Week 15 League 2007/08

[TIR]

Greyhound 4 Windmill 1

Peter Burchell 390 Lynne Storr 1730
Chris Watson 3540 Anne Stockinger 1170
Neil Burchell 3930 Mike White 2500
Trevor Rees 5140 Jan Hinkins 460
Geoff Fairs 3450 Russel Jennings 2370

Peter played a how many can I lose game blowing a 1500 and 2500 break while Lynne scored steadily to score a well deserved win.
Chris standing in for Paul played his first game for a while and won comfortably.
Neil went on about 2000 down but started with a 3000+ break and stayed in front to win.
I had a comfortable win despite missing the ball to lose a 3000 break.
Geoff won the last in a very competitive game with Russel who is now playing very well.

[Ros]

CKRBL 3 Sportsman 2

Mark Coles 3150 Sir Trevor 1350
Jenny Edwards 1710 Rob Driver 1990
Pete Edwards 1190 Gary Foster 1620
Ted Stringer 4560 Tony Driver 330
Derek Taylor 2490 Ros 2280

Some good tight games there, match could have gone either way.

Some hilarious friendlies at the end, with Pete barracking Jenny even though he was partnering her, then barracking me (the scorer) even while he was playing!

The usual good hospitality from the Kleiners, with Eunice's well stuffed sandwiches :)

The Z's managed a nervous win from a rather jaded team performance. And needed to be given a frame to achieve this as Saint Franny were a player short. ::)

Handcross Z 3, St Francis 2

Graham Daniels 1470, TheSpecialOne 6260
MrMike007 2610, Ray Fogwill 1380
Barry Timson 2180, Chris Little 2380
tommo 2980, Peter Geal 1640
Johnny 'Aceed' Haigh w/o Matt Geal (dntu)

Got to the club an hour before the start, took the cover off the table and it looked very clean (no chalk marks or tramlines). Put the level over it, dipping down slightly in the back left hand corner. Tried some straight balls and they seemed to go in fine. Had arrived with the intention of giving it a brush and a block, but the block couldn't be found, so I didn't touch it at all.
What seemed to happen was that the break got more and more difficult as the evening went on, and the left-hand roll got more and more pronounced.

This is not intended to take anything away from Shaun in the first game: The Special One played exceedingly well. ;)

[BB Warrior]

Hurst A go top of Division 1 after a close match with the Droops..... ;D ;D ;D

Brewers Droops 2 Hurst A 3

Sir Jock 1180 - 2510 BB Reaper
This match really set the tone for the whole evening with both players struggling to get to grips with the table. Kevin managed to gain enough of a lead to keep Jock on the back foot. 0-1 ;D

Sparky 2370 - 1880 Andy Hall
Sparky gained an early lead and looked at one stage to have the game won easily, but Andy fought back well and would have won comfortably if he had kept all of the points he made. Sadly the pegs took away more than he made in the end..... 1-1 :(

Andy Farmer Wright 3300 - B/P Rob Hall
Andy pretty much in control from an early stage in this game going on to make the highest score of the night, with Rob falling on his sword at the end. 2-1 :(

Noddy Humphrey 2280 - 2840 BB Warrior
A very nervous display from me as I really struggled to get going, but luckily I managed to keep Noddy in sight and then stole the frame by getting the break back right at the end for an undeserved win. 2-2 ::)

Mama Hall 2150 - 3260 Papa Hall
I suppose that it was inevitable that this game would have to be the decider.......!! Pete and Lorraine both played better than many of the previous players in a match that was closer than the scores really show, with Pete just doing enough to seal the win. 2-3 ;D

A good result for the Hurst A who were missing the Old Fella due to a poorly eye.......... get well soon Roy............ on a night when the table proved very difficult for us all. ???

As always the Droops were wonderful hosts, plenty of friendly banter between the two teams and a fantastic Chilli with Chunky Chips and Garlic Bread afterwards..... too much even for me to eat! ;D

[theoldfella (R.I.P.)]

Zeds 3 Saints 2
Greyhound 4 Windmill 1
Watermill A 3 Watermill B 2
Plough 3 White Horse 2
Kleiners 3 Sportsman 2
Hurst B 3 Bravos 2
Droops 2 Hurst Club 3

All teams have played 15 matches

Won/points

Premier
Greyhound 11/59
Hurst B 12/58
Plough 10/57.5
Zeds 10/56
Kleiners 9/54
Watermill A 7/46
Saints 6/43

division 1
Hurst Club 11/69
Droops 12/67.5
Sportsman 6/46.5
White Horse 5/40
Watermill B 3/30
Bravos 2/29
Windmill 2/28

[Sir Jock o The Strap]

Well done The Hurst lads on a close but deserved win!!!!

The table was atrocious unfortunately, having been re-leveled and cleaned out the previous Friday, to boot it played lovely on Monday but was 'adjusted' by persons unknown again sometime between Monday and Wednesday!!! Very frustrating, which resulted in a quite heated discussion between myself and some 'concerned' others!!!!

Having pretty much had enough of setting the table and then having it moved or adjusted a day later has prompted some serious consideration as to whether the Droops will continue to play from there next season!! This part of our heated discussion was heard by Mike and has prompted him finally into some action, signs are being placed around the table warning players not to adjust the table and if caught doing so will be awarded with a life ban from the pub. Drastic but his idea.

Tarrat have been requested to attend to the table and we hope for a similar transformation seen on the Whitehorse top, we hope that this will take place later this week or early next week before any cup matches are played. I have also requested that tarrat 'lock' the adjustable portion of the legs to further hinder those who can't just leave well alone!

Again well done to Hurst, and apologies for the table!!

[iang]

Hurst B 3 Bravos 2
Steve King 6950 Adam ponytail guy bravo 930
Steve in sipurb form again leaving a very frustrated Adam where nothing worked.

Darrell Skinner 3460 Nikki Hinkins 630
Nikki getting plenty of encouragement even from the scorer

John Lear 1440 Richard Spurrier 1800
An up & down game with Richard getting a break going as the bar was about to drop which got him over the line.

Iang 5210 Lynn Moyes Robb 460
Sorry Lynn :D

Chris Kirkham 3490 Paul Moyes Robb
Again a close match with both players having goes on the break, Paul relaxede into the table & played well with some good potting for his sides best score.

[Sparky]

See Senior Singles report as Brewers table played much better following adjustment before last nights friendly (which was also much higher scoring). 10k aggregate in second game and I had 11.5k aggregate over 2 legs which is good considering my form this year.

Table only requires minor adjustment now and for only one person to maintain it from then on with agreement from all home teams/captains.

sparky said:

Table only requires minor adjustment now.

Likewise at the Handcross Club. It wasn't brilliant last night, but at least it is playing consistently - which it didn't do before Christmas.
I've got to get rid of the left hand roll, which I'll do by tweaking up the back nearside leg. But that will make it too uphill which will mean that the break won't drop cleanly.

Now, it has to be set a shade uphill, otherwise there will be no reaction off that dead back cushion, so it's a Catch 22 situation.

It's such a fine line, but I hope to get there eventually without having to call in Tarratts.

[Sparky]

tommo said:

Likewise at the Handcross Club. It wasn't brilliant last night, but at least it is playing consistently - which it didn't do before Christmas.
I've got to get rid of the left hand roll, which I'll do by tweaking up the back nearside leg. But that will make it too uphill which will mean that the break won't drop cleanly.

Now, it has to be set a shade uphill, otherwise there will be no reaction off that dead back cushion, so it's a Catch 22 situation.

It's such a fine line, but I hope to get there eventually without having to call in Tarratts.

I hear you loud and clear Tommo and it is always tricky when the cushions don't react well and sometimes a choice of good break or good table clearance is better than the dissatisfaction of neither working well.

As you need to do this maybe a little 'up' left back and a little 'down' right back is worth a try so the overall uphill doesn't change but the roll reduces or even disappears, or even allow a 'tiniest' bit of right hand bias towards the back for the split and sometimes this helps the one-up position but this depends on other factors.

[bobhall]

but i will stand strong with the saying if it aint broken dont fix it and well on monday the table every one said was lovely but someone must have tried to fix it but failed considerably

[Chunky Monkey]

sparky said:

Table only requires minor adjustment now and for only one person to maintain it from then on with agreement from all home teams/captains.

This is true graham but in that case why has it been adjusted by 3 people from friday when it was level on the monday to the league match on wednesday.

[Sparky]

kev said:

sparky said:

Table only requires minor adjustment now and for only one person to maintain it from then on with agreement from all home teams/captains.

This is true graham but in that case why has it been adjusted by 3 people from friday when it was level on the monday to the league match on wednesday.

I don't know either Kev as to the best of my knowledge it was adjusted by Jock, with Adam, on Friday and that the other person refutes the claim he adjusted it afterwards and therefore it's performance, one assumes, on Monday & Wednesday was from the Friday session, so I don't know about two other adjustments being made before our Wednesday match.

I can say that the table played on Wednesday much as described to me by Jock (on Tuesday) as how he set it up "uphill but balls going fairly straight to pockets" but that the amount of uphill found was too much and that the full turn to the front legs (as instructed), after our match was finished and prior to the friendly, improved the table as shown by the aggregate score being higher than any game on Monday or Wednesday and again it played much better on Thursday even though it still shows to be uphill :-X

I personally have not adjusted the table without the express instruction of a captain (and done so only three times all season ) and otherwise have refused to touch it even though I have been infuriated at the way it has played most of the season, in fact sometimes I didn't even brush the table in a protest that no one noticed :-/

So the question is
did anyone else adjust the table after Friday or Monday?
or did it change slightly due to settling in/conditions ?
or was it exactly the same but people believe it to be different?
...........well I don't know the answer.

[Sparky]

I would add that the Brewers top is not easy to set up, for reasons I will give not here, and it is not surprising that most inexperienced people would not be able to adjust it satisfactorily which is why it is so important for just one person to be in charge of it........... and not me by the way.

I offered to do it at the beginning of the season but no agreement was made between all the teams and after my first set-up was altered I refused to touch (adjust) it again until this problem was sorted out, however I have been persuaded to do emergency adjustments twice since and have made it clear before Christmas that I would not be playing from there next year with this situation and top, as I want to go out and enjoy my evenings of Bar Billiards and friendly chat/banter.

sparky said:

........... as I want to go out and enjoy my evenings of Bar Billiards and friendly chat/banter.

Well I can promise you some of that on Wednesday when we play you. I'll be bringing our bull mascot motivator (but keeping it as far as possible away from Jock who threatened to rip its head off ;D)

Not expecting too much of the table. :-/

[specialone]

I think you should all have a round of golf. There will be 18 occasions when you might not like what is in front of you, but you just have to do your best. At the end of the round the best player will have hopefully won.
Went to Kent to play last Wednesday and played like a hacker. Know what I must do. A complete rest from the game for 3 months, when the 3 months is up I will give it up for good. Sorted!
Shaun

I suppose you're right Shaun.

We should all count our blessings that we don't have to play at the St Francis every other week like your goodself. ;) ;D You and your team are indeed special ones for having suffered for all those years. ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D

[specialone]

Fair shot tommo and I probable asked for that. Note to myself-Stay away from the keyboard when I have been drinking away the memory of a defeat by Barnsley.
However, I have introduced an alternative view into this one sided debate. Over the last few years, and this season in particular, the amount of agresive moaning about tables has bordered on the intolarable. This is not confined to the St Francis table. I played in a cup game this season when it was well O.T.T. Things improved when the first three players staged a bad tempered storm out, leaving no one in any doubt that the state of the table was to blame for their early departure .Things quietened down but I felt sorry for the two players left on their own.
I have lost two games this season, but for those defeats I would have a shot at player of the year. On both occasions I kept my opinion of the tables to myself, However on one occasion I had to witness a heated exchange between two home players over the state of the table.
No one wants to go out and play on really crooked tables. I don't want to go out and hear the ball slammed down at the end of every break and be subjected to a wall of whinging.
I have tried to stay put of this debate but recent events have caused my team a real problem, will explain this in a future post. this one is already to long.

[specialone]

My problem is...
I visited the club a few weeks back. Noel Fernando asked if he could have a word with me, Noel is the comitee member in charge of all matters concerning the bar.
During a recent home match Noel was sitting at the bar, watching both the football and the Bar Bills. and minding his own bussines. At the end of a game a player stormed away from the table, selected Noel at random, and launched into a scathing slagging off of the table. according to Noel it was delivered in an agresive and unpleasant manner. Noel was not happy with this, however I have known him for many years and he did not want to take it any further.
I have recently approached Noel with a request to have the table recovered. I got a very lukewarm response and was told the club no longer got an income from the table. Managed to excuse myself before I got the lecture about how small the Bar billiards section was compared to the other sections in the club.
I am sure the player had no idea who Noel was and did not set out to sour relations between My team and the club, however it did not help the cause. Will bide my time and try again at the end of the season.

[Ros]

That's extremely unfortunate Shaun, it's also extremely bad manners from the player involved. >:(

Whatever a person thinks of a table, nobody has a right to sour relations with the venue. Any comments or complaints should be directed at the opposing Captain, or, in worst case scenario, the Committee.

Venues are hard to come by and can easily be lost, Bar Billiards players cannot afford to squander good will :(

I'm glad that you're sharing with us some of the problems you're encountering at St Francis, Shaun. It must be like trying to push a stream of water uphill.

Mid Sussex has certainly had its problems this year with loads for the committee to sort out, and the emphasis at the moment is on getting tables to play better, from snippets of conversations that I hear.

I thought I had got the Handcross situation under control but on arrival for our match against you last Wed, the block brusher had gone walkies so I decided not to touch the table at all. So I apologise for the left-hand roll which several of us discovered too late to our cost. Your own game and score were exceptional.

All we can all do is try and make things better: the Brewers made an effort for tonight and there were two scores of over 5k on it, which would not have been likely a few weeks ago.