville affair, with current holders Chris Jarvis and Mick Cockcroft meeting Trevor and Gareth Kershaw. Chris is having a storming end to the season, as a month or so ago he led Princeville D to victory in the play off final and has also reached both the Individual Billiards and Snooker finals. Clearly it will not be possible for him to play in all three matches at the Presentation evening this coming week, and so the Individual Snooker final will be held over to a later date, leaving Individual Billiards and Pairs finals taking place at Gt Horton Conservative Club on Tuesday (21st May) ahead of the presentation of prizes. In the Individual Billiards final (and also the Individual Snooker final ) Chris's opponent will be Pudsey's Richard Bowes 

Stephen Kershaw

Secretary