1st Division
There wasn’t much ‘New Year & good will cheer to all men’ when Tarleton BC C where thrashed 6-0 by the Tarleton BC A team in the first fixture after the half way break. The result leaves the C team still searching for their first win of the season while the A team stretch their lead to 3 points at the top of the table. The C teams opening pair of Jimmy Jones & Dean Bond fought well for their team but the A team players of Andy Bolton & Colin Boston produced the big pots when needed. Dean should really have won his frame but missed pots cost him dear with Colin taking most of the colours and a tricky final black to force a re-spot. Both players had a chance of taking the frame but Colin potted a tricky black again for the second time to snatch a 53-46 win. The remaining four frames went the way of the A team to see them take all 12 points off the C team in the 2 fixtures played in the league this year.
Last year’s champions Mere Brow A beat the Waddy B team 5-1 to keep Tarleton A well within their sights at the top of the table. Waddy’s top stick so far this season Andy Linaker beat Andy O’Hara 58-23 in one of the opening frames, Andy’s 7th win so far this year, with Martin Brown beating Phil Kitchen 59-29 to level the frames up. Jimmy Graham made a guest appearance for the champs by beating Ray Highton 51-21 with Danny Jassi seeing off Phil Gaskell comfortably 81-17. John Greenwood’s service where not needed as Waddy only fielded the 5 players so it was left to Alan Waring to seal the 5-1 victory when beating Steve Cobb 48-20. It was Mere Brows 3rd consecutive 5-1 result as they look to stay in with a shout of winning their 4th consecutive league title.
Banks A continued to keep pace near the top of the table after they eased their way to a 5-1 victory over the visiting Les Dodd’s B team. The opening Andy’s of Bridge & Hardisty got their team off to another 2-0 start when defeating Alan Harley & Dave Mills, the 5th time in doing so this year. That good start was capitalised on as Trevor Wetton & Al Sutton both won their frames against Danny Clegg & Paul Rogers to move to a 4-0 score line. The visitors eventually got their name on the score sheet as Andy Reynolds made it win number 9 for the season when defeating Andy Bintcliffe 62-44. But Roy Cookson wrapped up Banks’s 5th 5-1 result of the season when getting the better of Dave Brown 68 points to 39.
Fleetwood Hesketh A stay 4th in the table but slip 6 points behind Banks in the table after they could only manage a 3-3 draw against the visiting Tarleton BC B team. Fleetwood’s Ste Crane won a scrappy frame against Ste Harrison 47-15 as Dean Oliver had no chance against Tarletons Ray Forshaw losing out 53-8 to him. For once Gareth Hibbott didn’t take the bragging rights for highest break on the night as Stuart Evans rolled back the years to produce a 47 break in his frame against Andy Marsden with Ian Gautrey squaring things up with a 69-32 victory over Mike Roberts. Gareth did however bring his 10th win for the season up when he ‘tonned’ Neil Rigden 100-13, which included a break of 38 in hi frame, as John Gautrey beat Neil Rimmer 63-39 to bring up Tarletons 5th 3-3 draw of the season.
Fifth versus sixth in the league saw Birkdale Cons A take on Waddington Cons A at home, with the inevitable 3-3 draw between the two sides. Birkdale got off to the better start when Phil Fitzgerald beat Billy Evans 61-34 and Paul Shawcross beat Alan Tomlin 66-42. But Waddy managed to open their account come the middle frames when Ally Iddon made a super break of 45 in his 72-28 victory over John Melvin but Ricky Webb made it 3-1 to Birkdale when beating Gary Flynn 68-28. But the last pair for the Waddy showed some fighting spirit as Paul Taylor brought up only his 3rd win for the season when outplaying Saul Kemp for a 75-30 win with Paul Wilson gaining the draw for his side when defeating Mick Wardle in similar style 73-32.
Churchtown Cons A went down 4-2 to the visiting Argyle LTC side who secured only their 2nd win of the season, making it back-to-back victories as well. Youth beat age, and beauty, when Jon Holmes beat Les Prescott 59-37 with Ryan Curry making it 2-0 for Argyle when beating Dan Matthews 60-40. The Cons clubs Dave Harwood edged out Brain Jarrett on the final colours as Ste Forshaw saw off Jamie Campbell 73-39. That away win came about when Paddy Tyndall took out Mick Coxon 63-42 though there was enough time for Kevin Woodfull to beat Colin Coffey 66-17 to give Churchtown a valuable 2nd point on the night.
2nd Division
Banks C extended their lead at the top of the table to 6 points after coming away from Our Lady’s with a 4-2 victory last week. Keith Turner got the Formby clubs first point of the New Year when he beat Billy Cummings 55-24 as Alan Johnson maintained his 100% win record for Banks when beating Tommy Tickle 58-25. Luke Marshall made it 4 wins from 5 at home so far when he beat Cliff Arnold as John Prescott levelled the frame scores up to 2-2 when edging out Michael Houghton 52-44. But Banks secured their 9th win of the season as Steve Harris beat Alan Parker 58-25 with Martin Sephton securing his win over Paul Heery aided by a break of 27 in the frame.
The Southport & Birkdale cricket club came out 4-2 winners over Southport Cons A in the big match up in the division to close the gap to the Con club to 3 points. The two top sticks in each team played each other in the opening frames as S&B’s Paul Parker beat Lee Cromwell 60-43 with Dave Palmer gaining his 10th win of the season in a 58-23 victory over Matty Pollock. Now 2-0 down, the Con club fought back to level the frames up as Nobby Lee beat Tony Milner on the final colours 58-48 with John Cromwell also claiming a close 56-41 victory over Mark Fletcher. But the Cricketers were to have the final say on things when both Russ Thornley & the ever green Barney Newton both won to gain their team a vital win in their quest to get back up into the 1st division next year.
Although they struggled for most of the first half of the season Mere Brow B managed to gain a 3-3 draw with the visiting Bretherton A team to hopefully kick start their season. Paul Crabtree jnr made short work of Gordon Russell beating him 78-28 as Jim Richards narrowly beat Brews Dale Roberts on the final black ball 53-52. Kyle Prescott played solidly to beat Harry Haslam 62-38 with Dave Cottam equally impressive when beating young Matthew Greenwood 81-47. All square at 2 apiece going into the final frames as father did like son did earlier Paul Crabtree snr made it win number 5 for the season when beating Jim Holden 56-29. But Bretherton’s Mick Powell replied for the visitors when beating David Forshaw 53-25 to level the frames up on the night to 3 apiece.
The battle at the basement of the 2nd division went the way of Les Dodd’s A as they beat Churchtown Cons B 4-2 to gain their first league win of the season. The Con club won the opening match of the season by the same 4-2 score line so honours stay even between the two teams but it would have been a good night for the ‘Doddy-men’ to gain this victory all the same. Mike Lount & Graham Marshall got the home side off to a great start going 2-0 up straight away though the Cons team replied by taking the next two frames, with Paul Connor & Colin Tennant both winning their frames. Doddy’s Peter Jackson played well in his 69-35 win over the Cons top stick Gary Hudson as Peter Parkinson got them over the win line to gain their first win when beating Lawrence Richards 53-44.
Bretherton B v Banks B – No result as of yet
3rd Division
The fight to be league leaders in the 3rd division took its usual swing again as Les Dodd’s C swept back to the top of the table when beating Scarisbrick B 5-1 last week. Doddy’s opening pair of Jim Bradley, who made a 32 break in his match against John Hardisty, and Harry Wilby set the home side on their way when both winning their frames to gain a 2-0 lead. Scarisbrick’s Wayne Cooper continued his good form this year when beating Chris Rae 60-42 but Martin Cusack beat Richard Pope to maintain the 2 frame advantage. This soon turned to 5 frames to the home side when Gary Hardwick edged passed John Brown 50-42 with Kyle Woodfull bringing up his 10th win of the season when beating Eddie Stockley65-34.
Sitting only the 1point back from top slot are Churchtown Cons D after they earned a creditable 4-2 victory over Formby Sports club, extending their unbeaten run in the league to 8 matches now. The Con club got off to the perfect start after Al Graham beat Tony Brookfield 61-21 with Mike Pickles seeing off Adrian Morris on the final colours 47-39. That 2-0 advantage was to be wiped out in the middle pairings as Formby’s Alec Davies beat Russ Walsh 40-24 with Steve McCluskey beating Dave Quinn 52-35, Steve’s 10th win of the season. But the final pairing for the Con club of Trevor Ford and Steve Mentha kept the pressure up on the Doddy’s C team as they both won to secure their teams 8th win of the season.
By a quirk in the fixtures this was British Rails third home game on the trot in the league, and was their best result out of them all, a 3-3 draw with Birkdale Cons B. Having lost 5-1 & 4-2 in the previous matches before Christmas the New Year saw them improve on that record as they look to chase down the teams above them. Peter Robinson jnr lost a black baller to John Stringfellow 53-48 as Nick Wright replied for the Rail when beating Geoff Tyas 46-27. Birkdale’s John Mullard went top of the teams win charts when he beating John O’Malley 58-42 as Liam Wright squared it up, 2-2, after beating Peter Wilding. The draw came about after Railway’s Colin Peet beat Reg Dobson 48-12 with David Robinson getting the better of Colin Nuttall 49-32.
Birkdale C managed to put on hold Southport Cons B ambition of a top two finish after holding them to a 3-3 draw last week, Southport’s 5th drawn match this season. Bath streets Colin Paul brought up his 10th win of the season when beating Ted Coghlan 71-40 as Phil Horan gave Peter Yates the run-around beating him 48-4. The middle frames were shared also as Birkdale’s Geoff Wright played solidly enough to see off John Blackhurst 67-22 with Ian Higgins replying for the visitors when beating Phil Green 61-47. Larry Swindells proved too good for Eddie Tennant running beating him 58-18 as Paul Rimmer got the better of Jeff Wainwright to square the match up, and give each side 3 frames each.
It seems that the lads from the Waddy C team enjoyed their time over the festive period as they came out all guns blazing to seal their first win of the season, 4-2 victory over Banks D. The win was probably the last thing on their minds after the opening frames with Banks moving into a 2-0 lead with wins for Barry Holmes & Bob Burns. But the tide turned as the Waddy opened up their account with wins for Dave Brown over Alan Wilson & Bob Fairclough securing a black ball win over Tony Coakley. With the match now up for grabs it was the home side who stepped it up with Guy Riley top scoring on the night in a 65-35 victory over Graham Melvin as Steve Whyte edged out Gerry Stone on the final black ball 52-45. It was the Waddy’s first win in the league since Feb of 2014 against Birkdale Cons C, so it was a most welcome start to 2016 for the lads from Windsor road.
Churchtown C v Fleetwood Hesketh B – No result as of yet.
Submit News Contact us with your community, business or sport news. Phone 07581350321
Email ots@otsnews.co.uk
Facebook www.facebook.com/otsnews.co.uk
Twitter www.twitter.com/onthespot_news
Breaking local news as it happens, searchable archives with photographs, the ability to instantly comment on news articles – there are so many advantages to OTS (Onthespot) News.
If you want your news read locally online then send it to ots@otsnews.co.uk – relying only on the newspaper is to restrict yourself to an ever reducing audience.
OTS News on Social Media