WEEKLY UPDATE 11th OCTOBER 2024

Bradford Deaf Centre suffered their first defeat of the season this week but remain in pole position to retain the Knock Out competition trophy, with two rounds of fixtures still to play. Their conquerors this week, Princeville B, and Pudsey - who have taken all 5 points off Princeville A over the past two weeks (after collecting none against the Deaf Centre in the first two weeks) - are both two points behind the Deaf Centre and remain in serious contention. Meanwhile, Princeville A, who have only 3 points, will need to win both matches against the Deaf Centre over the next two weeks and hope the other two reams share the points 3 - 2, to get themselves into a play off for the trophy.

At Princeville, Jeremy Dixon and I clocked up 281 points - the highest of the week - but the points were shared in such a way that Jeremy had just a 6 point advantage with handicaps added. A similar situation on the other table, between Keith Tomlinson and Ian Ford, saw the home man hold onto just 4 of his handicap advantage. The middle games swung the march Princeville's way when John Bedford - who had lost heavily to Peter Wood at the Deaf Centre the previous week - turned the tables with an 87 point win (72 with handicaps added), while Graham Bentley also defeated Brian Robinson to leave the home team 129 in front going into the final two games. At halfway the Deaf Centre were up with the requirement as Ihjaz Hussain led Paul Devitt by 20 plus and Peter O'Connell led Peter Turner by roughly double that. Mr O'Connell was not quite so prolific in the second half but still won by 74.  On the other table however Paul Devitt rolled back the years with a fine break of 35 (the highest of the week) and several other runs into the high teens, as he racked up a total of 143, while Ihjaz - who rarely seemed to get to the table and even then with little to play at - was only only able to add a battling 20. So a surprisingly comfortable 116 point win for Princeville B

At Pudsey the home side beat Princeville A by 23 but my brother tells me it was never that close and only late scoring by himself and Edward Lawson made the scores look respectable for the visitors. Princeville A were off to a bad start, Brain Haigh - who apparently had spent his working day breaking up concrete, - failed to find any touch at all and lost a low scoring game by 9 to Graham Tudor; when the handicaps suggested a 30 point margin the other way was more likely. Meanwhile, Pudsey captain Dave Howarth, promoted to number two in the absence of their lower handicap players, did slightly better than handicap against Mick Cockcroft. Speed merchant Steve Clarke had stepped into the Pudsey team for a first Bradford League start, and with Gareth Kershaw - no slouch himself - they accumulated 255 points between them, with Steve just adding to Pudsey's advantage. Sid Ash was also in the Pudsey side, while Princeville had recruited Dave Bowers for a rare appearance due to absences, and Sid similarly added to Pudsey's increasing advantage which was 127 going into the last two games with all handicaps included. Trevor Kershaw and Edward Lawson accumulated the highest scores of the match with 294 between them. Trevor's 71 point win only just overcame Ralph Allan's handicap advantage, while Edward's 34 point win over Peter Allan still left the visitors trailing

All scorecards can now be viewed on the Scorecards page

Bradford Deaf Centre's final two games are against Princeville A starting at the Deaf Centre this week, while Pudsey are matched with the Princeville B who have home advantage first.

League fixtures are on the Fixtures and Results page, while handbooks will be available before the league season starts and Individual Merit and Pairs entry forms are currently being distributed. Closing date for entries is 6th November

Stephen Kershaw

Secretary