Sussex Inter-League Fixtures 2023/2024 (Wk1) - 24/09/2023

["Silent"]

Fixtures for Series 1:-

DIVISION 1
Brighton A 4 v 3 Brighton B
Tunbridge Wells 2 v 5 Worthing A
West Sussex 3 v 4 Redhill A

DIVISION 2
Mid Sussex 3 v 4 Lewes
Redhill B 4 v 3 Worthing B
Littlehampton have the bye

["Silent"]

First matches of a new season tonight, good luck

[tommo III]

Redhill B 4, Worthing B 3 at Salfords Club
*Tom Pearse 3720, Dave Jones 2540
Paul Trottman 340, *Roger Taylor 7700
Clive Thompson 1490, *Rick Cunningham 6130
*Mark Fraser 3680, Alan Mepham 2480
Martin Greenway 4620, *Tony Jenner 2250
Alex Hornby 4600, *James Whittle 2460
*Joe Elleson 3210, Dave Ingram 3330

With young Michael having moved up to the A's, it befalls me to put some meat around the bones - whilst probably not matching the articulacy of his reports .....
Frame 1 Tom, fresh from Widecombe Fair got us off to a good start against Wishbone Ash fan (1) who was devoid of any luck. Mixed reaction from Tom who stated he does not want us to be too successful over the course of the season "in case we have to go up".  1-0
Frame 2 Trotter against Dipper, who took a while to get going but - helped by Paul's lack of luck - eventually did, playing a game worthy of a man who was playing for Sussex 50 years ago - longer than any in the current county team. 1-1
Frame 3 Wishbone Ash fan (2) experienced deja vu from last Tuesday, failing to add to a bright start and then having his trousers taken down by his opponent. 1-2
Frame 4 A few anxious moments for our super skip, but a nice break at the end saw a virtual repeat of frame one.  2-2
Frame 5 The Jenneral making the early running, but Martin overhauled him with two good breaks, and leaving the balls awkward each time. A couple of well-executed get-out shots proved to be of no avail. 3-2
So as the food came out the match stood delicately poised and both sides in desperate need of a hero ..... 
We found ours in "Horley Hornby" who at first it seemed was going to be "Whittled" after James's great start, but Alex finished off in majestic style.  4-2
So on to the "dead rubber" which turned out to be more "flubber" than rubber as the two game competitors breathed life into it: this was the closest leg of the night, with the table seemingly difficult and as a result "proper billiards" having to be played on it (none of this 3 down 1 up and split stuff). Joe seemed to have judged the game to perfection at the end, needing the two whites to win by 30, but left one short and missed the last-ball 100 - which a grateful Warrior potted.  4-3

A good match played amongst friends, and gallant Worthing gracious in defeat but must be wondering on their return journey to the wilds of Sussex how this one managed to get away. 

[bigtj]

Well reported Tommo a good night played in the right spirit and a well deserved win for the home side who probably had the run of the balls (well except Paul who like me if he didn1t have bad luck would have had no luck at all). Table all there to be played but most did not adapt to it. At least I saw the Welsh take the Aussies pants down and give them a good hiding. Thanks to Redhill for their hospitality, the usual friendly banter and nice spread of food laid on.

[tengu]

Mid Sussex	3	4	Lewes
* Graham Sparksman	3480	460	Jan Bithell
Paul Jobbins	1850	4040	Trevor Rees *
Derek Taylor	2140	2920	Dave Knight *
* Barry West	2620	3240	Ric Bithell
Ros Appleby	1780	1220	Huw Lincoln *
Mick Kirwan	4210	3890	Chase Newman *
* Andy Farmer-Wright	1200	3290	Richard Todd

Close match with mistakes on both sides but Lewes just managed to come out on top. 

We had a disappointing start when Jan, on a good break, managed to put a 4th break shot down, giving Graham an easy win. But we came back to take a lead in the match which Chase could have completed, if he hadn't repeated Jan's error in the sixth game! Richard played a solid decider though against Andy, to secure the points.

[billiardsmichael]

West Sussex	3	v	4	Redhill A
Dan*	9080	-	3540	Michael
Chris	1980	-	5880	*Geoff
Melissa	1170	-	4100	*Denise
Barry*	11110	-	330	Colin
Kevin	0	-	11680	*Dave J
Martin	260	-	12200	*John
Ian*	7030	-	2810	DC

With a new season rolling around again the two championship winning teams from last time out faced off at the PoW. Redhill knew that this was a tricky opener, and so they had the sole aim of coming away with an opening win - no heroics required!

Up first was an Under 30s clash as Dan was tasked with getting his team off to a good start against Michael. Dan certainly went about his task well, only a couple of 10 splits came in as he made his way to 8.8k before coming off as the clock hit ten and a half minutes. Michael got them back but was off at 3.5k when some adrenaline came into the split shot. Another couple of k was lost later on, but the leg was in the West Sussex ledger already at that point. 1-0

Next up Chris was made to battle against the break of the ever-dependable Geoff. The opening salvo did not go the way the Redhill mob had hoped though, Geoff pegging his opener after leaving a ball trickily next to the 100. The classic battle royale at the back of the table then ensued and both players struggled to get the break back, but with nine minutes on the clock Geoff retrieved the balls and made 5k and tap to level up the scores. 1-1

Third on was an all ladies clash as West Sussex's new signing Melissa took on the Redhill President and just general superstar Denise. This game seemed to be a struggle, with Denise off after her opening split and neither player looking at their fluent best. Den got the balls back but a break of 2k was pegged as she caught the split a touch thin and Melissa got the balls back quickly. She built a lead but the split shot again led to the end of break and this time Denise added 4k and touch to make sure. 1-2

Barry was fourth up with the break against captain Colin, who was under-pressure as he had to smoke for both himself and Gary as the latter had decided to return from holiday as the match kicked off! Barry didn't look his usual self, and his team seemed a little surprised to see him come off with just 5k on the board. Colin did his best to get the break back, but it wasn't to be as Barry got them back first and added another 5k to level the scores up on the night. 2-2

Next up was Redhill's resident rocker, DJ, and he was in no mood to give Kevin a chance. A sublime 8.5k and tap - the cleanest break of the night - was enough and Kevin only had one visit before DJ was back in the groove. Kev's cue had gone into pieces - unscrewed rather than snapped - so when DJ came off with 3k the hand was offered. 2-3

So with West Sussex now needing the final two legs to take victory, Captain Cole took the opportunity to put pressure on the Redhill break by playing himself against young Mr. Slee. As Sleezy and DC had just returned from an eventful fishing trip, they were both looking to catch the biggest fish of all on their return, that of Martin. Slee started off with 4k, but his split was a touch thick and he was off. Martin may have taken a bite of John's bait, but he saw his chance to wriggle free. An brief tug of war ensued but Sleezy managed to hook Martin off the table and add 5k more to secure the leg and the big fish. Job done for Redhill. 2-4

So with the last game a dead rubber, Ian opened up in fine form, a series of excellent recovery shots helped him notch up a lovely 5k start and put the pressure on DC to chase. It was Ian who got the break back first though, and another k and a half was enough to chalk up the final leg and, quite rightly, leave the match with only a frame separating the two sides. 3-4

So a tough opener safely negotiated for Redhill A, a match that could quite easily have gone the other way if West Sussex had had that little bit of fortune when trying to get the balls back. Next up for them is the home double-header against Brighton, where they will be looking to make Merstham a fortress once more.

["Silent"]

Brighton A 4-3 Brighton B

**Phil Osborne 13,950 - 110 Sandra Hall
Nigel Senior 16,130 - 4070 Moppy Scott**
Jim Millward 1640 - 10,570 Alan Brackenridge**
**Kevin Hall 24,820 - 0 Bella Stoner
Bob Hall 3800 - 8410 Gary Mechan**
Chris Tupper 1760 - 3610 Michelle Baden**
**Matthew Knight 4450 - 3520 Marcus Chipman

Looked plain sailing after very good opening leg from Phil, a brilliant leg from captain Nige and an awesome table run out from Kev but then it was squaeky bum time as in form Bob was off form and Tupps started well but a not so good shot ended a decent break and our opponents took advantage when presented with the extra chances. I fell over the line in the decider as we scraped home. Well done to our opponents for a good night and giving us a stern test

High break - a brilliant 24,820 from Kev Hall, if he hadn't whipped his first split he would definitely have got 25k+

[bigtj]

Understand Worthing A won 5-2 at Tunbridge Wells.

[Pete S]

Peter Sainsbury	10250	Chris Oakley	1380
Kyle Ingram	5520	Joe Oakley	9910
Ian Wright	5420	Martin Smith	6590
Gerry Fitzjohn	14460	Stuart Carruthers	0
Martin Russell	1600	Mike Daw	11190
Curt Driver	4380	Kevin Tunstall	10700
Bryan Stevens	2210	Stuart Mepham	10650
	2		5

Not as straight forward as it looks only Joe started with enough to win. Chances offered by Worthing but not taken.

[StuC]

Results, tables and averages are updated on the SCBBA website. Will continue to update on the website during the season with links below.

scbba.co.uk/inter-league/home-and-away-inter-league/2023-24-season/tables-2023-24/

scbba.co.uk/inter-league/home-and-away-inter-league/2023-24-season/averages-2023-24/

scbba.co.uk/inter-league/home-and-away-inter-league/2023-24-season/series-one-2023-24/