The John Evans Cup Semi Finals were played on Thursday night, 7th March at Didcot Con Club.
As per League procedure the 4 teams assembled at 7.20pm at the neutral venue for the draw... & as per usual, 'young' Vic Hartley picked on an unsuspecting female in the crowd to do the draw! Now this just happened to be Mrs Debbie Pickworth (wife of the B Team Captain, Kevin!), so Kevin couldn't complain too much when his beloved Debbie drew out Wallingford B v Abingdon Con A (current leaders of the Premier Division, undefeated so far this season & who the B Team played the evening before in the League!!!). Apparently there was a huge cheer when this draw came out, which meant that it was a meeting of the 'old' adversaries Wallingford A v Wantage on the other table!
On table 1 in the Wallingford A v Wantage match, Kev 'Cuz' was drawn out 1st to face Phil Hall. Cuz, steeled himself for the task ahead & played sensible match play, slowly edging a lead with red, colour & his immaculate safety. This immediately put Phil on the back foot & Cuz continued to play 'no frills' match play & held this lead through to the end, securing the all important 1st frame by 56-21 for the ideal start! A Team 1-0 up!
On table 2 in the Wallingford B v Abingdon Con A match Pete Beaumont was on 1st v Colin Bark. Peter played well & was level on points with 2 reds left on the table... & then the dreaded 'miss' rule came into play! Colin put Pete into a snooker & was called for a 'miss' 4 times in succession! It didn't end there as Pete was put into another snooker with the same result! By that point Peter wanted a snooker himself (shame that the rule should decide a frame & it can be cruel when referees employ the letter of the law to the detriment of a spectacle!). Final frame score was a loss for Pete by 37-63, so 0-1 down for the B Team.
Table 1 then saw Captain Pete face Ian 'Sid' Barnes & it all started well with Captain racing to a 32-0 lead (playing some 'Cuz' tactical safety & taking the 'miss' to his advantage)... when it all went wrong! Sid had started poorly, missing some relatively easy pots but all of a sudden knocked in some lovely shots (on a very unforgiving table - as the Didcot Con tables are renowned for being!) & Captain snatched defeat from the jaws of victory, 38-54 for the match to go level at 1-1.
On the other table, frame 2 saw Andy Rance play Jamie Saczak. Andy started really well with a comfortable 20 lead, but then the 'miss' rule came into play AGAIN & yes, you just know what's coming next... Andy was snookered & called a 'miss' 5 times on the trot!!! Jamie (as any player in that situation would do) played it to his advantage & came out winner in a hard battle, 67-37 to make it 2-0 for the B Team & the team praying for a miracle!
Table 1 then saw our own Tom Williams (in his first Team semi final) go on 3rd v Sean Dorrian. It was a frame of lots of snookers & again plenty of misses being called, but very sensibly the referee (Tony Aldridge) only called a maximum of 2 per snooker (whereas the ref on table 2 was calling loads per snooker until the ball on was hit, which effectively decided frames!). It went down to the colours & Tom was 17 behind with 18 on! Cometh the hour, cometh the man... Tom cut in a lovely (very) fine blue the length of the table & a couple of shots later cut in the pink in similar fashion! Big balls...literally! Tom took the black to nick the frame by 1 point, 55-54! Awesome frame! 2-1 up for the A Team & performance of the A Team match, no question!
On table 2, Abingdon Con A being 2-0 up, it had to be a match saver for them as Dave 'Club Singles Champion' Rowe faced Nigel Barker! Nice easy opponent then Dave... with no pressure! Dave made a great effort for it & matched Nigel pot-for-pot & the same in respect of safety! With the scores virtually level on the colours... guess what... snooker on the brown... 'miss'!!! So harsh in single frame snooker! Dave was still level on the blue, but left Nigel a chance & he potted blue & pink to win 59-37 & confirm Abingdon Con A's place in the final 3-0. Great effort Dave, good fight B Team!
In the 4th frame on table 1, Nigel 'VC' faced a complete unknown from Wantage, D. Williams?! Now this situation was a little unprecedented as the teams know each other so well & after a few shots it was fairly evident that Mr Williams was schooled in Pool as opposed to snooker... but he certainly wasn't a 'rabbit'! Nigel worked hard & was forced into some respectful match play & his tactical safety was awesome! He edged a lead & held it, despite some cracking pots by Mr Williams, but Nigel's experience in big matches shone through as he won the 'glory leg' by 75-33 & confirmed the A Team into the final by 3-1 in frames! Well done A Team!
So, with the matches decided, the last 2 frames on table 2 & the last frame on table 1 were 'dead rubbers'.
On table 2 Captain Kevin played Ollie Hoeblyn. Kevin broke... into the back of the pack & smashed the red balls all open! Gulp! Unbelievably, he left them ALL safe!!! From such an open start, it was a fairly uneventful frame in that neither player could put in a decent frame winning break & Kevin did have chances (but like all, was struggling with the tight Didcot Con tables & the heat... it was sweltering!). Kevin had a chance on the colours, needing them all, but missed an easy green & that was it. Frame score was a loss 19-52 (& now 4-0 to Abingdon Con A).
Last frame of the evening on table 1 saw Dave Greathead have a re-match of the League fixture v Duncan Nielson. It was fairly evident that despite the dead rubber status of the frame, Duncan was 'well up for it' & played well (or was Dave sand-bagging so as to not show Sid how well he's playing before the Over 50s Final at the start of next month... I know what I saw!!!). Duncan ran out winner on the colours by 56-42 to give a little respect to Wantage in the final frame score line of 2-3.
On table 2, Dave Lewis played our Rob House in a very sporting manner & the frame could have gone either way. Rob was given a little incentive at the start when told he needed 32 points to reach the 'Golden 1000' in the stats table, but unfortunately in his last frame of the season, lost by 29-52 (oh for a foul of 4 points!) when Dave potted a cracking blue & pink to win & make their final frame score 5-0.
So, the John Evans Final will be contested between Abingdon Con A & Wallingford A on Wednesday 10th April (venue to be announced). Such a shame that it couldn't have been A v B (no Cuz, not your Spuds manager!) & but for the 'miss' rule being enforced so rigidly, it could have been!
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