AEBBA MIXED PAIRS 2024

[JB]

This will be held on 13th October 2024 @ Totteridge Club.
Entry fee is £10 per pair.

This will be held alongside the team Champs and special ladies. Players can enter any 2 of the 3 competitions being held.

Please put entries on here

1. Zoe Stevens & Michael Wilson
2. Janet Burns & Andy Burns
3. Pauline Withey & Curt Driver
4. Jenny Florey & Mark Trafford
5. Dawn Jordan & Ernie Jordan
6. Genette Nicholls & John Slee
7. Caroline Jones & Dave Jones
8. Nicki Stratford & Sean Stratford
9. Denise Wills & Gary Powell
10. Melissa Beach & Martin Cole
11. Jean Brackenridge & Matthew Knight
12. Anita Blackman & Mark Fraser
13. Natasha Light & Dave Ingram
14. Teri King & Colin Robbins
15. Tracy Guy & Dave Constable
16. Michelle Baden & Nigel Senior

[billiardsmichael]

Zoe Stevens & Michael Wilson please

[jiffy]

Jennyflorey & Mark Trafford please

[jordans]

Me & him please :)

[sleezy]

Hi all
Can you please enter John Slee and Gennette Nicholls. 
Many thanks. 

[Dave J]

Caroline Jones and Dave Jones please.

[shaggy]

Sean Stratford & Nicki Stratford please.

[magners]

Please add Denise Wills & Gary Powell

[melissasb]

Please add Martin Cole and Melissa Beach

[billiardsmichael]

Please add Anita Blackman & Mark Fraser

[BB Warrior]

Please add Natasha Light and David Ingram.

Thank you.

[magners]

Can you add Teri King and Colin Robbins please

[magners]

Please add Tracy Guy & Dave Constable

[NigelS]

Nigel Senior & Michelle Baden please

[JB]

List updated

Any more entries must be received by Tuesday. The draw will be done on Thursday at our league game

[NigelS]

Start time will be 11.00.

Draws will be done beforehand so we will start when ready.

Format for Mixed Pairs will be 4 groups of 4 single legs - top 2 to progress to Quarter Finals where from then all games will be best of 2 legs.

[NigelS]

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Mixed Pairs
Group 1
MA1	Nigel Senior & Michelle Baden
MA2	Colin Robbins & Teri King
MA3	Andy Burns & Janet Burns
MA4	Gary Powell & Denise Wills
Group 2
MB1	Ernie Jordan & Dawn Jordan
MB2	Dave Constable & Tracy Guy
MB3	Matt Knight & Jean Brackenridge
MB4	Martin Cole & Melissa Beach
Group 3
MC1	Dave Ingram & Natasha Light
MC2	Curt Driver & Pauline Withey
MC3	Dave Jones & Caroline Jones
MC4	Michael Wilson & Zoe Stevens
Group 4
MD1	John Slee & Genette Nicholls
MD2	Sean Stratford & Nicki Stratford
MD3	Mark Trafford & Jenny Florey
MD4	Mark Fraser & Anita Blackman

[billiardsmichael]

A (hopefully) brief report from me of the goings on at High Wycombe yesterday.
P.S. when I said brief, urmmm...

Mixed Pairs

Once again Redhill showed excellent depth in providing 7/16 of the Mixed Pairs - the most of any league/county - and three of us made the QFs, Anita & Fritz topping group 4 winning 3/3, while Teri & Colin and Yvonne & Michael coming second in their groups with 2/3 wins. I must add a personal thanks to Yvonne for stepping in at short notice after Zoe had to pull out due to circumstances beyond her control. Anita & Mark beat Teri & Colin in the all Redhill QF before losing out to eventual swazzy champions Melissa Beach & Martin Cole.

As for Yvonne & I, what a day. Two fairly comfortable wins early doors against Natasha Light & Dave Ingram then Caroline & Dave Jones secured passage into the QFs, with a loss to Pauline Withey (& Curt Driver) - AuntieP scored 5000/6500 total points for the game - in a dead rubber. In the QFs we had Jean Brackenridge & Matt Knight on a rather whippy table 3. Jean opened with 2k before a proper loading of the table. After plenty of goes each Matt cleared up to add 4k and give the Sussex pair a 6k lead. In leg 2 the balls went scrappy, with Yvonne getting some really crucial points down the back while I tried to move the tricky balls to give us a chance to clear. With six minutes left 6k was still required and last chance saloon. There were still four/five balls on the table but I managed to figure the table out just in time to mop up and get to the break for the first time. It was far from a clean break, often straying to 10 splits and I had 1/2 trips down the back but somehow we found ourselves just ahead at the bar to make the SFs.

In the semis Jenny did all the running in leg 1, making 6k over two visits to make Traff her arm candy, before Traff got the final knockings to give the Oxon pair a 7.1k lead. Yvonne opened up with a handy 500 to knock a chunk off the target and Jenny couldn't get them back. I managed to roll my sleeves up and retrieve the break and despite pushing the red outside the 50 on under 1k, after getting it back I mostly 100 split our way to parity. 7.4k in and now 300 ahead my concentration lapsed, whipping the 100 split and (very) narrowly avoiding the peg. I couldn't get them back and a tense round of who could get the break ensued, all four of us having a go before Traff kept his nerve to get them back and add 2k to the bar to seal a final spot. So I'm immensely proud of Yvonne & I for getting so far, progressing from a tough group and missing out on a first final by the skin of our teeth. A great day personally.

Congratulations to Melissa & Martin who went on to take their first AEBBA Mixed Pairs title, Martin made 10k in the opening leg before the full swaz 200 to get the break back all but sealed it in the second leg. Well done to them.

Team Championships

Elsewhere in the teams Tunbridge Wells cruised through to the final, while Merstham VC joined them from the group of death. After a 5-5 draw with Bletchington SC (Oxon) they required a 7-3 victory over the Henty (Sussex) to progress. After going 3-1 up courtesy of Tony Cross (1-1 v Martin Smith) and Colin Robbins (2-0 v Kevin Tunstall) a 4-2 result was required from the last six legs. Amazingly all three of Geoff Jukes, Dave Jones & Gary Powell (v Mike Daw/Stu Mepham/Terry Molloy) managed 2-0 wins to secure a frankly remarkable 9-1 win!! Tony had even pegged a winning break against Martin Smith in the one leg dropped - unbelievable!! In the final things did quite go right for the Redhillians, with Curt, Paul & Gerry winning for Tunbridge Wells to secure a 3-1 win before the decider was required - well done to them on defending their title, despite managing to have the handicap of a full compliment of players this year!! So a very creditable runners-up for Merstham VC. Congratulations also to the three players that were unbeaten: Curt Driver 5/5, Colin Robbins 5/5, Mark Trafford 4/4. Oh no make that four... Gerry Fitzjohn 5/5.

Special Ladies

The final competition on the day was the Special Ladies with a straight knockout format being used. Once again Redhill had three Quarter-Finalists and two Semi-Finalists. Denise Wills knocked in a tournament high break of 8,200 to beat Jean Brackenridge in the QFs, South Park teammate Genette Nicholls also progressed with a win against Jenny Parsons while Tracy Guy went down to the inspired Pauline Withey. In the semis Pauline took out a second Redhillian of the day by defeating Genette while Denise was in a real humdinger against Janet Burns. Janet broke in leg 1 and was going really well with the 50 potting and 100-30s before unluckily putting the one-up behind and through the peg on 3k. Denise got them back but an opening 10 split went haywire. Janet got them back and continued where she had left off with an excellent 4k break - a lead she held onto as the back got rather filled up for the rest of the leg. So a lead of 3830 (yep, every point of that lead would count) for Janet and Denise managed to find a large variety of ways of missing the one-up. She'd had four separate goes at the break to build a 2k lead in the leg as Janet struggled to find her rhythm, but suddenly she burst back into life! A minute on the break and the match was done but disaster - four time alert!! Denise sprang to table and got going on the break to get a slender lead before coming off at the back. Clunk goes the bar. A couple of balls on the table and a tot up shows Denise is 230 ahead. Red disappears down the 30, 290 up. White in the 20. 310 up. Miss. Janet could just about do it. Two white in the 30, 250 to catch. Three balls left and something had to go in one of the big holes. A cheeky effort at the 100 of the side and back cushion? Well whatever was attempted it flew down the 50 hole! 200 down, one white on the back cushion, one in hand. Two balls down would be the end... one down the 10, 190 down. So 200 to win. In a flash Janet was down and smacked the white like she was attempting to recreate a deep-screw shot by Ronnie O'Sullivan... and just like him she did not miss, clean as a whistle the white slammed into the heart of the 200 hole, the black peg no doubt feeling the breeze as the white ball flew by. A win by the barest of margins. 10 points. Hum-bloody-dinger!

Sadly I did not get to see the final, I was in the Mixed Pairs semis at the time, but Pauline told me Janet continued her fine form to make the final a tight one. Pauline though is the record-breaking champion for a reason and she got over the line to seal a frankly ridiculous 13th Special Ladies title - well done Pauline!

Thank you also must go to the Totteridge Club in High Wycombe, it's always an excellent place to go to. Thanks to Matt and Cliff for doing the tables despite neither of them playing, I must say I thought they were superb yesterday and had it been an Open I'm sure there would have been some monstrous scores. Also a massive thanks to Nigel and his able assistants Jean & Matt for running an excellent day - this day has become one of my favorites on the calendar and it didn't disappoint.

[NigelS]

Great summary from Michael there on yesterdays events.

So just congratulations from myself to the winners

Team Champs - Tunbridge Wells Con Club (5th time NEW RECORD)
Special Ladies - Pauline Withey (13th time NEW RECORD)
Mixed Pairs - Martin Cole & Melissa Beach (1st time)

Tables were excellent - thanks to Matt and Cliff, and thanks to the Club for hosting.

[Pete S]

And a big thank you to Nigel, Matt K and Jean for their organisation on the day.