Competitions - Open Pairs 2022/23

[tommo III]

Open Pairs (Neutral table, double leg games decided by highest total score.)

Preliminary Round (to be played by 29 November 2022)

Tracy Guy & Dave Constable bt Gary Powell & Karl Tidy @ Garland

Mark Fraser & Joe Elleson bt Vernon Sparkes & Laurie Roberts @ Horley CC (prev.p'pd)

Jim Balchin & John Slee bt Anita Blackman & Nev Blackman @ Merstham VC


Results please to Terry Oakley, Competitions Secretary

[magners]

Tracy and DC progress in the pairs.
Always a good match, Tracy’s 3k at the end of leg 1, proved invaluable.

[tommo III]

Open Pairs

(Neutral table, double leg games decided by highest total score. The final is played over 4 legs, with each player breaking once)


1st Round (to be played by 31st January)
Geoff Jukes & Colin Robbins lost to Tony Cross & Dave Jones @ South Park C.C.
Mark Fraser & Joe Elleson lost to Michael Wilson & Clive Thompson @ Salfords Club (Right Hand Table) (prev.p'pd)
Nick Moss & Paul Trottman lost to Pete Nichols & Denise Wills @ Merstham Village Club
Jim Balchin & John Slee lost to Tracy Guy & Dave Constable @ Old Oak


Results please to Terry Oakley, Competitions Secretary

[johnslee]

Hi all
What a frustrating evening Monday night turned out to be. On route to Redhill to help score singles match for my
Teamate Tracy and Dave Jones points failure at Redhill and I ended up at Purley. Train back to Redhill and got to
The Garland I time just to see Dave win.
Caught up with Doubles partner and birthday boy. All off to Old oak to play more mates DC and Tracy.in Open doubles. 
Having won the toss put my teammates in. First leg Dave off with 2k going ok but broke down. A few shots each
And I managed to get them back and caught up. With Jim struggling a bit Tracy added some more. Late on we made
Enough to make a dent in there lead and end of frame saw us 1800 down but with a chance with our break.
Game 2 and I broke off with only 2k and a level game. Breaks made and breaks lost all round especially losing a 3myself 
Very unluckily with an awful spin out from the 20 hole.
Late on l got them back and rushing broke down on 1500. Last chance I thought frustrated. Clock running long and I
Should have done some calculations last ditch break races to the bar including clipping in a 200. All balls potted I
Turned to shake hands and DC said that was close. To my horror scores finally trotted up we lost by 90.
Just shows how in the last ditch rush you can cock thing up and should have known better. 
A great evening if a bit frustrating. Poor old Birthday boy Jim raced off to Old oak and lost Burwood cup decider as
Per Michaels report. A birthday for Jim to forget. 🤣🤣🤣

[johnslee]

Sorry raced to South Park .

[billiardsmichael]

Mark Fraser & Joe Elleson* (4000*,310) 4,310 v 11,390 (4400,6990*) Michael Wilson* & Clive Thompson

Tonight saw the conclusion of the Open Pairs QFs as Fritz & Joe took on Michael & Tommo. The latter won the toss and put their opponents in and Joe started of with 1k before going to thick on his 100 split. All four players then traded turns at the back of the table before Michael was the one to clear up and set about building a lead. A steady 4k was enough for him to work out the table with his break to come, but Joe capitalised on Michael coming off to play the last couple of minutes out for 2.5k to wipe the proboard pairs lead out.

Leg two and Michael made sure that a target would be set, just over 5k was his opening contribution and a tricky leave meant Fritz had a tricky table to come too. A few more goes each and it was Michael once again who cleared the balls, managing a lovely clear with a couple of shots which may have had Tommo's heart in his mouth clearing balls behind the 10. This time Michael just needed to play for time and despite only making 1.5k he'd taken enough time out to all but seal the win, <7 minutes left with a 7k lead was plenty on the Salfords RH table because it's tricky to rush it. Fritz & Joe valiantly tried to get the break back, but to no avail, which meant the proboard pair proceeded past them and into the semis!

[tommo III]

Good fun last night: Joe's little son referring to us as "evil".

[billiardsmichael]

Gwan Team Evil!!

[tommo III]

Open Pairs
(Neutral table, double leg games decided by highest total score. The final is played over 4 legs, with each player breaking once)

Semi-Finals (to be played by 18th April)

Michael Wilson & Clive Thompson bt Tony Cross & Dave Jones @ Horley CC
Pete Nicholls & Denise Wills bt Tracy Guy & Dave Constable @ Merstham VC



FINAL - played on Tuesday 30th May 2023 over 4 legs (8pm start)

Michael Wilson & Clive Thompson 1, Pete Nicholls & Denise Wills 3 @ Salfords Club (R.H.table)

[billiardsmichael]

Michael Wilson* & Clive Thompson (2940,5790*) 8730 - 5770 (4180*,1590) Tony Cross & Dave Jones*

After a warm Easter weekend the Monday evening saw the defending and four time Open Pairs champions, Tony & Dave, take on the Windmills proboard pair, Michael & Clive. The game was to be played at the notoriously tricky Horley CC - a table where keeping anything you score is the most important thing.

The proboarders won the toss and put the champs in but, in a sign of things to come, Dave immediately pushed the red past the 50 and was off early. Clive had no such issue, looking comfortable in getting the balls back and then accumulating a steady break of 2k before coming off. Following this there was a back of the table ding dong, the table was getting loaded and the proboarders maintained a lead of just over a k. But with four or so minutes to go Tony went about expertly clearing the table and set about putting the champs ahead. Indeed he played the table out for 2.5k, giving the champs a slender 1.2k lead going into the second leg.

Michael knew the break was thick with LH side so - eager not to copy Dave - he made sure to hit it thick. Problem was that Michael contrived to rim both balls around the 50s and score naff all!! Disaster! Tony was straight back to the table after a good break to finish, but surprisingly he missed and Clive set about the chase. Just under 1k in, though, and Clive was off. The battle of the back was then won by Michael who, despite having a roughly 50% success rate on the break (!!) scrambled his way to a break of 2k to put the proboarders ahead. The champs desperately needed some inspiration but it was Michael who once again retrieved the break and this time started to manage to get the break. After adding 2.5k a soft break allowed Michael to tip-tap to the back and set an insurmountable lead of 4k with 2.5 mins left. Tony got the break back immediately but it was in vain as the camps went down in a tense tussle with the Windmills proboarders.

I believe this is a maiden Redhill individual (is pairs really individual... perhaps non-team) final for Tommo, while Michael will make his first appearance in an Open Pairs final at his first attempt.

[tommo III]

Apr 10, 2023 22:05:25 GMT billiardsmichael said:

I believe this is a maiden Redhill individual (is pairs really individual... perhaps non-team) final for Tommo, while Michael will make his first appearance in an Open Pairs final at his first attempt.

Yup, I've got a full set of the fun out-of-season Redhill competitions, but have never before managed the main Roll of Honour. So thanks for being so good and getting me there!

Many thanks to Caroline for scoring both games, and it was good to meet Whiley (is that the correct spelling?)








 

[billiardsmichael]

Wylie!

[billiardsmichael]

I believe Pete & Denise beat Tracy and DC

[billiardsmichael]

Authors note: As a general rule I like to write my reports in the third person, as a spectator would see it. This match, however, feels more appropriate to write in the first person...

I start my report of the evenings event way before the scheduled start time of 8pm, in fact I should mention that on a personal level I was in the form of my life. A weekend of almost faultless bar billiards in Northampton meant I was in fine touch and, just to add to that, my Tuesday lunchtime bash had seen me playout my top for a new personal high break. So all things looked rosy. As I signed off from work at half five, the plan was to have a half hour nap to refresh, a spot of dinner and a little practice routine to get the arm loose.

Buzz, buzz. Buzz, buzz. Urgh, who the hell is spam calling me? "Michael, you're playing a final tonight." Hang on, that's Sue... a brief pause to look at the time ensued.. my phone read 20:19. "Sh*t" was my one word response. Despite having set two alarms I had (again) slept through them and was now rushing to Salfords. I got there at 20:30 and immediately my partner Tommo was there with a little grin, "Can I get you a drink while you're making your apologies?" Indeed apologies needed to be made, so I went over to the table to get my cue out and apologising to Denise and Pete in the process (at least I'm pretty sure I did - apologies for no apologies if I did not). I definitely apologised to Sue though - that I made sure of.

Clive came back with my pint of coke and a round of applause went up for Colin, who had won his first(?) Redhill singles title. In the excitement Sleezy, in the scorers chair for our pairs match, flung his leg through his full pint to add further chaos to an already maddening start to the evening. Anyway with hat excitement over the toss was made. I called heads and Clive and I won it, putting Denise and Pete in to bat.

LEG 1. The Salfords RH top can be a bit of a tough loving top. Either it's getting on with you or it really is not. Denise chose to break first and it immediately felt like one of those tough love nights. Only 2k on the board and Den was off, myself, Pete and Clive unable to clear up. Den got them back though and added a further couple of k before another unexpected miss and she was off. The table became loaded but I channeled a new found confidence in chasing to clear a tricky top and set about the chase. First one up was very nervy - I'd smashed it so far it wasn't even right for the ten spilt. Second time around? Well over compensated. The white stopped short of the 50 - a very poor reply. Pete mopped up and added a few more to give the South Park pair a 4k lead.
CT,MW (2590) 0 - 1 (6770) DW*,PN

LEG 2. The atmosphere was building with just the one game on and I was suddenly feeling the pressure. My earlier sleeping exploits definitely made me feel the crowd was favouring a win for Denise and Pete, probably a 3-0 walloping. Clive, however, was calm opening up with 2.5k before coming off. The leg then went scrappy again, with nobody taking it by the scruff of the neck and balls often landing awkwardly on the back cushion. I managed to summon a good clear from nowhere and added another 2.5k before coming off early again. Clive thankfully saved the day by adding a k to take the time out of the game, Pete mopping up to make sure they retained the aggregate lead by 800.
CT*,MW (6160) 1 - 1 (2730) DW,PN

LEG 3. I was pretty comfortable at the start with my break to come, and Pete seemed a bit nervy. One-up shots seemed to be going quite wide and a couple of dodgy 10 split meant I though we had a good chance of snatching the leg. But Pete got through that tough opening couple of k and found a really good rhythm, generally opting for the 10 split and playing it well. A solid opener of 5.5k in 8 mins put Denise and PEte in control and neither Clive or I could really make inroads. Denise pegged a couple of k and Pete then added a few more at the end but the leg was decided by Pete's terrific opener. Pressure put on to me, thanks Pete!
CT,MW (1130) 1 - 2 (7480) DW,PN*

LEG 4. The aggregate was totted up, 7.1k the difference. I knew I just had to do what I'd done all weekend, make enough and tap. I'd done so in 5/7 break games and was feeling good to do so again. Handshakes all around, crowd ready, away we go. This time I made no mistake in the one-up, those jitters seemed to have passed on and I just wanted to find that steady rhythm. My second one-up pushed the red wide. No bother, I've been 100 splitting for fun I'll stack the right-hand side on. Oh dear, that was a mistake. 50 was in but the 100 whipped. a terrible 100-20 push through missed and I was off. I'd dropped the Ashes. Denise - as you'd expect - cleared the balls and set about calmly. But amazingly she didn't finish it off! Clive was on and off. Pete was on and off. The score read 1320 - 2210. 8k to take the lead. Time was still on my side, even the crowd felt like they were sort of supporting me after my initially chase had collapsed so quickly, and a third excellent clear of the night was complete. "Right, show time." I'd been here before, chasing is far from my speciality. Often I went down early, but more recently it has been a peg that cost me. I'd bottled it twice against Chris Cox at Kent, but those memories were rather less hurtful after brilliant recoveries against TJ and Dave Alder at the weekend and almost chasing down 6.7k in 5 mins against Damo. Steady was the watch word. 1k, 2k, rattled off. A split had the crowd gasping for air, the 100 just dropped. I was confident it would go but I heard a voice behind me "he was in trouble if it had stopped there". Indeed I would have been but alas no. 3k, 4k. Quick stop to chalk the cue, time check.. five mins to go. Lovely. At this point I lost the break slightly, it was quite thick all night and I'd gone back to hitting it thinner and the balls wouldn't drop cleanly. 5k. Tutting away. 6k. Ah, that's better. I'd found the line again. By this point the room was almost silent. This was the highest break of the match and - after pathetically throwing away the chance to chase earlier I was within touching distance of completing a thrilling comeback. 7k. Loads of time, keep calm. I'd got comfortable in the break and placed the red on its spot, but it rocked, less than a mm to the left. "It'll be ok" I thought. Alas no. The white doesn't go clean on the break when playing plain ball and the red having rocked meant the white spat out this time. I still had time to faf for a bit, but the aim was to get back to the break and finish the match. The white had landed awkward, tight to the side cushion and enough above the 50 to make it awkward. The push along the side cush into the 50 wasn't on, the clip off the ball was fraught with the danger of a double kiss. I play the shot with running left-hand side well, but even for me the white was high up. That was the shot I fancied though. The aim was to get the cue ball in the 50, kicking in with the running side and the object ball towards the 20. I'd play it with enough pace that it was likely to either go clean or whip into one of the other holes down the back. I'd hit it thick though. The object ball veered towards the 10 instead of the 20, it was going close to the peg. Click. It had grazed it, the white peg rocked to the left but came back. I'd got away with it! But the peg was just teasing me, the whole room had gasped in disbelief, and gasped again as the peg agonisingly went to ground. I had not got away with it. Ashes = thrown away. I have no idea where the balls ended up. I couldn't watch. Cue placed on the table and off to the back room I went. Trace and Colin came to give me a pat on the back "it's happened to all of us".
CT,MW* (1320) 1 - 3 (4660) DW,PN

I came back into the room to see Denise knock the last two balls in. I was despondent but congratulated Denise and Pete on their victory - they had played well throughout. Clive and I had had a good run beating two very tough pairs in Fritz & Joe then Dave & Tony but it wasn't quite to be. I'll have to chalk this one up to experience, I was clearly caught napping.

[tommo III]

Quote:

Trace and Colin came to give me a pat on the back "it's happened to all of us".

Don't beat yourself up, m8 .... what Tracy and Colin said is true. Que Sera Sera and all that.
Denise and Pete were worthy winners, and Pete played exceptionally well in his third-frame opener. 
An excellent commentary, and exciting for the crowd judging by the oohs and aahs !
Thanks to the scorers, and special thanks to Sue for making the phone call to rouse my somnolent partner as I'd left my mobile at home.
(The mantle now transferred from Dick 'van winkle' Cable ?)