D&DS&BL Week 14 Match Reports

Back to League fixtures this week but only the B Team in action as the A Team start their 1st of 2 weeks back-to-back byes (before a nice away match v Wantage!).
 
 
So with the A Team 'practicing', all eyes were on table 4 as the B Team played a home match v Crown Technology.

Simon Ellam made his long awaited season debut (having probably been busy with Bar Billiards league 7 competitions) & faced Anthony Whitton who was supporting a wrist brace for an recently sustained injury.  Despite the injury Anthony potted the key balls & secured a win by 36-51, so not the ideal start for the team or Simon's season!

Next up was Dave Rowe v Paul Claydon & the Wallingford Comrades Club Singles Champion was in determined mood.  Dave was far too strong for Paul & slotted in a useful 19 break during his demolition win by 51-9 to level the frames at 1-1.

On 3rd was Rob House v T Russell.  Rob played a solid do-what-is-needed frame & won easily enough 48-17 to put the B Team 2-1 up before supper.

Frame 4 saw 'Captain' Kev at last putting his first win on the scoreboard!  Whoop whoop!  Kev gave a good display of match snooker including a useful 18 break along the way to beat Olly Walker 63-23 & secure the win making the frame score 3-1.
 
In the last frame Andy Rance was still not at his best going down 43-62 to Andy Harper.
 
 
So a 3- 2 win is useful enough, but with Fawley having a bye week & Challow B recording a 3-2 home win v Fairmile... it means that the B Team are 2 points behind Challow on same number of games played (& face Fairmile in 'the garage' next week!).  Come on B Team, a concerted effort needed now (especially as your 2 bye weeks are the last 2 matches of the campaign!  Need those points on the board!).
 

Wallingford Comrades Club Team Stats (Match 17)

16th January 2013 - Match 17
A TEAM	Pl	W	L	Pts for	Av	Pts ag	Av	%	Breaks over 25
Pete Billingham	14	12	2	812	58	448	32	86	26, 30, 26
Nigel Prior	14	12	2	722	52	381	27	86	32, 32, 32
Kev Higgs	13	10	3	723	56	467	36	77
Jon Hawkins	3	2	1	216	72	146	49	67
Tom Williams	12	6	6	530	44	485	40	50
Dave Greathead	10	5	5	441	44	474	47	50
Kev Gray	3	1	2	122	41	168	56	33
Nick Somarakis	0	0	0	0	##	0	##	###
	No match for the A Team this week as they have their 1st week of 2 weeks back-to-back byes.
B TEAM	Pl	W	L	Pts for	Av	Pts ag	Av	%	Breaks over 20
David Rowe	7	5	2	334	48	248	35	71	21
Dave Glaves	3	2	1	133	44	140	47	67
Brian Orton	8	5	3	440	55	325	41	63
Rob House	13	8	5	654	50	435	33	62	31, 30, 29, 21
Pete Beaumont	8	4	4	345	43	358	45	50	25
Andy Rance	14	4	10	523	37	710	51	29	27, 32
Bob Elliott	5	1	4	161	32	301	60	20	20
Kevin Pickworth	11	1	10	349	32	610	55	9
Simon Ellam	1	0	1	36	36	51	51	0
	B Team record a useful 3-2 home win v Crown Tech. Simon makes his debut & loses (narrowly!) before Dave levels with a demolition 51-9! Rob makes it 2-1 before supper & it gives me great pleasure to mark up a yellow for 'Captain' Kev's 1st win of the campaign which secured the win! Andy not 'on it' in the last though.

D&DS&BL Singles round 3

D&DS&BL 2 Man Team round 2

An update on the condition of Number 1 Snooker Supporters son.

Message from Andy McCarthy.

Hiya Bud, just to let you all know we were informed yesterday that Daniel has something called anaplastic large cell lymphoma which is very rare but thankfully treatable. Six months chemo ahead for the little man!

WCC Snooker Teams Number 1 Supporter!

Morning Snooker Players,

Carrying on from recent conversations regarding our Number 1 Club Supporter Andy McCarthy, as you may or may not know his young son has been in hospital since the start of December baffling medical science.  As such its been a tough time for Andy & his family & he is doing Dry January as sponsorship for Cancer Research.

If you would  like to contribute via ur mobile phone then text 'MACA65 £(put ur amount)' to 70070. There's also a Gift Aid link when you send the text.

It's a very worthy cause & don't forget Andy did put in a round of drinks for the Teams successes at the and of last year so please give generously!

Cheers, Pete.

D&DS&BL 3rd round Jim Taylor Cup match reports

Last night saw both A & B Teams competing in the Quarter Finals (3rd round) of the Jim Taylor Cup.  The A Team were drawn away against fellow Premier Division team, Abingdon RBL & the B Team were given home advantage against 3rd Division Challow C (who have some ex-Premier Division 'sharks' in their squad!).

 

For the A Team, despite the deja vu of freezing temperatures en route to the match, this time Abingdon RBL actually had some heating on in the snooker room & the temperature was slightly (a lot!) warmer than our pre Xmas visit!  With the increase in heating in the room, the already renowned 'fast' table would be even quicker!

Kevin 'Cuz' Higgs was drawn first (on his Monday nite Oxford League 'home' table) & gave a super confident performance, stroking the cue ball around nicely & he dominated the frame to win 64-35 v Keith Bennett.  Great start! 1-0 up!

 

Dave 'Anchorman' Greathead was drawn in a very unfamiliar 2nd frame position v Nigel Archer.  Dave (obviously remembering how fast the pace of the cloth was from our 'freezing' visit) emulated Cuz's performance with a lovely frame where he stroked the cue ball around very competently, potting good balls & colours with some excellent safety & tactical play, leading by 28 with the colours left.  Despite valiant attempts for the snookers by Nigel, Dave ran out the winner 67-33.  2-0 up!

 

3rd frame saw a familiar draw of Pete 'Captain' Billingham v Doug Young.   Having known each other for 28 years through snooker & 20 years doing the same job, it was a predictably tight frame through to the colours.  Captain raced to a useful 20+ lead at the start but missed 2 relatively easy reds & nearly paid the price!  Doug potted some awesome long ones but it was Pete, who played some good safety who closed out the frame & booked the A Team into the Semi Finals!

With the pressure off the last 2 pairings, they both produced a couple of lovely relaxed, confident performances with very convincing wins.  Nigel 'VC' Prior was drawn 4th v Phil Skinner & after a tactical edgy start, Nigel slotted in another lovely 32 break (his hat-trick of 32 breaks this season!) during his demolition of his opponent in the 'dead rubber', winning 61-16.

Tom Williams was drawn 5th v Paul Archer & played with consummate ease, potting at will & playing some great positional play too!  He left Paul very few scoring opportunities which was reflected in the final score, a win for Tom by 74-9!  Quality versus a quality opponent!

 

So, a (very) convincing 5-0 win on a (very) fast away table & the A Team progress to the Semi Final stage... or as Cuz put it "Get the trousers out!", with reference to the dress code (no jeans!) for the semis (which also includes neutral venues & referees!).

 

Nice to see one of our current Team (Jon 'Jon Boy' Hawkins) & one ex-A Team (Stu 'Moggy' Mogford) turn up to support & cheerlead (& enjoy the social!).

Meanwhile, back at Wallingford the B Team were playing a home fixture v Challow C.

Dave 'Club Singles Champion' Rowe was drawn in a familiar 1st frame position to play Chris Rose.  This was a hard fought 54-32 win for Dave when he secured the frame on the blue.  The ideal start & the B Team 1-0 up.

Andy Rance was drawn out second against Jason O'Hanlon (ex Premier Division with the now defunct Challow A).  Unfortunately Andy was not as his best, losing 9-42 to Jason who has recently secured his place in the Under 23s Final.

 

Stalwart Bob 'Mr Chairman' Elliott was drawn 3rd & despite slotting in a nice 20 break lost a very tense frame on the black, 55-59 to N Greennard.  Kevin 'Captain' Pickworth (who was providing text commentary throughout the match) said that it was such a shame as it was a game Bob should have won... but as we all know, anything can happen in 1 frame snooker!  2-1 down in frame score & all to do!

 

After a short supper break, Rob 'Club Billiards Champion' House was on 4th v Ian Bowman (also ex Challow A & Jason O'Hanlon's opponent in the Under 23s Final - rather ironic as they're Doubles partners!).  Ian is a natural, prolific potter but Rob didn't give him many chances & led 32-13, making a 21 break himself with 4 reds left.  Rob played ace & made the game look easy, eventually winning 53-14.

 

2 frames all & down to the decider!  The last frame saw Pete Beaumont v M Dixey & despite a valiant effort by Pete, he lost 27-59.

 

So, unfortunately the B Team don't make the Semi Finals, but can now concentrate on their charge for the 1st Division title (& are still in the Quarter Finals of the John Evans Cup!).

 

 

No league match for the A Team next week as they start their 1st week of 2 byes, so just the B Team playing a home league fixture v Crown Technology.