WEEKLY UPDATE 21 MARCH 2025

All the action was at Princeville this week, with 3 matches spread across two nights. 

On Monday, Deaf Centre A notionally had home advantage against Princeville B, in a delayed Elimination Play Off match. Brian Robinson had a 15 point handicap advantage against Princeville B's John Bedford, and while Brian had the best of the early exchanges, he never got far enough in front to be totally confident of victory, John however never managed to get the difference down to less than where they started and with. Brian accumulating some valuable late points, he eventually won by 34. The central heating was on for an event elsewhere in the building, but before the second games started, it had gone off, and the table reacted badly, with cushions appearing to hang on to the balls at every opportunity - possibly to try and keep warm!! During this time breaks over about 10 were in short supply. Once the problem was identified and with the electric heaters now on, things started to warm up towards the end of the game, with Ihjaz Hussain's last visit being 30 and me responding with 16 unfinished at the bell. Ihjaz winning by 41 to put Deaf Centre A 2 - 0 in front and 75 points in front on aggregate. Even with Don Hardcastle starting 55 in front of Peter O'Connell, it was still a big ask for the home man and although he won by 29, a Princeville victory never looked likely, meaning Deaf Centre A were to return on Tuesday for a Quarter Final against Deaf Centre B

The other quarter final on Tuesday was between Princeville C and Princeville A, and the match followed a similar pattern to the one on Monday. C team captain Keith Tomlinson was in very focused mood and passed 200 as he defeated Edward Lawson by 68. Paul Devitt (C team) and Trevor Kershaw (A team) started close on handicap, and remained so, until a bountiful spell for Paul in the middle of the game  - which included runs of 28 and 24 - saw him establish a significant lead. Despite a late comeback by Trevor a 140-101 victory for Paul saw the C team 2 - 0 up and over 100 ahead. The A team's Gareth Kershaw had the better of the last game against Graham Bentley but a 100 point victory never looked like happening, his eventual winning margin being 15, so 3 - 1 to the C team

The Deaf Centre derby was a far closer and more exciting affair. Peter O'Connell was again giving plenty of start (45 to Graham Lambert) but in a tortoise and hare type of game, he was gradually knocking off the deficit as the game progressed. With seconds remaining Peter was left a pot red, at more than arm's length, to level the scores, but the extension was needed for his cue and the rest also had to be extended as well, and by the time he had got it all organised the bell had gone, giving Graham a 3 point victory. To make matters worse Peter played the shot anyway, and got the score, which would have brought the scores level and no doubt added to the frustration. Second game was Brian Robinson (A team) against Ian Ford (B team). I didn't see much of this one, as I was intent on the other table, but the balls certainly seemed to get plenty of mileage in. Ian won 199- 183, so 2 - 0 to the B team - but only 19 in the aggregate. Ihjaz Hussain (A team) seemed to continue where he had left off the previous night and recorded a comfortable 47 point victory over Jeremy Dixon. So 2 - 2 and a shoot out. It looked like it could run deep into the night, as both players sunk their regulation 3 attempts with no alarms, but after Ihjaz had equally confidently converted a fourth, Jeremy was a bit heavy on his strike and missed, giving the A team a narrow victory, which brought applause from all present.

As the two Pudsey teams both won their Qualification Play Offs,  both semi finals will be at Pudsey on Tuesday 1st April. Champions Pudsey B play Deaf Centre A, while Pudsey A entertain Princeville C. Full details can be found on the League Tables page. And all scorecards are now available to view on he Scorecards page

This coming week (25 March) is the first round of the Individual Billiards Merit, with 4 games at Princeville and 4 at Pudsey. Details of these games can be found on the Individual Merit and Pairs page.

A League Committee Meeting was due to be held this coming Wednesday, but with the Deaf Centre still unavailable, and following a series of telephone calls, it has been agreed not to meet in person, but the Chairman and Secretary will again carry out the draws, which will be available to watch on Facebook, while Secretary and Treasurer will agree a budget for prizes, and Gt Horton Conservative Club will be approached to see if their billiards room will be available again for the League's Finals Night and Prize Presentation in May

Stephen Kershaw

Secretary