D&DS&BL Individual & Pairs Competitions

Wallingford Comrades Club

League Snooker Players

Singles/Pairs Competition Fixtures

Billiards Semi Finals	To be played @ Didcot Con on Tuesday 12/02/2013
Colin Bark Pete Billingham Kevin Higgs Nigel Winney
Draw for opponents @ 7.20 sharp!		Don't forget dress code!

 

Novices Semi Finals	To be played @ Marlboro Club on Thursday 14/02/2013
Adam Bruce Simon Saunders Aaron Tame Tom Williams
Draw for opponents @ 7.20 sharp!		Don't forget dress code!

 

Over 50s Semi Finals	To be played @ Challow RBL on Thursday 21/02/2013
Ian Barnes Dave Greathead Dave Lewis Brian Orton
Draw for opponents @ 7.20 sharp!		Don't forget dress code!

 

Doubles Semi Finals	To be played @ Challow RBL on Thursday 28/02/2013
Nigel Archer & Paul Archer
Colin Bark & Dave Lewis
Nigel Barker & Ollie Hoeblyn
Pete Billingham & Kevin Higgs
Draw for opponents @ 7.20 sharp!		Don't forget dress code!

 

 

All results to be sent to D&DS&BL Competitions Secretary, Craig Spires on 07538 148783

(or alternatively e-mailed to ctcspires@gmail.com)

*** PLEASE NOTE NEW E-MAIL ADDRESS!!! ***

D&DS&BL Week 16 Match Reports

Back to League fixtures this week which saw the A Team travel to Wantage & the B Team host Abingdon RBL.
 
At Wantage, Captain Pete was first on v Phil Hall.  It was a predictably close fought affair.  Captain had the lions share of the running & edged the lead with some nice potting before a late charge from Phil.  He missed a pot on the green & Pete took full advantage potting the green, slamming the brown into the middle & screwing back for the blue, which he potted with the rest in the 'yellow' bag for frame, 47-33 & 0-1 to the A Team.
 
Nigel (VC) was on next v Sean Dorian.  Sean was potting some outrageous long reds down the rail, but VC was keeping his nose in front throughout playing some good solid matchplay.  Nigel had an opportunity to secure the frame when he potted green & then missed an easy brown to the corner dropping lovely position on the frame ball blue!  He missed the brown(!), but a few shots later redeemed himself (& then some!) with a fabulous long pink down the rail for frame, 45-35 & 0-2 up!

Tom was up next v Matt Todd.  Tom's been cueing beautifully recently (buoyed by his successes in the QFs of Novices & Singles?) & was firing in some lovely pots & playing good positional play too.  Matt was potting erratically & slammed several balls round the table & when it looked like Tom was going to secure the frame, Matt potted the final black to make the scores level!  Re-spotted black to decide it then!  After Matt won the coin toss & put Tom in, the A Team sat there knowing exactly what shot Tom would try... doubled black!  Tom struck it lovely... (for a double double!) & it just 'jawed' & sat in front of the pocket for Matt to sink! Frame score was 54-61 & A Team still in the lead, 1-2 up.  Good effort & good entertainment from Tom (& the highest aggregate score of the night!)!
 
In the 4th frame, Kev 'Super Sub' Gray took on Ian 'Sid' Barnes.  In what was a very scrappy frame, neither player could make a frame winning contribution or even pull a decent lead!  In fact the only winner was...good running n flukes!  In reality that meant Sid beat Kev 50-35 so it was now 2-2!

Cue Anchorman Dave to try to get the all important win & he faced Wantage stalwart Duncan Neilson!  Duncan started with intent, potting some lovely balls & stringing together a few colours!  Dave wasn't going to 'cake walk' this one!  He hung in & in typically determined fashion (bouyed by hard practice sessions eh Daddy G?), he 'toughed it out' & played good experienced matchplay to win on the pink, 47-37.
 
So an all important 3-2 away win v Wantage who were 6 points ahead of us in 2nd place in the League was then reduced to 5 points!  The A Team have 2 games in hand so need to secure 6 points or more during Wantage's bye weeks to take League Runners Up spot.
 
 
Meanwhile, back at Wallingford, Simon 'Super Sub' Ellam (playing only his 2nd match frame of the season!) opened the match v Abingdon RBL playing against Phil Skinner.  It was a nip & tuck affair which Simon secured the 1st point when Phil went 'in off' the final black to gift Simon a 44-40 win & put the B Team 1-0 up.
 
Frame 2 saw Captain Kev face Paul Archer.  It was a good game of match snooker with both players playing well but Paul came out on top with Kevin losing 31-64.  Maybe Kevin was knocked off his stride when he had 2 'misses' called against him by referee Doug Young?  Serious stuff!  1-1.
 
Frame 3 saw the Battle of the Big Guns with Dave 'Club Singles Champ' Rowe facing Nigel Archer.  Dave played a good game & the result could have gone either way, but it was Nigel who secured the win by potting blue & pink to win a good game 36-49 for Abingdon RBL to take the lead 1-2.

In the next frame Andy Rance went down to Harvey Pearce 29-63.  Harvey (despite his recent shoulder injury) was far too strong on the night & Andy was not quite at his best.  So 1-3 to Abingdon RBL & with the match win secured it was left to Rob House to fight for some B Team honour.
 
Now, the frames had taken a little longer than normal (judging by the texts flying back & forth between A & B Team Captains) & the B Team only broke for supper after frame 3 well after 9.30pm(!).  So when the last frame commenced at 10.30 & Rob's opponent was Doug 'Scrape Me Off the Table' Young, there was always the potential for a late finish!  Imagine the surprise from the A Team when Captain Pete's A Team Taxi arrived back at the Comrades at 11.30 to find the final frame had ONLY JUST FINISHED!!!  Fortunately, Rob secured the win 54-24 having lead throughout.
 
So a final score of 2-3 home loss for the B Team.  With an away match next week v Fawley (the furthest team distance to travel), I'd recommend not quite such a late finish lads... unless of course you do want a McDonalds breakfast on the way home!!!

Wallingford Comrades Club Team Stats (Match 20)

6th February 2013 - Match 20
A TEAM	Pl	W	L	Pts for	Av	Pts ag	Av	%	Breaks over 25
Pete Billingham	16	14	2	912	57	508	32	88	26, 30, 26
Nigel Prior	15	13	2	767	51	416	28	87	32, 32, 32
Kev Higgs	14	10	4	755	54	529	38	71
Jon Hawkins	3	2	1	216	72	146	49	67
Dave Greathead	12	7	5	535	45	553	46	58
Tom Williams	14	7	7	637	46	565	40	50
Kev Gray	5	2	3	212	42	234	47	40
Nick Somarakis	0	0	0	0	##	0	##	###
	A Team win 3-2 away v Wantage. Captain starts off with a win & VC makes it 2-0. Tom has a re-spotted black thriller & narrowly misses a double doubled black which Matt Todd potted to make it 2-1. KG had a good scrap with Sid but loses to make it 2-2. Cue Anchorman to secure the win in a close fought 5th frame!
B TEAM	Pl	W	L	Pts for	Av	Pts ag	Av	%	Breaks over 20
David Rowe	10	7	3	469	47	358	36	70	21
Brian Orton	8	5	3	440	55	325	41	63
Rob House	16	10	6	800	50	552	35	63	31, 30, 29, 21
Dave Glaves	5	3	2	250	50	242	48	60
Pete Beaumont	8	4	4	345	43	358	45	50	25
Simon Ellam	2	1	1	80	40	91	46	50
Andy Rance	17	6	11	676	40	828	49	35	27, 32
Bob Elliott	5	1	4	161	32	301	60	20	20
Kevin Pickworth	14	2	12	466	33	790	56	14
	B Team lose 2-3 home v Abingdon RBL. Simon starts with a win when Phil Skinner goes in off the black! Kev loses to Paul Archer & Dave Rowe loses to his brother Nigel. Andy also loses to Harvey before Rob salvages some pride in the (hour long) last frame (finishing at 11.30!!!). Oz doesn't do breakfast lads!

D&DS&BL 2nd round (Quarter Finals) John Evans Cup match reports

Both A & B Teams in action this week fighting for places in the semi finals of the John Evans Cup.  The A Team were drawn away at fellow Prem/1st Division team Challow B, while the B Team had a home draw to face Marlboro B (again!) in an all 1st Division clash.
 
With the familiar travel to Challow for the A Team & with opponents being 'drawn', it fell to 'Super Sub' Kev Gray to start off v 'on form' Adam Bruce (in a repeat of the League fixture from earlier in the season).  With that match still fresh in his mind, it was obvious that KG was in determined mood!  Despite Adam having had a good run in the Novices Cup & Singles, Kev played good solid match play & raced to a comprehensive lead.  With 2 reds left Kev was in control & Adam near to needing snookers.  Kev ran out the winner (very comfortably) by 55-16.  The ideal start on an away match, 0-1 to the A Team!
 
Next up was Dave 'Anchorman' Greathead playing in an unusual 2nd frame position v Barry (Son of Chris) Alexander.  Barry started to edge into the lead, rallied by his team mates, but Dave is made of stern (solid?) stuff & hung in on a table he later confessed to not being able to fathom.  On to the colours, Dave was 24 behind with 25 remaining!  Cue 'Anchorman' to lay a sweet snooker which Barry didn't manage to escape from.  20 behind, 25 on!  Barry then had a stab at the green, but having missed & put a bit too much pace on it, the green came round over a middle bag.  Dave slotted it in, potted the brown with the rest, stroked the blue in to drop nicely on the pink, screwed back from a corner bag pot on the pink...& dropped in a lovely 'pressure' frame ball black in the yellow bag!  Classic 'Never Say Die' from the oldest member of the Team for a 47-42 win & a 0-2 scoreline!
 
Next on was Kev 'Cuz' Higgs to face Duncan Wolage.  Cuz started well & pulled a lead, but really didn't look comfortable.  Duncan, realising he had to 'stop the rot', potted a nice 29 break to nip back to the lead & slowly extended that lead to the end, winning 62-32 making it 1-2.  Never mind Cuz, you can have the week off next week... for your operation to extract a wisdom tooth!  Ouch, I think I'd rather be playing!
 
Step up 'in form' Tom Williams (hot from making the semi finals of the Novices & Singles & playing some lovely practice frames).  Tom faced Ian Izzard (soon to be a father... & that would make his Dad, League Match Card Secretary Gordon a Grandfather!  Excellent!).  Tom stroked the cue ball around nicely & despite the table going a bit scrappy, edged in front & held the lead throughout.  Ian potted some spirited balls, again rallied by his team mates, but Tom was not to be denied the 'glory leg' & ran out a convincing winner 53-19!  1-3 to the A Team & (another) Team semi final place secured!
 
In the final 'dead rubber' frame, Paul Finch faced Pete 'Captain' Billingham.  With the match result secured it was a 'friendly affair'... but of course, there's always stats to think of!  Paul was missing a few & verbally chastising himself so Captain capitalised & knocked in a modest 23 break to take the lead.  Then, it was as if Paul had 'thrown a switch' & he started nailing his pots, middle of the pocket!  Paul came back & when it looked like he was about to clear the colours for frame & some honour for Challow, he wobbled a brown & left Captain a chance!  No second invitation needed as brown, blue & pink were sunk to secure a 53-27 win & a 1-4 scoreline!
 
 
Meanwhile (back at the ranch), the B Team were also in determined mood (having narrowly missed a spot in the semi finals of the Jim Taylor).
 
In a familiar starting position, David 'Club Champion' Rowe started frame 1 v Steve Wetherall.  It was a close game all the way with Dave being 3 behind with the last 4 balls on the table.  Dave pulled out a wonderful brown & putted blue & pink to win 47-35 & the all important first frame, 1-0

Frame two saw Andy Rance against Laurence Harvey.  Now Andy's been putting in some serious practice (with 'The Hawkinator') & it obviously paid off as he was far too good for Lawrence on the night & won very convincingly 57-23 to put the B Team 2-0 up!
 
Next up was Kev 'Captain' Pickworth v Tony Rushton.  Having been (lightly) chastised for a losing red square in the stats last week, Captain Kev produced a solid performance in a scrappy frame & being 7 points in the lead on the final black, held his nerve to secure the all important 3 frame winning margin & take his team into the semi fianls!  Frame score was 48-34 & the B Team in the semis!  Brilliant!

In the 'dead rubbers', Dave Glave beat G Harper 51-32 & Rob House beat M Burton 48-21, both playing steady frames to finish the night with a whopping 5-0 scoreline (hmm, could do with a few of those scorelines in the League lads!).
 
 
So, with Abingdon Con beating Fairmile & Wantage beating Abingdon RBL in the other QFs, the John Evans semi finalists will be...
 
Abingdon Con, Wallingford A, Wallingford B & Wantage.
 
Matches to be played on Thursday 7th March at a venue TBA (keep an eye on the Club Snooker Notice Board).  Don't forget the dress code (NO JEANS!) & draw for opponents will be at 7.20!  Good luck & see you there!