WEEKLY UPDATE 15 FEBRUARY 2025

Pudsey B have one hand on the championship trophy, after defeating struggling Princeville A 5 - 0. Their cause was helped this week by their stablemates Pudsey A defeating second placed Princeville C 4 -1. Provided Pudsey B avoid a heavy defeat away to Princeville C this week, they will be almost there. Pudsey A retain a faint hope, but at six and a half points behind and with only 10 points to play for, they will need two big hauls, along with slip ups by those above them. Deaf Centre B at 8 points behind still have a mathematical chance but realistically it's no more than that.

While Pudsey B visit Princeville C on Tuesday, Pudsey A are also at Princeville against Princeville A, meanwhile Deaf Centre B have a 'home ' match at Littlemoor, against bottom of the table Princeville B. Deaf Centre B and Princeville D will also be at Littlemoor, but in terms of the league table, it's more  a case of 'just making up the numbers - although it does provide an opportunity to jockey for position for the end of season play offs

Sid Ash got the league leaders off to a good start with another 200+ score, beating Edward Lawson 223 - 168. Graham Tudor had a narrow 10 point victory over Gareth Kershaw, and while Dave Howarth's report on Facebook says Gareth was 'a bit unlucky in the end', the Princeville view was more that it was Graham who was lucky at the end - but then I guess it's all about perception!!. Dave Howarth got the better of Trevor Kershaw by 15 but the scores of 158-143 illustrate the difficulty of giving a lot of start in a time game, as opposed to a game of 200 up. Nevertheless, a 5 - 0 win for a Pudsey B team who are full of confidence as this critical stage of the season.

On the other table at Pudsey, Princeville C had Brian Haigh deputising for Graham Bentley, but Ralph Allan, who has been in good form of late, picked up a fourth successive win, by 194 - 150. Dave tells us that Peter Allan had a break in the high teens late in his game, which looks to have been decisive, as he only beat Keith Tomlinson by 11. Princeville C's point came in the last game when Paul Devitt beat John Allan by 14

At Princeville it was Steve Gatenby who picked up the only point for the D team, when he beat Graham Lambert by 17. Ian Ford for Deaf Centre B had started well in front of Mick Cockcroft and held onto a good lead for a long period, it was only in the latter stages that Mick pulled points back, losing 143-165 in another game which might have produced a different result had it gone to 200. In the other game in this match, Chris Jarvis looked in a strong position to overcome a 45 point handicap deficit to Jeremy Dixon, but Jeremy did most of the late scoring for a 123-87 win and a 4 - 1 victory for Deaf Centre B

Bottom of the table Princeville B got off to a bad start, as Peter O'Connell racked up 231 in beating Peter Turner by 56, as well as overcoming a 55 handicap deficit - but the boot was on the other foot in the second game, as John Bedford pulled all but 4 of those points back, beating Brian Robinson 189-137. Any hopes of another victory for Princeville B soon disappeared in the third game, as Ihjaz Hussain got off to a good start and despite some later points accumulation I was still 60 behind at the bell.

I've mentioned games going  to 200 a couple of times, and they will do that in the Individual and Pairs competitions, which were drawn this week, ahead of the competitions starting on 11th March. The draws will be on the Merit and Pairs page tomorrow (now done) , and this week I will be discussing with the Deaf Centre players where their home games are likely to be played if the Deaf Centre is still not available

Stephen Kershaw

Secretary