Report by Chris Gill
1ST round of the Rickerby Cup – Last 32
Fleetwood Hesketh B of the 3rd division took 1st division Argyle LTC all the way to the last pairings of their Rickerby Cup match, going down by only 26 points after winning three of the six frames on the night. The start of 144, which equated to 24 points per man, always looked to be a challenge to Argyle, especially after Ian Brownhill beat Colin Coffey 95-52 in one of the opening frames, though Argyles Ste Cooper responding by beating Lawrence Renshaw 75-53. The Marshside outfit carried a 21 point lead into the middle frames where Brian Kimberley did more damage to Argyle when beating Ste Forshaw 72-54. But again Argyle clung on in there as Ryan Curry managed to just beat Mark Beaver on the final colours to leave the frames locked at 2 across and a difference of just 28 points. Fleetwood’s Mick Orme battled well to beat Brain Jarrett 59-46 leaving it all on Paddy Tyndall’s broad shoulders to not only win his frame but score enough points to get the aggregate back. This he did when beating Phil Marrow 106-39 to see the Tennis club take the match on aggregate by 26 points, 402-376.
Third division side Scarisbrick B took on the might of Tarleton BC A of the 1st division coming out victors by just the 39 points after the six frames ended 3-3. Tarleton might have been giving a huge 270 point start, or 45 a man in lay-man’s terms, but they gave it a right good go to try and get the victory over their 3rd division opposition. Tarleton’s Rob Iddon got the visitors off to a flyer when making breaks of 39 & 35 against John Brown beating him 112-89 though John took the last four colours in the frame to narrow the deficit in the end. John Nelson not only had to give 45 start away he also had to battle with bad running in his frame eventually going down a 96-39 loser to Wayne Cooper. The middle frames matched the opening frames as Colin Boston piled on the points against Peter Simpson running out an impressive 127-78 winner. But home advantage claimed the other frame as Mick Hodge fluked the green & then took brown, blue & pink to level the frames up and give Scarisbrick a 17 point aggregate lead. In the last pairings Scarisbrick’s John Hardisty lost to Chris Gill 85-56 leaving Marcus Jackson the task of just winning his frame for the visitors to claim a 4-2 win. But Scarisbrick’s Ian Lowery put up good resistance to hold off his opponent to see the Scarisbrick B side through by 39 points and so into the next round.
Churchtown Cons B took a step into the lion’s den when travelling to play the 1st division champions Mere Brow A armed with a 252 handicap start, and where mightily relived to come away with a 59 points aggregate victory. Things went really well for the champs as they moved to a 2-0 lead with Andy O’Hara beating Richard Butterworth by the tightest of margins 72-70 with Martin Brown gaining an equally close 86-73 victory over Guy Hudson. But the visitors fought back with Paul Connor somehow getting a 1 point 76-75 victory over Andy Booth even with his opponent making a 48 break in the frame, as Colin Tennant saw off the man-of-the-moment Danny Jassi 97-44. Two apiece and now holding onto a 39 point lead it was down to Mere Brow to have both winners or get one big win and they would pinch the match. Alan Waring managed to beat John Smith 94-78 to get one of the frames and 16 back on the aggregate but John Greenwood couldn’t do anything about Lawrence Richards running out a 87-51 winner.
Waddy Cons A beat Fleetwood Hesketh A in one of the two all 1st division clashes, coming out on top of their opponents by just the 62 points. The opening frames where shared as Waddy’s Ali Iddon edged passed Ste Crane on the final colours 50-43 as Fleetwood moved clear in the aggregate as Mike Reeder beat Billy ‘Whizz-Bang’ Evans 68-40. But the tie was to swing to the home side when both Gary Flynn & Paul Wilson won to open up a 3-1 frame lead and 70 point lead on the aggregate. With Fleetwood’s & the League’s top man Gareth Hibbott yet to play nothing could be ruled out but the task of pulling back the aggregate came up short as Gareth could only beat Alan Tomlin by six points with Dean Oliver a black ball winner over Paul Taylor. The final result seeing the Waddy going through on aggregate 344-282 after the frames ended 3 apiece.
Les Dodd’s C went out again the first round of the Rickerby Cup for three years running when losing 4-2 to Southport Cons A of the 2nd division. The opening frames were shared as Matty Pollock played well to beat Jamie O’Shaughnessy 86-42 with Doddy’s Chris Rae getting the better of Nobby Lee by just the 16 points 46-30. But the middle frames saw the match go the way of the visitors as the Cromwell’s of Big John and Lee both won to give their side a 3-1 lead and a healthy 36 point lead going into the last frames. Things could have been much different though with John only just managing to get past Kyle Woodfull on the final black, 55-49, with Lee beating Martin Cusack on the final black by the tighter margin of 59 points to 57. Harry Wilby managed to at least beat one of the Cromwell’s when he beat Stephen 54-38 but Danny Clegg couldn’t pull off the big in needed going down 65-37 to Mike Langford.
Bretherton A v British Rail A was a 2nd league match last year but with the Railwaymen getting relegated last season they returned to play Bretherton with a 60 point handicap hoping to beat their hosts in the cup. Things started okay for the visitors as Peter Robinson jnr beat Ron Dickinson 75-37 with Nick Wright went down 64-38 to Gordon Russell. But the 2nd division side proved too strong in the middle frames as Bretherton’s Dave Cottam beat Jimmy O’Malley 67-41 & Jim Richards beat Eddy Cracknell 52-39. With the match stacked in favour of the home side, 3-1 up & 27 points to the good it was ‘Happy’ Harry Haslem who saw the home side through to the next round when he beat Colin Peet 66-20. Gary Nuttall tried his best for the Railwaymen, beating Jim Holden by just the 1 point 95-58. Bretherton will be hoping to go maybe one round further in this year’s competition, falling as they did to Scarisbrick B in one of last year’s semi-finals.
Churchtown Cons D made light work of Banks C after racing to a 3-1 lead and nearly 100 points to the good, eventually running out 4-2 winners over their visitors. Mike Pickles managed to beat Billy Cummings by just the 3 points while Dave Quinn made the best of his chances to secure a 82-33 win over Ste Harris. Two big wins for either side came in the middle frames as Al Graham starred for the Cons racking up 104 points, including a well taken 39 break, over John Prescott as Alan Johnson beat Tony Wakefield 71-44. With the deficit now 98 points, Banks needed a big effort from their last two players but Trevor Ford put paid to the ambitions of Banks when beating Cliff Arnold 98-20. Martin Sephton did put up a bit of a fight with Steve Mentha, beating him 84-29, but the damage had already been done.
Les Dodd’s B might be a 1st division side this year but they were reminded of recent times when getting a bit of a lesson off Banks B last week. Dave Mills had no chance against young John Gearie losing 89-29 though Lee Holmes did manage to beat Harry Caunce 69-33. But Banks made light of the remaining frames with Bob Ashcroft beating Paul Rogers 79-33 & Dave Turner matching his partner with a 76-31 victory over Andy Reynolds. The Doddy’s side now faced a 3-1 score line plus being some 115 points behind in the aggregate. Mike Marsh made sure of the victory with a classy showing against Simon Bolton running out a highly impressive winner, 92 points to 2, which included breaks of 37 & 33. Alan Harley did manage to give the final score a little bit of a creditable finish when beating Andy Griffiths 85-45, leaving the final result a 4-2 win to Banks B.
Like all ‘Derby’ matches, there can be some strange results at times and the match-up between Tarleton B & Tarleton C proved just that. There might be 9 points separating them in the 1st division table but the C team ran out 4-0 winners over their B team cousins with three of the frames only settled on the final black ball. The B team may have wondered what the hell they did wrong previously on the night as in-off after in-off cost them vital points and ultimately frames. Ste Harrison went in-off after he potted the frame winning pink to lose to John Moore 65-60. Ian Gautrey did likewise, going in-off the blue to lose 69-47 to Shaun Fisher. Jimmy Jones continued his rich vein of form when beating Jason ‘ Specsavers’ Swarbrick 59-35 with Neil ‘I’m the 15th ranked player in the stats’ Rigden losing to Dean ‘He’s ranked 94th by the way Neil’ Bond on the final black ball 65-62. Honours go to the C team this time even though they prop up the 1st division table at the moment.
Banks A continued with their rich vein of form this year when putting the 2014 Rickerby Cup winners Churchtown Cons C to the sword beating them 5-1 and by some 96 points on the aggregate score. Andy Hardisty and Andy Bridge set the ball rolling for the home side early on when they both won their matches against Mick Stuttard & Peter Milford. Matthew Wetton made short work in beating Adam Rothwell 82-39, as Alan Sutton lost his first match of the year so far, being 6 from 6 in the league going down a 76-35 loser to Brian Sheil. The Rickerby Champions now found that to retain the trophy they would need two wins and some 65 points to claw back to progress through to the next round. But Banks A maintained their league form that has seen them go joint top of the 1st division by taking both frames to see them run out 5-1 winners. Trevor Wetton beat Roger Hughes 61-41 with Joe Perberdy putting up a good fight to go down to Roy Cookson on the final colours 80-69.
Mere Brow B made light work in their match against Scarisbrick A, running out very comfortable 5-1 winners. The opening frames saw Dale Roberts beat Chris Starkie 60-49 with Paul Crabtree jnr making it the perfect start when seeing off Peter Fenwick 66-40. The middle frames also went the way of the home side with good wins for Matthew Greenwood & Kyle Prescott as they put the match to bed with wins over Norman Hallsworth & Ron Calder respectively. The teams played out the match with Mere Brow’s Paul Crabtree snr beating Paul Horner 50-18 with Graham Ball getting the only frame on the night for the visitors when beating David Forshaw 55-31.
A Birkdale Cons ‘Derby’ clash of the 1st division v 3rd division saw the A team take on their C team with the big boys in the club coming out on top 4-2 victors. New recruit to the side John McGee couldn’t stop Phil Fitzgerald powering his way to a 86-65 victory, which included a nice 33 break, as Phil Green edging out Les Sullivan on the final colours 69-61. As always in the cup it’s generally in the final colours where most matches are won and lost as Martin Calvert lost out to Saul Kemp on the final black 68-66. Couple this with Ted Coghlan going down to Paul Shawcross 86-64 and the C team could have thought, 2 apiece, and were still in it. But the A team held a 3-1 lead, and more importantly a 37 point aggregate lead. But that was all irrelevant when the A teams Mick Wardle & John Melvin helped themselves to good wins over the C teams Paul Rimmer & Geoff Wright to see the 1st division side through to the next round 5-1 victors.
Les Dodd’s A had no answer to a rampant S & B last week going down 5-1 losers to the cricket club side and by over 100 points on the aggregate score. The opening frames left the match evenly matched as Paul Parker beat Martin Matthews 75-55 for the cricketers as Graham Marshall beat Mark Fletcher 79-65. One apiece and only 6 points between them soon turned to 3-1 to the visitors and a 77 point difference as Dave Palmer & Barney Newton piled on the points to secure a big lead. There was not let up for the home side in the last two frames either as Russell Thornley beat Peter Jackson 85-62 with Tony Milner completing the rout with a 65-47 victory over Mike Lount.
The matches between Banks D v Churchtown Cons & Bretherton B v Birkdale Cons B are to be played this coming week.
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