WEEKLY UPDATE 17 JANUARY 2024

With the Deaf Centre playing home matches at Pudsey, while repairs are carried out at their normal home venue, this might have been expected to favour league leaders Pudsey B, as they took on Deaf Centre B, and so it looked as Graham Tudor scored 242 in a 58 point victory over Ian Ford. Sid Ash then continued his winning run with a very narrow 3 point victory over Graham Lambert, who had signed off for Christmas with a first win of the season and got very near to a second one here. Jeremy Dixon however spoiled the home party, with a 74 point victory over Dave Howarth, to secure a win on the night for the Deaf Centre and the double aggregate point as well for a 3 - 2 win for his Deaf Centre team. Princeville C took full advantage of the leaders slip up, with a 5 - 0 victory over bottom of the table Princeville B, to draw level at the top of the table. Keith Tomlinson looked very out of sorts in the early stages of his game with Peter Turner and trailed by over 40 points with 13 minutes to go, but a break of 22, followed immediately by another run into the teens saw him overhaul the deficit and hang on to win by 9. Princeville B's John Bedford continues to struggle, and was not helped this week by travel problems on the motorway, but Graham Bentley looked very confident for the C team and ran away with a 48 point victory. In the last game, I had runs of 38 and 33 in the first half of my game to overcome a 40 point handicap deficit, but Paul Devitt is nothing if not patient and once his chances came he regained the lead to win by 30 and consign the B team to a fourth nil points in 8 matches, while the C team are now joint league leaders.

Both matches at Pudsey were turned round by big wins in the last game. Peter Allan got Pudsey A off to a good start with a 30 point victory over Peter O'Connell, and although Ralph Allan lost to Brian Robinson by 17, Pudsey still held an aggregate point lead, but Ihjaz Hussain then defeated John Allan by 95 to claim 3 more points for Deaf Centre A, who won both the match and the double aggregate for a 4 - 1 success. 

The other match at Princeville got off to an entertaining start as Dave Bowers, on a rare appearance, achieved numerous somewhat unexpected scores to hold onto his handicap lead against Edward Lawson. Edward came racing back into the game in the later stages but was still 4 points adrift at the bell. Mick Cockcroft's health problems are not helping his billiards and Gareth Kershaw took advantage with a 52 point victory, putting the A team well in control against the D team. Trevor Kershaw then had an early 32 break and never looked like letting the advantage slip, as he defeated Chris Jarvis by 25. This 4 - 1 win  moves Princeville A into third place, three and a half points behind the joint leaders - which makes next week's meeting between Princeville C and Princeville A a crucial encounter. Princeville D are six and a half points off the pace but like Deaf Centre A who have a point more, they are not out of the championship race, as they have a postponed match to play which has now been rearranged for Monday 27th January at Princeville

This coming week's fixtures are all derby affairs, as Princeville C play Princeville A and Princeville B play Princeville D. At Pudsey it's B v A, while on the other table tenants Deaf Centre A play Deaf Centre B

Stephen Kershaw

Secretary