1st Division
There was definitely something in the air last week as no less than 7 breaks of over 50 made in the 1st division, two 6-0 thrashings, comebacks and Derby woes and fortunes…
The league leaders Tarleton BC A travelled to play Churchtown Cons A who were trying to bounce back from last week’s 6-0 thumping from Mere Brow but could only watch on as Tarleton made it three consecutive 6-0 victories on the trot since the turn of the year. Wins for John Nelson & Arnie Sothern set them on their way with Andy Bolton & Marcus Jackson edging passed their opponents on the final colours for a 4-0 lead. But the real fireworks happened in the last two frames as yours truly made a superb break of 69 against Mick Coxon, (ask Mick if you don’t believe me…) eventually breaking down on a pink to the middle bag with 4 reds left on. Trust me I will never get a better chance of joining that elite group of players who have got to the magical 100 break mark in the league. Not to be out done Rob Iddon had a chance to actually pass that break when compiling a break of 54 against Les Prescott, again breaking down with four reds left open as well.
Mere Brow A also produced the form and breaks in the style of champions as they racked up no less than 6 breaks of 30 or more in the opening four frames of the night. Less Dodd’s B might have been hoping to get away with a close 6-0 result but Mere Brow are in no mood to let Tarleton run away from them in the league. Following on from last week’s 62 Andy O’Hara made a good 55 break in his match against Dave Mills with Danny Jassi making a nice break of 40 in his match. Andy Booth broke the 50 mark for the first time this year with a 59 break against Paul Rogers with Martin Brown going pot mad making breaks of 33, 32 & 58 in his 113-11 victory over Alan Harley. Things sort of calmed down in the last two pairings but not enough for the Doddy’s pair as both Andy Reynolds & Danny Clegg could not stop John Greenwood & Alan Waring from making it 17 from 18 points so far this year.
Third placed Banks A started off in their match against Argyle LTC in fine form as Andy Bridge made his best break of the year, a 42 against Jon Holmes with Andy Hardisty making a 31 against Ryan Curry to set up a 2-0 lead. Alan Sutton when beat Brian Jarrett 58-17 with Ste Forshaw replying for Argyle after beating Trevor Wetton 62-30 to make it a 3-1 score line. The 3-3 draw came about after Ste Cooper and Paddy Tyndall out played Andy Bintcliffe & Roy Cookson, with Paddy building on last week’s 73 break by shutting out Roy 120 points to nothing. Not one for Roy to dwell on long I would think?
Birkdale Cons A played hosts to Fleetwood Hesketh A last week where the ‘Break Machine’ that is Gareth Hibbott was at it again helping his side to a 5-1 win over the Con club. Phil Fitzgerald was on the end of a ‘Hibbott Hiding’ as Gareth helped himself to breaks of 58 & 24 for his 109-7 victory with Mike Reeder copying his captain with breaks of 57 & 28 making it a 2-0 start for the Marshsider’s. The middle frames were shared as Danny Murphy beat Paul Shawcross 69-36 with Ricky Webb beating Dean Oliver 56-10 for Birkdale. But Fleetwood would bring up their third away 5-1 result of the season when Ste Crane & Stuart Evans beat John Melvin & Ronnie Brooks.
The Waddington Derby went the way of the A team as they beat the B team 4-2 to see them take 9 points out of the two fixtures between them this season. The A team had the pairing and made it count as they opened up with a 2-0 lead thanks to a black ball win for Paul Taylor over Phil Kitchen and a 79-30 win for Paul Wilson over Steve Cobb. Two became four as the Tomlin’s of Mark & Alan swept aside Phil Gaskell & Graham Wragg, and left the A team hoping for a big result with two frames left to go in the match. But the B team players of Andy Linaker & Denis Woodward had other ideas as they fought hard to get something back for their team as Andy managed to see of Ally Iddon 66-46 with Denis beating Billy Evans 60-36.
The Tarleton Derby between the 8th placed B team & bottom placed C team produced lots of drama from the off but unfortunately for the C team the 4-2 defeat leaves them still searching for that first win of the season. The C teams Dean Bond may have made a 30 break in his frame but it was Ste Harrison who celebrated most when potting the black in a dramatic 70-64 win with John Gautrey also doing the same to Jimmy Jones when slotting the final black for a 47-45 win and a 2-0 lead. Again the breaks continued as John Moore made a 26 against Ian Gautrey only to be gazumped when Ian secured the win with a 43 break as Ray Forshaw made it 4-0 with the third black ball win for the B team when beating Shaun Fisher 56-52. With yet another Derby 6-0 whitewash on the cards Phil Keep & Mark Rollins both won to give the score a bit more respectability with both players having breaks in the 20’s.
2nd Division
With the leaders Banks C in a free week in the fixtures it meant that the pack had a chance to close the gap though Banks B may have felt that this one got away from them as they could only manage a 3-3 draw with 9th placed Scarisbrick A. The opening frames were shared as Ron Calder gave the hosts a win when beating John Gearie 58-15 with Andy Griffiths replying with a 57-33 win over Ian Tinsley. The middle frames went the way as the opening ones as Scarisbrick’s Norman Hallsworth beat John E Gearie 55-25 with Mike Marsh replying for Banks when beating Chris Starkie 59-21. Pater Fenwick made it win number 3 when he beat Dave Turner 68-42 as Bob Ashcroft made it 3 apiece when he beat Paul Horner 41-15.
Southport Cons A moved back into 2nd place in the table after coming away from Our Lady’s with a good 4-2 victory. Formby’s Keith Turner lost out to Nobby Lee 41-52 as did Michael Houghton who lost to Matty Pollock 33-46. Our Lady’s opened their account through Luke Marshall beating John Cromwell 65-36 but Bath streets Lee Cromwell edged out Paul Heery on the final black 50-48 to make it a 3-1 score line to the visitors. Ste Cromwell made sure of the team win when defeating Phil Fellowes in one of the last pairings as Alan Parker saw off the challenge of Mike Langford to give the Formby side two points on the night.
The Southport & Birkdale cricket team did manage to gain points back near the top after seeing off the visiting Churchtown Cons B team 5-1, their third such home result this season. Paul Parker got things off nicely for the home side when beating Jamie Barton with good support from Russell Thornley when he beat Colin Tennant. Two became four as Tony Milner & Dave Palmer both won to leave the evergreen veteran of the side Barney Newton to make it 5-0 when he beat Paul Connor 43-33. The last frame did go the way of the visitors when Dave Pritchard managed to beat Tom Palmer but the damage had already been done.
Bragging rights in the Bretherton Derby went the way of the A team when they overcame their B team last week beating them 5 frames to 1. The B teams Nev Marsden beat Jim Holden on the final black 52-45 with Ron Dickinson squaring things up when beating Ste Fiddler 41-4. But it all went the way of the A team after that as Dave Cottam beat Ed Moulton 69-20 and Jim Richards seeing off Alan Venables 60-28. The A team rout came after Gordon Russell beat Simon Moulton, just mind, on the final black 51-50 with Happy Harry Haslam getting the better of Phil Iddon 61-26.
Mere Brow B put breathing space between themselves and the bottom of the table when thumping the visiting Les Dodd’s A team 5-1 to record their 4th win of the season. Brews Kyle Prescott kept the fouls limited to beat Karl Bellman 53-37 as Paul Crabtree jnr made it 2-0 with a 58-19 win over Jordan Scutt. Matthew Greenwood & Dale Roberts doubled up the score to 4-0 with wins against Mike Lount & Peter Jackson though Les Dodd’s won the only frame left on the night, they only came to Mere Brow with 5 players, as Peter Parkinson beat Paul Crabtree snr on the final colours 46-37.
3rd Division
Les Dodd’s C kept up the pressure on the chasing pack when thrashing Formby Sports 6-0 last week making it back to back 6-0 wins now for the title challengers. Doddy’s Chris Rae & Gary Hardwick gave their side a great start when winning the opening frame Gary’s won on the final black against Mark Abbott. Formby’s Alex Fairley & Tony Brookfield could not turn the tide as Martin Cusack & Jim Bradley piled on the pressure with good wins over the Formby pair to make it a 4-0 score line with the last pairings to go. Their third whitewash of the season came after Harry Wilby & Kyle Woodfull proved too strong for the Formby pair of Alec Davies & Mark Winkley to open up a 2 point gap at the top of the table.
The reason for the two point gap was that Churchtown D could only manage a 5-1 victory over their C team in the Churchtown Derby. Mick Pickles & Dave Quinn got the ‘away’ side off to a flier when beating John McCabe & Adam Rothwell in the opening frames only to double the lead after the middle frames had been completed. Trevor Ford ran out an impressive 68-9 winner over Peter Milford as Russ Walsh beat Roger Hughes 52-36. Steve Mentha edged out Joe Perberdy 46-33 to give the D team a sniff of getting the full quota of 6 but Brian Sheil upset the apple cart beating Al Graham 75-26 to stave off what would have been their first whitewash defeat of the season.
Southport Cons B drew 3-3 with the visiting Fleetwood Hesketh B team, their 6th draw form their 14 matches played so far this season. The opening frames were shared as Ian Higgins beat Phil Marrow 50-25 only for Ian Brownhill to reply for the Hesketh when beating Peter Yates 49-8. The middle frames both went the way of the visitors as Mark Beaver beat Colin Paul on the final black 40-38 with Brian Kimberley getting the better of John Blackhurst on the final colours 53-42. But the Con club fought back in the last pairings to earn the draw when Larry Swindells beat Dan Beaver & Jeff Wainwright beat Terry Gowland 66-17, helped by a break of 24 in the frame.
British Rail took advantage of Formby Sports drubbing to move into 4th spot in the league after gaining a 3-3 draw with the visiting Banks D team. Banks set off the better in the opening frames racing to a 2-0 lead after wins for Tony Coakley & Graham Melvin. But the Railwaymen replied by taking the middle frames after John O’Malley beat Darren McDonnell 55-19 & Colin Peet beat Bob Burns 65-23. The Railwaymen nearly made it a full turnaround had it not been for Alan Wilson sneaking a black ball win over Nick Wright 62-60 after Colin Nuttall had beaten Gerry Stone 58-16 in the other frame.
Scarisbrick B beat Waddington Cons C 4-2 to register their first win in six matches in the league, leaving the Waddy C team still looking up from bottom place in the table. The Waddy’s Guy Riley lost out to Scarisbrick’s top stick Wayne Cooper 60-48 as Dave Brown beat Matt Lowery to level the frames up. Scarisbrick took control of the match when winning the middle frames as Colin Rimmer beat Max Riley & John Hardisty beat Vince Langford. But Bob Fairclough made it win number two on the night for the Waddy when defeating Ian Lowery 42-16 as John Brown beat Stefan Whyte 59-22 to make it win number four for Scarisbrick this year.
The Birkdale Derby was again hard fought as the B team came out the victors again over their C team rivals 4-2 last week. The C team have only managed to beat them once in the past 6 seasons, which came last year in a 4-2 victory in January 2015, but that a long way off after the opening frames. The B team moved 2-0 up after the opening pair for the B team John Mullard & Peter Wilding both won with Peters win coming after he potted the final black for a 53-52 victory against Ted Coghlan. But the C team showed some fight as they took the middle frames when Phil Green beat David Robinson 72-24 & Phil Horan beat John Stringfellow 55-17. But the B team showed the C team whose boss on a Wednesday night when Reg Dobson & John Warnick both won to claim yet another Birkdale Derby win.
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