Oxfordshire v Warwickshire
Sunday July 13th 2008
Gaz
Calcott Pool Guru...
Pot as many Balls as you can!!!
Warwickshire took at trip to
Witney in Oxfordshire to begin the 2nd half of this years
fixtures.
A couple of absentees meant
that Captain Baz Hinde had to pick up his cue and lead his team into battle
and they started very well going 7-4 in front at the end of the 1st
section. The highlight was young James Willis (age 11) coming up to the
table to take on some Oxford bloke about 6 ft tall, actually, I think we
should name him – Mark Anderson – who had a slight smirk on his face as he
shook James’s hand and prepared to break. That was the last time he smiled
in that frame – he broke, went in-off and James cleared up with one shot!
Warks also won the 3rd
section 6-5 to take a 19-14 lead into the final section.
Oxford pulled 2 back only to
see Phil Parkin, Baz Hinde and Ben Deeley make it 22-16 to Warks. Oxford
pulled back another 3 frames to 22-19 before Rich Mills ensured victory for
Warwickshire A making the final score 23-21.
2nd section saw
Oxford take the first 4 frames, but Warks hit back with a straight 5 wins to
finish the section 13-9 up.
Team:
Baz Hinde, Paul Willis, Craig Sturmey, Karl Knight, Phil Parkin, Andy West,
Ben Gilbey, Rich Mills, James Willis, Ben Deeley and Sam Mills.
A couple
of players missing for the B team provided openings for Steve Valentine and
Dave Hegarty to get their first start in a county match as the team
attempted to build on their 2 out of 2 winning start to the 2008 campaign.
A couple
of players missing for the B team provided openings for Steve Valentine and
Dave Hegarty to get their first start in a county match as the team
attempted to build on their 2 out of 2 winning start to the 2008 campaign.
Brilliant performances from
newcomer, Rich Mills, and Young Ben Deeley who both got 4 wins out of 4 with
Ben (pictured) getting the nod for Man of the match from the Oxfordshire
captain.This is the player that the B team had on the subs bench and was put
into the A team when other players didn’t turn up and now Baz says he’s
keeping him!
After their close shave down
at Gloucester, the B team were keen to maintain their unbeaten run with a
win against Oxford B, however, they soon found out that Oxford had other
ideas.
Every frame was keenly
contested as Oxford just edged the first section and then Warks won the 2nd
section 6-5 to make it 11-11 at the halfway stage.
The 3rd section
saw one of those bizarre, once in a blue moon moments as Howard Bailie lost
a frame and then won it! His opponent had given him 2 shots and it was a
foul snooker. Howard nominated a yellow ball to pot his last red in the
jaws, but the ref claimed he hadn’t heard him nominate and so awarded a
foul. There then ensued a bit of a debate with the ref standing firm on his
decision and it was 2 shots to Oxford. The Oxford player does no more than
gets down and pots the black – he was on YELLOWS and there were 2 balls
STILL on the table! Happy days Howard.
Warks ended up losing the
section 5-6 which meant they went into the last section trailing 17-16. The
“Potting Pensioner” that is Roy Pontefract (star of the England Over 50’s B
team at the recent World Championships no less) levelled the score and
Oxford pulled it back.
At 19-19, Russ Blinco wins an
epic battle to put Warks in front only to see Oxford make it 20 all. A
brilliant clearance from the “New Boy”, Craig West, gave Warks the lead and
Martin Groves made it 22-20 to ensure a draw. We now needed either Dave
Collins or Azza Easson to make sure of the win. Dave’s frame went on forever
and as he got down to pot the black, the whole venue fell silent – Dave
potted, We won!
Final score
23-21 to Warwickshire B.
Russ Blinco (pictured) pulled
out a 4 out of 4 to take the player of the match trophy whilst there were 3
out of 4’s from Howard Bailie and Dave Collins.
Team:
Roy Pontefract, Howard Bailie, Dave Lea, Neil Pincham, Gaz Calcott, Steve
Valentine, Dave Easson, Russ Blinco, Chris Lowe, Craig West, Martin Groves,
Dave Collins and Aaron Easson
Unfortunately it was the
usual story with the Ladies team – not enough players!
We only had 9 turn up so the
girls were 8-0 down before a shot had been played!
However, the spirit is their
and the Girls put in a good, team performance, gave a very good account of
themselves and caused one or two upsets along the way.
Sadly they lost all 4
sections with the final score being 29-15 to Oxford. Which is not that bad
considering the 8 -0 start Oxford had.
Ali Wilkins and Hazel Payne
both kept in the hunt for the England trials places with excellent 3 out of
4’s, but it was a 3 out 4 from Charlie Scarff that took the Player of the
match trophy for Warwickshire.
Team:
Wendy Forde, Tracy Layfield, Hazel Payne, Charlie Scarff, Sally Brazener,
Ali Wilkins, Liz Cheetham, Vicky Moore and Claire Quinney.
