AMATEUR BILLIARDS CIRCUIT

Newmarket Snooker & Bowl

Sunday 10th February 2002 – All games one-hour

On Sunday 10th February, 48 Billiard enthusiasts gathered at AllSaints Road, Newmarket for the penultimate ranking tournament
of the season. Although no positions could be finalised with 16 players
still left in the English Amateur Championships, several players were
looking for good performances and progress towards the “holy grail” of
an end of season top 8 finish.

The number of entries at least made the workload of Derick and Peg
somewhat easier than normal, with an equal split of 16 preliminary
games leading into 16 first round clashes.

The notable performances in the preliminary round were a superb
victory by young Billy Bousfield over Michael White, a fine win for
John Carman over the evergreen Bill Andress, a nail-biting three point
triumph for Ronnie Haigh against Michael Wright and a narrow success
for Norman Routledge over Dennis Marr in the battle of the North-
West. Dave Nichols warmed up for the day ahead with two centuries in
his 547-110 demolition of local man Sam Salter.

The 1st round saw Paul Dunning twice break down in the nervous
nineties against Cromer’s Ian Dennis. Billy Bousfield enjoyed another
good win – this time over John Carman and Peter Shelley set up a 2nd
round encounter with practice partner and travelling companion Norman
Routledge following victory over Phil Welham.

The 2nd round saw Billy Bousfield’s day draw to a conclusion, but
only narrowly against Ronnie Haigh. Billy is becoming a dangerous
opponent on the amateur scene and it looks likely that it only becomes
a matter of time before the centuries he is now making on Teesside
begin appearing on a national stage. A timely break of 92 was just about
the difference in Peter Shelley’s win over Norman Routledge. Lee Lagan
gave notice of intentions for the day with the day’s highest break of 228
included in his 574-259 success over Brian Harvey. John Hartley secured
a quarter-final spot with an impressive victory over Chris Ross.

The quarter-finals saw three close encounters with Dave Nichols almost
taking things too casually against Yorkshire’s Ronnie Haigh. Steve
Crosland prevailed by only thirty points in a nervy performance against
Darren Murrell and the tie between David Rees and John Hartley went
David’s way by a mere seven points. After a good start by Peter
Shelley against Lee Lagan, Lee broke free with the aid of a 173 break to
record a 369-211 victory.

The semi-finals resulted in wins for Dave Nichols over Steve Crosland
assisted by breaks of 92 & 72 and Lee Lagan with a straightforward
385-188 success over David Rees.

The best was saved till last with Lee recording the highest total of the
day during his 636-194 victory incorporating two centuries and a
beautiful break of 220. It was somewhat amusing to hear him complain
after of “no feeling whatsoever” in his tip and “not having a clue where
the ball would finish” when playing stun and/or screw. Lee you make
the game look easy enough to us mere mortals without telling us after
you were struggling!

Paul Dunning

Preliminary Round:

First Round:

Second Round:

Quarter-finals:

Semi-finals:

Final:

Plate Competition