Alties cue man Baz Hinde out potted his rivals to lift the inaugural Kev Bennett Masters title, beating the Co-op Club’s Ralph Dearden 4 – 3 in an entertaining and at times exceptional final.

Earlier in the evening Hinde had to dig deep to squeeze past pre-tournament favourite Andy Bassett. Royal Oak's Bassett hadn’t lost a frame on the way to the semi finals, and again showed his potting skills racing into a two frame lead. He looked to be heading towards another 3 – 0 victory until a poor positional shot gave Hinde a glimmer of a chance, on which he capitalized, to pull a frame back. This unexpected chance seemed to inspire Hinde as he levelled the match before incredibly taking the decider with an excellent clearance.

In the other semi final Co-op team mates Ralph Dearden and Fred Starkey faced off in all out attacking pot fest that Dearden won 3 – 1. Starkey played some tremendous pool in the match although he often forgot he had two shots which may have cost him at least one frame.

It was decided against playing the minute rule in the final much to the delight of the players (pictured).

Ralph started the final with all cue’s blazing and raced into a 2 – 0 lead with some exceptional pool, but Hinde, who had already produced a stunning comeback in the semis, was soon at it again and levelled the mach at 2 apiece. The fifth frame saw the first real tactical battle which, despite being snookered several times, Hinde was able to clear the table and take the lead in the final for the first time. Frame 6 saw a role reversal with Hinde slowing the game up before Dearden cleared to take the match into a final frame shootout. Many thought the decider would be an edgy tight affair, but Hinde rolled back the years going for game from the break of,f only to agonisingly jaw the black after sinking 7 nice pots. Dearden, whose balls were tied up or on the cushion, potted and snookered as he looked for two shots he would probably need to win. Hinde though, wasn’t in the mood to let the title slip from his grasp and he escaped every time. With less and less balls to hide the cue ball behind, Dearden was running out of options, which cumulated with what appeared to be a do or die pot, but he somehow managed to cover a pocket and grab another snooker. Hinde yet again escaped from the fudge, although in doing so handed Dearden the chance he had been hoping for. Sadly a poor positional shot from Dearden left him with a thin snick to the centre pocket, which he over cut. and could only watch as the cue ball came around the table to leave Hinde the simplest of blacks, which he duly sank.

June 29th